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There are times when it becomes very difficult to separate Brian the journalist with Brian the father. It’s an intrinsic trait for members of the media — who often aren’t linked with being human.
Along comes a story like the one unfolding at Penn State University. Happy Valley isn’t all that happy these days. The biggest scandal born out of higher education in many decades has cast a shadow over a proud football tradition.
It delves much deeper than Joe Paterno being fired as football coach after 61 years as an employee of Penn State. Much to the chagrin of those students making fools of themselves on national TV following Paterno’s dismissal, it isn’t about Joe Pa’s legacy on the gridiron.
This story is about human decency ... and lack thereof.
It’s about doing the right thing and how adults in charge of a prestigious institution of higher learning behaved like utter morons; like some gauche ostrich seeking the perfect location to insert its head in the sand.
There are only two categories in which to label anyone opining on this topic: those who have perused the grand jury’s findings released in a 23-page file, and those who haven’t read the document.
I’ll tell you flat out ... if you are up in arms over the dismissal of Paterno then you haven’t bothered to read the indictment of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
If you have read the grand jury’s findings, then you probably were as sickened by the details as I was when I took time to download the document and read it.
Those Penn State students who rioted because their beloved coach was fired ... probably did not read the indictment I would bet.
As a journalist, I am well aware that everyone is innocent until proven guilty — that’s the foundation of our justice system. I will qualify my next statement with an “if.”
If everything is true in that document, then merely firing the head coach of the football program is just the start. The Sandusky described by the victims he allegedly molested is a monster. I’m not talking about some Hollywood character in a movie painted as a monster, I’m talking about a man who is the lowest form of human garbage; a man who preyed on little boys and stole their innocence away from them by pretending to care about their well-being.
My sons play high school football ... one a senior and one a freshman. I entrust their care and their character in the hands of men who are football coaches. I trust that they will be kept healthy, happy and secure in others’ care when they aren’t at home.
The boy who was allegedly raped in the shower of a Penn State football facility by Sandusky was entrusted to adults. His mother and father also left his care and well-being to grown men.
The victim is a man now, but his innocence was gone a long time ago ... washed down the drain of the very shower where a graduate assistant coach discovered this heinous act occurring. That assistant coach, Mark McQueary, left the building that night and did not stop the rape from happening. According to the document, he went home and called his father, who in turn advised him to report the incident to Paterno.
Paterno then reported the incident to his superior, Athletic Director Tim Curley.
That incident took place in 2002. Sandusky, who was retired after serving as Paterno’s defensive coordinator for years, had his access to the football facilities revoked.
Police were not called and no law enforcement interviewed McQueary about the rape.
The victim ... was a 10-year-old boy.
In the years that followed that disgusting incident, Sandusky was still allowed on the campus. The only stipulations made was that he couldn’t bring children into the football operations buildings as part of the charity The Second Mile, which Sandusky was closely connected to for many years.
This man was using a charity formed to benefit troubled boys to prey upon them sexually. That particular rape in 2002 was not the only accusations levied against Sandusky. There are many more. After the 2002 incident, the coaching staff and athletic department knew what Sandusky was capable of.
Nobody stepped up.
Nobody bothered to stand up for those boys who were victimized.
Penn State continued to win football games and Joe Paterno continued to be hailed as one of the greatest coaches and men in collegiate sports.
Paterno, following his dismissal, said in hindsight he wished he had done more.
No kidding Joe.
I’m sorry ... but if I witness a 10-year-old boy being raped by a man I know, I’d become unglued and do whatever I physically could to stop it. If someone told me second hand about the rape and I knew the man who committed the crime, I would do what I had to do to bring him to justice — immediately. Not nine years later.
If you’re shedding a tear for Joe Paterno this week ... stop it.
Instead, shed many tears for those boys who won’t completely recover emotionally from Sandusky’s cruelty.
They are the victims in this case, not a football icon.
Of course, nobody is going to riot on behalf of boys who were raped by a man they trusted.
