Joe Paterno was as beloved a football coach as there ever was, he was seen as what was right with college football. When schools like Miami, USC, and Ohio State were all bogged down with contreversary and everyone was wondering what happened to STUDENT-athletes, they could point to what was going on in Happy Valley under the reign of the old ball coach, JoePa. Joe made sure his athletes graduated, and still won football games. More football games than any other coach in college football history. Some universities have a hard time keeping their football players out of cop cars, Penn State had a hard time keeping players out of the library that was named after him. Joe had his team clean up the bleachers in Beaver Stadium after every home game one season because he had problems from a couple of his players one summer. Joe ran sprints with his players during the season. Joe made you believe that the college football world could crumble and he and Penn State would remain standing, a beacon to those doing everything wrong. On campus there was Paternoville, Paterno Statues, a sub shop had a sandwhich called the Joegie. He was a living legend, pure, unwavering. Joe cared about his kids, wanted them to be successful after football, even if that meant not winning a National Championship or losing a top recruit to another, less stringent university. Turns out it was all a lie.
Turns out Paterno cared more about image and winning than he did children.
The Statue has come down, Paternoville is now Nittanyville, the Joegie is now simply a hoagie.
Joe officially died January 22, 2012. His legacy died 10 days ago when the Freeh report (which explained how JoePa (Pa becoming increasingly ironic at this point) turned his back on little boy after little boy. Convinced those who were supposed to be running the university (President, Vice President) that having a child rapist on staff and letting him continually sexually assault boy after boy was better for Penn State than allowing the bad press that would come from exposing Sandusky for what he truly was.
As a Penn State fan, JoePa supporter and all around advocate for doing things the right way, I initially supported Paterno when Sandusky was finally arrested in November and Penn State fired Joe mid season.
"He didn't know" "He did everything he was supposed to do" "He doesn't make the final call on important decisions, that's the presidents job"
Turns out, I was wrong on all accounts.
The punishment, as reported by ESPN, is a 60 million dollar fine (Ouch), reduction of scholarships (Bigger ouch) No bowl games for 4 years (hurts recruiting) and the forfeiture of all PSU wins from 1998 to last season. The punishment will ensure that Penn State keeps playing football, but for the next 7-10 years, will never truly be successful. Ouch.
Sandusky is in jail, JoePa is dead, the President and Vice President are standing trial. So who is getting punished? ESPN reported on Monday the NCAA wanted the culture of Penn State to change, and this punishment was a way to remind all universities that sports and coaches can not become gods. Unfourtuantly, it's the athletes at Penn State that will suffer for the crimes of their former coach, and not the former coach himself. Death was an all to convenient end for Paterno. I doubt a candle light vigile would be held for him today. People are searching for answers that will never come, Penn State is looking for away to heal.No one wins when winning becomes more important than compassion and morals.
Unfortunately, you are correct -the athletes at Penn State that will suffer for the crimes of their former coach, and not the former coach himself. A $60 million fine and a four-year postseason ban, in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal involving the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky! How does this even seem fair? It is expected to be almost a decade before Penn State will be in a position to attempt to regain its place as one of the sport’s elite programs. Many will suffer because of the inexcusable actions of one man.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a sad turn of events for Penn State, since as you said, this betrayal of a few means the punishment of many. Why do we live in a culture where the wrong deeds go unpunished for so long? In each case of punishment for the above mentioned crimes, we see that many more people are getting the punishment meant for those who committed the crime. I have to say that in this case, some of the penalties are warranted, but for so many to suffer for something they did not do does not seem right. I guess this is just another unfortunate case of people needing to be upfront and honest to keep other people from being hurt. In this case, it probably would have made a huge difference if someone had spoken up years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad to think you are right and believe in all the good things someone is doing and then later come to realize they were all lies and the morals behind them weren't even right. What i really worry about is; what will happen to the upcoming sophomores who have been waiting for a year to get the chance to play football, how about the upcoming juniors who have had only a year to try division one football and are looking to making their efforts better and then finally they parents of all these kids who have put in a lot into their kids sports lives?.
ReplyDeleteHopefully something good happens to these undergrads for Penn State.