Uneducated and Uninformed Thoughts on the Penn State Scandal

Penn State - The only college in the country where you can major in minors!

Long story short, Jerry Sandusky, a one time great defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions, was raping young boys in the showers at the school and nobody said boo about it.

This guy...enshrined forever in statue form, is the center for most of the debate right now. Sandusky was found guilty on 40 plus charges of disgusting acts against children. I think this was all stemming from the 1990's and later. Somebody saw Sandusky raping a kid in the shower, even able to describe the sounds he heard, and supposedly reported it only for it all to be swept under the rug. Turns out, with recent victims coming forward, this may have been going on as early as the 1970's.

Sandusky started a foundation called the Second Mile which was essentially a child rapist farm system. I read disgusting stories putting this man, Jerry Sandusky, as some kind of pimp to his donors!

But that is old news. So is the fact that Joe Paterno, the head coach of the Penn State football team for like 40 plus years (second use of "40 plus" in this post), resigned and later died. He was practically forced out by Penn State, which was good. And then he died, which was kharma.

So Joe Paterno won a national title for Penn State in the 1980's. He followed up that feat with covering up the fact his assistant coach was banging little boys ON SCHOOL PROPERTY. The recent promulgation of the "Free Report" indicates that Joe Paterno did his part in helping and/or convincing the school that they should cover it up, and preserve the integrity of the football program. Sandusky was allowed to REMAIN at the school, even though he was no longer an active coach, with his own office and access to facilities where more victims were victimized.

Yes, Jerry Sandusky is the real monster in this story. However, there is a debate in my area, and to an extent across the nation, that the Statue should be taken down. Some people say it should stay up as a reminder to do the right thing because this guy who is posing in the statue did not do the right thing. Reverse psychological thinking right there. But unfortunately 10 years from now the kids who attend the school will wish they were there during the days that statue was being created so they could have lived through the magic. Somebody recently flew a banner over the stadium saying to take the banner down or "we will."

There is also a debate as to what punishment Penn State should be handed from the N.C.A.A. as a result of the Free Report. Let us get this straight, the Free Report is not an official investigation by law enforcement or government entities. The N.C.A.A. needs to perform their own investigation in this matter to gather their own evidence against the school. Most of the parts involved in this scandal and years long cover up are dead or exiled. The only person remaining as part of the scandal is the current governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who was the acting district attorney that decided to not pursue the original Sandusky claims.

The aim of the law enforcement done thus far into this scandal has been to put the initial perpetrator behind bars, and that has been done. Investigation (officially) needs to be done now into the school's handling of this and determining who should have the fingers pointed at them and who should be locked up going forward.

As a (step)father of a young son, I am disgusted as I write on this subject. So sickening how these people can be. And the idea that, according to the Free Report, those in charge of Sandusky's involvement at the school did nothing to stop this has my stomach in knots. The face of all those people is indeed Joe Paterno, who was cited in the Free Report requesting specifically that the higher ups do not expose this about Sandusky as to protect the school's program.

Like I said, official investigation needs to be done before I can say what is fact and what isn't. Documentation reviewed for the Free Report aside, it would be against our Constitutional Rights to consider the Free Report as fact. The defense and the accused have a chance to perform their own retaliatory investigation that could aim to at least lessen the blame on themselves.

The NFL has its own investigation and the Commissioner declares punishments like some kind of czar. No legal investigation has to be done. Any disputes gets done in court with representatives of the players union versus league personnel. The N.C.A.A. needs to really consider what they consider to be evidence that they have legally acquired in order to properly determine the severity of the crimes that Penn State as a university committed. I don't know much about the N.C.A.A., but from what I hear on the radio it is more like they punish programs when they maintain a competitive edge. I think that, if the Free Report is accurate, that there is reason to punish them on that basis. They did what they could to allow the program to run with Sandusky there. They tried to resign in hopes it would all end quickly and sweep under the rug, and that Paterno reportedly wanted to protect the football program. I guess if the program was protected, than it was able to thrive whereas it would have suffered from a turning of the back by recruits not wanting to be a part of a school associated with a pedophile. However, the school was able to profit from the football program, which may be part of the advantage. Time will tell.

As I wrote this over a couple days, the decision came to remove the statue of Joe Paterno this morning. Some people said leave it up as a reminder of what atrocious things that guy did. Huh? That would be like the Bills wearing a patch with OJ Simpson's face on their uniforms. I don't care about the school's heritage. If I was the parent of a victim from Penn State, I would take the statue down myself.

Something disturbing - Penn State had it's most ever donations in the wake of this scandal. So many people I associate with on Facebook had their Penn State symbols up. Student athletes showed their support of Jo-Pa. It wasn't their fault or the alumni I know's faults. It was your hero, Jo-Pa. Scumbag. His legacy should include just as much on the child raping scandal as his football achievements.

Whew...That was very tough to even make an attempt to sound intelligent. Toon in next time when I delve into a topic just as depressing - I review every job I have ever had since I was 17.