Joe Paterno: From Legend to Let-Down

            If you decided to skip class and go live in a cave for a couple of days, you may have missed the debacle that is currently consuming all the media outlets and sports fans everywhere.  Joe Paterno, the legendary coach who holds the record for the most wins in college football, who was previously viewed as a moral exemplar, a leader, a true gentleman, a man to be admired, respected, and emulated, was fired.  Fired not for his inability to keep coaching, but because of his negligence, his compliance, and tacit approval of one of the most heinous crimes an individual can commit -- child molesting. 

            It is disturbing that some apologists are arguing that he should still have his job, saying that he fulfilled his legal obligations and is therefore exempt from any punishment or consequences.  Under his reign, a former player and assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, fondled and raped little boys, and moreover, these detestable acts repeatedly took place in Penn State facilities.  Also, it is not like this was a one-time ordeal.  Sandusky is being charged with a minimum of 40-counts of sexual assault.  A 40-count minimum!  But did Paterno have any knowledge of this?  Can he be held responsible?  Yes, current wide receivers coach, Mike McQueary, informed Paterno in 2002 of a sodomy incident involving Sandusky.  So when were the police informed?  Oh wait, they weren’t….

            Here is an account of one of the atrocious acts: McQueary walked in on Sandusky and a 10 year old in the locker room showers while Sandusky was defiling the young boy.  McQueary, keep in mind was watching this disgusting and nauseating act take place, did nothing to stop it.  Nothing.  Nothing at all.  He should be fired immediately.  Who cares that he told Paterno the next day?  Why the hell did he not do anything when he was there witnessing this god awful event take place?  But wait, it gets worse.  So the next day, he tells Paterno and all Paterno does is play the messenger and relay the information about the sodomy to the athletic director, who then in turn told the president of the university.  What did the administration decide to do with this information?  Absolutely nothing.  Law enforcement was never informed and there was never an investigation.  They just covered it up and pretended nothing ever happened. 

            My question is: What was with the student outrage and rioting?  Did those naïve college students have the slightest idea how they were presenting themselves to a nation that was watching their every move?  Look I get it, he was a great coach and a living symbol of your university, but this is way beyond football.  We aren’t talking about bowl games and tailgating festivities.  We are talking about pedophilia.  We are talking about the loss of a child’s innocence.  We are talking about a huge cover-up where football seems to have usurped morality, where touchdowns and field goals hijacked people’s ability to recognize right from wrong.  Instead of protesting Paterno’s exit, go out and protest for adjudication.  All of the men that failed to relay the sex crimes to the police should be punished under the full extent of the law.  And I don’t want to see that slap on the wrist nonsense just because he is Paterno, he is a human being, like all of us, and should be held accountable for his inaction. 

Unfortunately, the law cannot due much to this guy since he abided and followed PSU policy and passed along the information to a superior.  But what we can do, as a collective group, is recognize his egregious error in judgment and tear down his shrouded football legacy and blow it up into smithereens.  Destroying his eternal legacy is far worse than what any temporary punishment would inflict.  I know some of you are reading my article and think I am being extreme, but there is no grey area here.  As one of my fraternity brothers told me, this is not like smoking weed where we recognize some people choose to smoke and it only affects them, this is child rape and molestation, there is no acceptance and you forever ruin someone’s life.  You are either a molester or against it.  Plain and simple.  No if ands or buts.  Think about it this way: Bullying has three parties – the victim, the bully, and the stander-by.  Do we hold the stander-by accountable for their inaction?  Yes we do.  The stander-bys are just as bad as the bully, and Joe Paterno was a stander-by. 

I wish we could fire this guy more than once, but since we can’t I have another suggestion: We already have angry mobs ready and willing to protest – The Occupy Movement – so let’s utilize their indefatigable desire to camp out and picket, and let them occupy Happy Valley and Paterno’s front porch.  And instead of the “We are the 99%” mantra, let’s use “We are America, and we care about our kids.”