Say It Ain't So Joe

This was not the way it was supposed to end. Joe Paterno was supposed to leave Penn State on his terms, not anyone else's. I think anyone that is a fan of Penn State, or even people who aren't fans, always wished that his final season would end with him being carried off the field as the winning coach in a national championship game. While that was the hope, it was unlikely. People feared that he would be cast out by the administration after a miserable season whether it be this year, the next, or the year after. Everyone would have talked of how the icon held on too long, how he was too old, but his legacy would always be untarnished, squeaky clean. But it was not meant to be.

Now, Joe has announced his retirement because of the scandal that has rocked everyone's world. Nobody saw this coming, not even Penn State. It's quite a shame that this is what we're left with. And I'm furious.

In the perfect scenario for following the old adage, "be careful what you wish for," I got my wish and now I'll get to see Joe Paterno walking away after this year. Only now, I wish it weren't so.

The media again has shown their awesome power, sticking pins into their Penn State voodoo doll, tearing the Penn State program down piece by piece just so they have their big story. Consumers of television coverage and newspaper articles only know as much as they see on television and they've fallen into the trap that the media has laid out yet again. Like a fly in a spider's web, the people have entrapped themselves, fighting to get out before becoming entrenched beyond saving.

Nobody is asking questions, but I will. I have to. I cannot stand the absurdity of this story any longer. So here are some questions and comments that I'd like to see the answers to, and I'd love for you to all help me out in answering them.

• First of all, are we not innocent until proven guilty? Yes, I think that the accusations are true, however, Jerry Sandusky still has not been tried in a court of law. I find it ridiculous that others should suffer until we know if all of this is even true or not.

• How did Penn State's higher-ups not know about this? Even if there was a cover-up, someone with the highest power at the university would have found out and this would have come out much sooner. How did none of the parents know? Every single kid didn't tell them? Nonsense. Nobody, especially multiple 8, 9, 10-year olds, keep secrets from their parents that well.

• A lot of people think Joe Paterno should have done more. Are you serious? He reported the wrongdoing to his boss! What more do you want the guy to do? And if you say, "Joe Paterno is the boss," you're only listening to what others are saying. Penn State FOOTBALL is Joe Paterno's pride and glory. He is not responsible for wrongdoing on the campus though.

• Sandusky was not a Penn State football employee at the time of the first reported offense by Mike McQueary.  This further takes Joe Paterno's responsibility away. It's not as if Sandusky was a current coach and JoePa could have said, "Hey we're going to have to fire you." There was nothing Paterno could do one way or the other. 

• Mike McQueary may be at fault for not reporting the incident to police, however, at 28 he was still just a kid in the coaching world. He did report the incident to his superior, and yes, he also did what was required of him. Put yourself in his shoes. You see one of your bosses doing something that you deem inappropriate. How would you react? Do you even know? We could all say, "I'd go in and stop it," but how many of us truly would? Have you ever seen a man yelling at a woman in public or vice-versa? How about a kid being hit by his parent? If I did, I'd put a stop to it. And that makes me a hypocrite. I've seen both happen and didn't do a damn thing. I'm betting you've all walked right past similar situations as well. Why do we do that? Because we're scared. If you saw a co-worker doing something illegal, wouldn't you tell your boss? Would you try to stop it? If Jerry Sandusky is as sick as it appears he is, who knows what else he'd be capable of. What if he had a weapon? Fear is what makes us walk away and Mike McQueary was a scared young man. Let's not forget that he didn't just blow the incident off. He reported it to his boss and we need to commend him for that, not tear him down.

• As for Tim Curley, the Penn State AD, I do believe he could have done more, but let's put ourselves in his shoes as well. You are the AD of a prestigious school, a school that has never been accused of wrongdoing. Your head football coach comes to you and says a graduate assistant saw Sandusky doing something inappropriate with a child. Now we know that this is the first time this type of thing has ever been document according to the grand jury testimony. This means that the AD must base all of his decisions off of an isolated incident and the only form of evidence he has is hearsay. He went on to take away Sandusky's keys to the facility and banned him from having children on campus. That actually almost seems harsh considering that it was simply a rumor from a GA's mouth that got him basically banned from using the facilities.

• In 1998, police were alerted to possible wrongdoing by Sandusky, and no criminal charges were brought against him. So even had the cops been involved, there is no guarantee that anything would have been done.

• Onto this Second Mile charity. The charity is for children with absent or dysfunctional families. So for the parents of these kids to complain about these adults that "didn't act like adults" is despicable. They weren't there for their children, but now they want to bitch and moan that their kids were hurt, when they, themselves, weren't capable of raising said child? That is disgusting. More at fault than ANYONE in this, is the parents that subjected their children to their own incapabilities as parents. In 2007, a child was staying overnight at Sandusky's house. Did something happen? Most likely, and it's because that parent allowed that to happen.

Before you blame these people of wrongdoing and having a moral obligation, put yourself in your shoes. Ask yourself what you would do. And don't just blurt out the first thing that comes into your head. REALLY think about it, because my guess is you'll react a lot differently than you think. 

So please, as you watch Sportscenter and you watch these events unfold, be objective. Don't be blinded by what the media says and does on television. Conjure up an opinion of your own for once. And make sure that while you're watching TV or reading your newspaper, you have your badge ready and your name tag on that says Detective (insert your name here), because you never know when someone will expect you to play a cop too.


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