Football vs Common Sense

“You saw 10-year-olds raped in the shower? — Ah, well. So, listen, on this next play…”

So clearly the news for this week is all about Joe Paterno and Penn State. Until I moved out to DC I had no idea that people were obsessed with Penn State as they are. I actually have a lot of friends who are from PA or went to Penn State and their facebook wall's were exploding with all kinds of interesting things this past week.

Which I feel like I should preface this post by saying that I have no connection to Penn State at all. And I have never gone to a school with a football cult so I don't have the same feelings that others may have. However I do know right from wrong and I think Penn State was in the right for firing "JoePa"

I do admit to shaking my head in disgust when the news showed students rioting at Penn State after news broke that Joe Pa was fired. Nothing like a bunch of college students hopped on keystone light rallying. Apparently some of these students and alumni think sports are more important than making a growing list of child rapist enablers pay for being.. well, child rapist enablers. Except that dumb wasn’t contained to just Penn State, and if you’re like me you were slapped in the face on Facebook with football worshipers acting like Joe Paterno was innocently nailed to a cross like Christ himself. So let’s address some of the more bs lines coming out of this thing, and keep in mind these are actual defenses I’ve seen on facebook or have read:


“Joe Paterno is a scapegoat!”
Yes, because clearly Joe Paterno is the only person suffering any consequences for this whole debacle, and he’s not one of at least five people as of this post either fired and/or arrested. That was just a mirage.

“If you’re yelling more loudly for Joe Paterno to be fired than for Jerry Sandusky, you’re an idiot.”
This one boggles the mind and I saw this one repeatedly. Apparently if you support Joe Paterno being fired for letting this happen in his house, you’re sitting back going, “Now that Sandusky fellow, he’s
alright…” Incredible logic.

“Why is no one calling for Mike McQueary to be fired?!”
You have to admire the simpletons that try to turn this into an either/or situation thanks to a brain mushified from watching men in tights move a ball down a field four hours on end. You can want Paterno fired AND McQueary fired at the same time. (I just blew your mind, I know.) They should both go down, especially McQueary who apparently sees kids being raped and doesn’t go, “Hey, stop raping that kid.” How do you even justify that? “Well, your honor, I had to put my shoes away and then go home and ask my daddy what to do. My hands were tied.” I can't even wrap my mind around McQueary. How do you see something like that and instead of putting a stop to it right away and grabbing the kid you run home and tell your dad. McQueary wasn't 12 he was a grown man. And look I tell my parents everything to but there comes a point in your life where you need to stop with the playground thinking of "MOOMM DADDDD, He pushed me and settle your business" I've also heard people say "Well you don't know what you would have done in his position." Which wrong. I know EXACTLY what I would do. First I would grab a chair and whack Sandusky with it. Then I would grab the kid wrap him in whatever I could find and get him out of there. What I would not do is leave him alone with Sandusky to finish and go home. If you are a normal human being with morals I hope you know what you would do in this situation.

By the way McQueary is a ginger. That says everything right there. I also read the grand jury report and McQueary admitted to seeing a naked Sandusky raping a child about 10 in a shower. And he did nothing. Oh wait he did do something he accepted a permanent job on the football team after bearing witness to that.

“We just sacrificed an old man for a witch hunt. That’s what our society has come to.”
If holding every complicit person who let kids get raped to protect the reputation of sports team accountable is a witch hunt, give me a Pilgrim hat and a copy of The Scarlet Letter.

“But Joe Paterno’s legacy! Sixty years of coaching and this is going to be how he’s remembered?”
Kids. Got. Raped. I can't repeat this enough. Apparently that’s not as important as making sure a guy who devoted decades to a meaningless game is remembered as a dear, sweet grandfather type and not as an egomaniacal, good old boy who decided to quietly treat child rape like people in the 1950s treated spousal abuse to protect his “legacy.” Seriously, people. It's FOOTBALL.

“I feel bad for Joe PA. Oh, and it’s a shame about the kids.”
Look back through your Facebook and/or Twitter feed and notice how many times you see that statement with the part about the kids added as an afterthought. “No, not the football coach! — Oh, right, those kids. I guess they kind of got it bad, too.” Priorities, people.

I could go on and on with this, but bottom line, Joe Paterno was one of many, many people who covered up child rape to protect  his legacy and sports team and, surprise, he made himself the face of Penn State football, so of course he’s going to be the biggest target. That’s the price of a “legacy.” And if you’re looking at this situation going, “But he won so many games!” you’re part of the problem.

The whole thing says so much about where people's priorities lie. I felt the same way when the whole Catholic Church scandal happened. Any priest of church official who was told about a priest molesting kids and didn't do anything or follow up on it is just as guilty. Joe Pa reported it to campus police and continued on with his life. If he held as much sway and power as everyone is saying he did at Penn State he should have stepped up. But he didn't. Instead his legacy will be tarnished forever. Yeah he won the most games in college football history but that will just be a footnote in his life now.

All it takes for evil to happen is for good men to do nothing. Which is what happened here.