What "is" and now what "was" at Penn State

"is" and "was" personified.

 I don't want to pretend that I will be sharing an opinion that is at all new.  It isn't.  There have been 12 bazillion stories and opinions written about the atrocities at Penn State (and I think that's an appropriate word) and I'm sure that what type won't be in any way new.  But blogs create an opportunity to, if nothing else, put opinions in the ether.  Hence this post.

Penn State has done nothing well in handling this situation.  Nothing.  They stood by their people in the face of a grand jury indictment and continued to, up and until they were thrown out the back door.  They kept a regular 12:20 Tuesday press conference slot open with a "football questions only, you guys" mandate on the books until 10 minutes before when it was cancelled.  They have been all too quiet as the New York Times goes to press with news of the head coach's eventual, if not imminent, ouster.  And their President, a man that no one outside of State College knew of until Saturday, has been the "leader" of a place where there was clearly no leadership to be found.

To say things are running afoul at Penn State is the understatement of the decade, if not this young century, as far as sports are concerned.  What Jerry Sandusky is accused of doing (I'm not going to link to the Grand Jury indictment, maybe the most disgusting 24 pages I've ever read, and as sickening as Human Centipedes 1 & 2 combined) is the worst of humanity.  He is the worst of humanity if any of the myriad charges sticks to him in the eyes of the law.

I cannot, however, say that the actions of several Penn State officials are the same.  They are not and they cannot be.  What Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz, Tim Curley and Mike McQueary did is awful but, Jesus, how would you react if you heard a school's employee, former coach and legend had been accused of reacting?  At the very lease, you would probably pause, as Timothy Burke said yesterday on twitter.  And he's right. 

But that pause lasted years.  YEARS.  An alleged sex offender roamed the Penn State football campus, facilities, even their Internet access freely, while using a charity to rape children.  You can't pause anymore.  What the four PSU officials mentioned above did was just short of criminal in an of itself.  Eventually, the human code has to supersede anything else.  For these men, for whatever reason, it did not.  And that's indefensible.

I've left one notable cog out of this post until now.  I am of course referring to Joe Paterno, the legendary coach of the Penn State football team.  I should note that I am a Buckeye fan and I love Ohio State.  But I love Joe Paterno, as far as sports go.  I have always been in awe of his leadership, his abilities, even his wit in the face of still coaching despite doing so more as the Queen of England than as the Field General.  Joe Paterno is the model, in my mind.

Or at least he was.

Joe Paterno is going to end his tenure as Penn State's head football coach maybe today, maybe next week, but definitely sooner than he (and a lot of PSU fans) had wanted.  He is right now living the second line of his eulogy. He made a decision, black and white in the face of the law, but very, very gray in the eyes of humanity.  It will cost him his job, it will cost him a large part of his legacy and it will cost his school in unknown quantities for years to come. 

I will put aside, if I may, the disgusting allegations levied upon Sandusky, and the beyond awful fates of the victims involved.  But watching this whole thing go down has been incredibly difficult because of how highly I held Joe Paterno in my mind.  This is no way for a legend to pass, but I realize that there is simply no other way for this to happen.  It is awful, tragic and, above everything else, necessary.


This is the two hour's traffic for Penn State, its fans, its detractors and for college football fans everywhere.  And as a college football fan, I am truly sad to watch this story unfold.