Do yourself a favor and go read the Grand Jury Report about Sandusky's alleged crimes. I warn you, it describes in detail what Jerry Sandusky is said to have done to 8 of these children and it is completely beyond comprehension. Prepare for the fact that it's probably going to ruin your day. It definitely ruined mine yesterday when I read it.
I've never been a college football fan (not really), but as a sports fan it's hard not to admire Penn State and Joe Paterno. I don't think I ever got to the point of idolizing him like many at State College have, but before this year I felt nothing but respect for Joe. It's just plain impressive that he has dedicated over 6 decades to his school. That's how I felt before Monday anyway, when I first heard about what former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky was being accused of.
I'm not often the kind of guy that stands for being guilty in the court of public opinion, but for me it's hard to imagine his innocence as a legitimate possibility. These reports are simply too detailed to be fabrication, there's too many witnesses. If Sandusky is somehow acquitted after these allegations I'll apologize, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. These reports paint the picture of a man that is a complete monster, someone who has been preying on troubled youths for more than 2 decades. A man who has ruined the lives of countless young people that didn't have great lives to begin with.
For those of you who don't know what happened and don't have the time to read the entire 23 page statement, here's the abridged version of the most talked about incident involving Victim #2.
1. Jerry Sandusky is a retired defensive coach for Penn State with complete and total access to Penn State facilities included as part of his retirement package.
2. A 28 year graduate named Mike McQueary walked in on him sodomizing a young boy in 2002 in a team shower, he estimated that boy to be no older than 10. McQueary reported the incident to head football coach Joe Paterno the next day. Joe Paterno reported it to his Athletic Director Tim Curley.
3. Tim Curley and Gary Schultz (Senior Vice President for Finance and Business) interviewed McQueary about the incident and it was ultimately decided that Sandusky's key would be taken away and the incident would be reported to his charity The Second Mile.
4. Jerry Sandusky would no longer be allowed on campus with any young children from The Second Mile program.
5. These men never informed law enforcement or child protective services of any kind of what McCreary witnessed
--
.... Is That Real Life?
Could there have been any more of a conspiracy here? How on earth do so many people think it's okay to have an incident of this magnitude go unreported. I don't care that in the eyes of the university that this issue was resolved, at some point as a person McQueary or Paterno had to come forward.
I don't say this lightly at all, but Joe Paterno absolutely deserved to be fired for his lack of action. His legacy is forever tarnished. He KNEW about these allegations and sat on the information for NINE fucking years. Nine years where a possible (and likely) pedophile roamed the streets. I'm not of the mindset that Paterno deserves all of the blame, but to think more children weren't harmed in the decade of Paterno's silence is naive.
Paterno has claimed as recently as today that he didn't know the extent of what Sandusky was being accused of and thought that McQueary had only witnessed fondling or something of that nature. I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound like a real possibility to me and even if it was that doesn't excuse his silence. Joe Paterno IS Penn State, there's absolutely no way he wasn't an influence on the decisions the university made regarding Sandusky. Joe Paterno had such a long tenure at the University that he had superiors only in name. This happened under his watch, and it was his guy committing these crimes.
McQueary is still with the team, and I think it's probably for legal reasons they can't remove him. It'll be an absolute joke if he's still an assistant coach with the team next year after staying silent as long as he has. This is a man who knows without a shadow of a doubt that Sandusky is guilty because he witnessed it with his own 2 eyes. McQueary didn't ask for any of this to happen, but as a human being he should be held to the standard of doing the right thing and informing law enforcement.
Penn State is playing a football game on Saturday with a new head coach and McQueary not allowed to be on the sideline, it's going to be a 100,000+ person rally for Penn State football and Joe Paterno. I ask you, DO NOT WATCH IT. I understand that it might be good television to see what the atmosphere is like, but it would also send a message to the university that playing football on Saturday is a morally responsible thing to do.
Fuck You, Penn State.
No comments:
Post a Comment