"Joe (Paterno) is perceived to be a father figure or grandfather figure, and that's a very hard thing for people to get to that realization, that your dad is bad."------ former Penn State assistant coach Matt Paknis.
Like most people this past week, I have followed with rapt but uncomfortable attention the news coming out of Penn State University as it relates to the child sex-abuse scandal.
Former defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky is accused of sexually molesting boys as young as 10 years old (the very thought of that makes me cringe with disgust) over a 15 year period.
While it is true that emotions and opinions have run across the spectrum in just about every direction you can imagine, one thing has been evidently clear, albeit unfortunately; that the victims, no, not the so-called student athletes or Joe Paterno or the Penn State student body, the real victims - the little boys (at the time) who were sexually assaulted by this sick and utterly depraved excuse for a human being, have been relegated to the background of the real conversation.
I am really not sure if I can say anymore about this matter. Why, you might ask?
Well, like most folks in the country who were all wrapped up the the "legend of Joe Paterno", a man who many saw as the very epitome of morality and everything that was good about America, I really just realized that I knew nothing about this case until I read the full grand jury findings.
Then it dawned on me why Joe Paterno was fired and why he should NEVER be allowed to coach again or be trusted with the mantle of custodial leadership on any American college campus! It also dawned on me how much we were lost as a nation, when the well-being of our most precious asset, our children and those that are vulnerable in society are sacrificed time and again, for a buck and change.
The Board of Trustees at Penn State University has demonstrated leadership that is at best rudderless and the conduct of some of the students has been at best disgraceful; what with the distasteful hero-worship of a man (Joe Paterno) who we've now found out was not exactly who we thought he was.
Like most individuals who conceal their true nature and put on appearances for the rest to see, Joe Paterno showed us not just how flawed he was, but how dishonest and callously deceptive he could be.
We have him (Joe Paterno), the Board of Trustees at Penn State University and the general "leadership" at Penn State to thank for destroying the innocence and future of America, while aiming to preserve their reputation, integrity and financial well-being.
It is obvious from the news still emanating in "drip-drip" fashion from Happy Valley that Joe Paterno ran a dictatorship where no one challenged his authority and everything was aimed at protecting him and the program from being maligned, at all cost.
Joe Paterno and everyone in a position of authority at Penn State knew about this sick man.
This video from 1987 shows Jerry Sandusky talking about his "work with children" and as the grand jury document shows, he was investigated just a decade later for having "inappropriate" contact with a young boy.
I shudder to think Penn State might actually not be an isolated case and that this decadence may in-fact be common place, particularly in small-town America, where all they have is the college football team and the ol' ball coach.
Read the full grand jury presentment here.... and it can't help but make you weep for this nation of ours.
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