There are times when it becomes very difficult to separate Brian the journalist with Brian the father. It’s an intrinsic trait for members of the media — who often aren’t linked with being human.
Along comes a story like the one unfolding at Penn State University. Happy Valley isn’t all that happy these days. The biggest scandal born out of higher education in many decades has cast a shadow over a proud football tradition.
It delves much deeper than Joe Paterno being fired as football coach after 61 years as an employee of Penn State. Much to the chagrin of those students making fools of themselves on national TV following Paterno’s dismissal, it isn’t about Joe Pa’s legacy on the gridiron.
This story is about human decency ... and lack thereof.
It’s about doing the right thing and how adults in charge of a prestigious institution of higher learning behaved like utter morons; like some gauche ostrich seeking the perfect location to insert its head in the sand.
There are only two categories in which to label anyone opining on this topic: those who have perused the grand jury’s findings released in a 23-page file, and those who haven’t read the document.
I’ll tell you flat out ... if you are up in arms over the dismissal of Paterno then you haven’t bothered to read the indictment of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
If you have read the grand jury’s findings, then you probably were as sickened by the details as I was when I took time to download the document and read it.
Those Penn State students who rioted because their beloved coach was fired ... probably did not read the indictment I would bet.
As a journalist, I am well aware that everyone is innocent until proven guilty — that’s the foundation of our justice system. I will qualify my next statement with an “if.”
If everything is true in that document, then merely firing the head coach of the football program is just the start. The Sandusky described by the victims he allegedly molested is a monster. I’m not talking about some Hollywood character in a movie painted as a monster, I’m talking about a man who is the lowest form of human garbage; a man who preyed on little boys and stole their innocence away from them by pretending to care about their well-being.
My sons play high school football ... one a senior and one a freshman. I entrust their care and their character in the hands of men who are football coaches. I trust that they will be kept healthy, happy and secure in others’ care when they aren’t at home.
The boy who was allegedly raped in the shower of a Penn State football facility by Sandusky was entrusted to adults. His mother and father also left his care and well-being to grown men.
The victim is a man now, but his innocence was gone a long time ago ... washed down the drain of the very shower where a graduate assistant coach discovered this heinous act occurring. That assistant coach, Mark McQueary, left the building that night and did not stop the rape from happening. According to the document, he went home and called his father, who in turn advised him to report the incident to Paterno.
Paterno then reported the incident to his superior, Athletic Director Tim Curley.
That incident took place in 2002. Sandusky, who was retired after serving as Paterno’s defensive coordinator for years, had his access to the football facilities revoked.
Police were not called and no law enforcement interviewed McQueary about the rape.
The victim ... was a 10-year-old boy.
In the years that followed that disgusting incident, Sandusky was still allowed on the campus. The only stipulations made was that he couldn’t bring children into the football operations buildings as part of the charity The Second Mile, which Sandusky was closely connected to for many years.
This man was using a charity formed to benefit troubled boys to prey upon them sexually. That particular rape in 2002 was not the only accusations levied against Sandusky. There are many more. After the 2002 incident, the coaching staff and athletic department knew what Sandusky was capable of.
Nobody stepped up.
Nobody bothered to stand up for those boys who were victimized.
Penn State continued to win football games and Joe Paterno continued to be hailed as one of the greatest coaches and men in collegiate sports.
Paterno, following his dismissal, said in hindsight he wished he had done more.
No kidding Joe.
I’m sorry ... but if I witness a 10-year-old boy being raped by a man I know, I’d become unglued and do whatever I physically could to stop it. If someone told me second hand about the rape and I knew the man who committed the crime, I would do what I had to do to bring him to justice — immediately. Not nine years later.
If you’re shedding a tear for Joe Paterno this week ... stop it.
Instead, shed many tears for those boys who won’t completely recover emotionally from Sandusky’s cruelty.
They are the victims in this case, not a football icon.
Of course, nobody is going to riot on behalf of boys who were raped by a man they trusted.
