Thursday, November 10, 2011

Really sad day for college football.

Yes this is related to Joe Paterno but him being fired is not why I am sad. To me he had to be fired. He deserved to be fired. He deserved to be fired because he thought it was good enough to just pass the buck on to his boss and that was enough. No where in the time from the day he was told about until now did he think it was important enough to follow up after telling the AD about what he had been told. He had to have seen Sandusky around. He had knowledge that he was still involved in the charity and would have access to more boys. He either never again gave it thought or gave it thought and did not do anything more about it. Either way he is paid to be a leader and he did not lead. He teaches his players to have integrity yet showed none himself.

Mike McQueary you are a coward. The right thing to do would have been to get that boy out of that situation and you left him there to fend for himself. Some people have said that we can't know for sure what we would have done in the same situation. To that I say they are correct, we can't know. We can however know what was right to do in that situation. His dad was just as bad for telling him to leave and get out there. Would his dad have told another man, yes McQueary was a grown man at the age of 28 when this happened, to get out of the building if that was happening to his son and he got a phone call about it?

Anyone else that had knowledge and did nothing should be gone as well. Those things don't make me sad. As a father, a brother, and a human they make me angry. Angry that they allowed more innocent kids to be harmed because of their inaction. Angry that the boy never had someone in a position of power stand up for him. I am sad for totally different reason.

I am sad because of the riots I saw on television and the chants of go Penn State I heard in the background. I am sad that people seem to be putting football and a program above the ruined lives of so many young boys. I am sad that the culture of something I love so much, college football, could be part of the reason why something like this went unreported. I am sad that people can't see the big picture and realize that Paterno in no way was wronged. I am sad that people are making this about Paterno and football instead of about the awful things that have happened. I am sad for our society and the college football world that as shocked as I am at the actions of these men that it would not surprise me if something similiar happened again on another campus. I am not talking about the terrible actions of a child molestor, though that makes me the saddest. I am talking about about people turning their heads to what is right in the name of football. I am not naive enough to believe that college football is clean. There are people breaking rules all the time. I guess I was naive enough to think though that on something that really mattered like this that people would choose what is right over their football program. I hope that we as college football fans, coaches, players and adminstrators learn something from this. I hope that never again does someone turn a blind eye to something they know is wrong in the name of protecting their school and football program.

I hope that come Saturday the fans have a moment of silence for the tragedy that has taken place instead of a pep rally for a man who sat idly by after doing the bare minimum he legally could.

2 comments:

  1. You have so eloquently expressed what many of us are thinking. Its been so disheartening to see students and others defend Joe Pa and Mike Mcqueary with all that we know and the information that is available. They refuse to see the bigger picture. That children were raped, that from the moment MM busted Sandusky it could have been over, future rapes could have been prevented, the stain would have only been against Samdusky and Penn St could have kept it's legacy and revered coach. To continue to defend those who were part of the cover up is sad and wrong, and a further slap and hurt to those who already been victimized. It is telling those victims that their college football program is more important than any abuse and horror the victims endured. How insanely sad. And wrong....

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  2. Sorry I took so long to respond I just really didn't know what else to say. The more news that comes out the worse it gets and that is hard to believe.

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