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Monday, November 14, 2011

A tarnished Penn State

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I still can't get over the fact that in 28 year old graduate student, who is well over 6 foot and weighs over 200 pounds, would not have jumped in that shower to stop the raping of a young child.  Mike McQuary allowed former Penn state coach Jerry Sandusky to continue abusing the boy.  All McQuary could think of was calling his father and then coach Paterno.  What a pathetic individual.

You will ever get me to believe that the other coaches did not know anything about this incident.  Locker room gossip spreads just as rapid as work place gossip.  Questions should have been asked and answered when Jerry Sandusky retired at age 55, for personal reasons.  Successful assistant coaches don't retire; they go on to be head coaches.  I wonder if Joe Paterno would have given his fellow coaches a heads up, when they inquired about Sandusky.  After all, when Coach Paterno reported the incident to his boss, all he did was take away Sandusky's keys to the athletic room.  No one picked up the phone to call the police or at least the Second Mile charity to make them aware of the incident.  Coach Sandusky received a $150,000 lump-sum payment at retirement and still gets almost $60,000 a year. Jerry Sandusky is free on a $100,000 unsecured bail by a judge who was a volunteer at the Second Mile charity.

I guess it would've done any good to call the Second Mile charity because when its president, Jack Raykovitz, was told about the incident, he never contacted the police either.   Penn State athletic Director Tim Curley told Mr. Raykovitz that an employee of Penn State was uncomfortable about seeing Sandusky in the locker room shower with a boy but an internal investigation revealed no wrongdoing.

This long overdue investigation should at minimum provide the names of all the people in positions of authority that had knowledge of Sandusky's wrongdoing.  Every one of  those people should be fired immediately for covering up a hideous crime.  Until then, the university shouldn't even talk of a bowl game, even though it might hurt the players who had nothing to do with this scandal.

I can see the similarity between the catholic church priest scandal and Penn State because it was all about protecting the institution at all cost.  The hierarchy put their stamp of approval on decisions made by their subordinates.  I don't buy the " could've have known" excuse because a leader that comes through the ranks, knows what happens at the ground level.  They could start by calling in all the people in positions of authority and tell them that cover-ups will not be tolerated.  They can follow through by publishing their memorandum.

I remember when the local firefighters had their little scandal and many posters said" Boys will be boys." That's where it all starts, as our parents used to tell us " give them little rope and they'll hang themselves." A spouse wrote that we should appreciate the work and sacrifice our public servants put in.  We do, but horseplay of a sexual nature, muddies the water on what will be tolerated and what action calls for discipline.  If we tolerate it, we get people like Herman Cain, who will laugh and threaten their accusers.

On another subject, I got a glimpse of the new Victoria Advocate on line forum. It looks professional and colorful. I logged in  7:00 this morning, so it was a little confusing as most things are when they're first presented.  I hope they don't jam all the blogs together because the tests,ads, and the Advocate blogs will not allow a blog much viewing time.  I'm not going to write a blog that only stays up 2 hours.  I'm sure they're working through all the kinks and everything will be fine.

14 comments:

Legion said...

The crux of the Penn State scandal was IMO very well explained on SA sports talk radio.

A caller said that Coach Paterno shouldn't have been fired, that he had reported what the graduate student saw to his superiors.

One of the radio show hosts, I don't remember his name,said, "That's a cop out, Joe Paterno IS Penn State, he doesn't have anyone above him on any Penn State organizational chart."

There is a ton of truth in what he said.

Edith Ann said...

I just listened to the 5:30 ABC news talking about this.

If this group of victims, their parents and their families do not band together in a class-action style civil law suit, they are missing the boat!

TWO different times Sandusky was discovered sodomizing a young boy. Neither witness did anything more than tell Paterno.

Paterno didn't go further with it.

Law enforcement was notified at one point and they closed the investigation AFTER listening in on a phone conversation where Sandusky is begging the victim to forgibve him!

When Sandusky was finally investigated and arrested, he turned himself into a judge who is a huge contributor to his foundation. She set the nond at 1/5th of what the DA was asking and refused to order an ankle monitor as requested by the DA!

THIS is how this was allowed to exist for YEARS!

Sue to whole lot-coaches, witnesses, the school, law enforcement, the judge, the foundation---All of them!

Mike said...

Glad I'm not alone because as Legion said,a lot of sports casters were circling the wagons around Coach Joe and Penn State...It's not about football,it's about the failure of the system....I agree with EA, but this is the rational for allowing Penn State to play in a bowl game.Some were saying that Penn State needs to continue playing ,so they had enough money to pay the families of those abused....Please,the school has insurance and Penn State football is not going share the proceeds ...It would be nice if they gave some money to help abuse kids everywhere.

Edith Ann said...

The sportscasters may be circling the wagons, but I do not see the non-sports guys affording this issue the same courtesy.

ABC's Good Morning America has ben particularly dilligent in covering this.

As to the bowl game--Paterno is gone, and the current team (as far as we know) is not implicated in anyway. So why not play the bowl game. To not do so would really be punishing the wrong folks. But that's just my opinion.

And Penn State could settle their part of the lawsuit by establishing a huge scholarship fund to provide abused children with college educations.

Mike said...

If an investigation leads to more coaches being fired,then it will be out of their hands unless they make exceptions.

The Pennsylvania atty.Gen said the coach that saw the abuse ,met the minimum requirement for reporting....Now,they are taking steps to correct that.

Mike said...

In Bob Costa's interview with Sandusky last night,the coach conceded that he shouldn't have showered with the young boys...You think!

Edith Ann said...

I heard that interview replayed several times last night.

Disgraceful. Disturbing.

Edith Ann said...

Here is an excellent commentary on this. You got it via email, but here is the link for the other readers:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7233704/the-brutal-truth-penn-state

Mike said...

Thanks EA, there is also an excellent article in this weeks Time Magazine.

Mike said...

Now there found where a clubhouse manager of the Boston Red Sox did the same thing back in the 1970s. The ballplayers warned the young boys hanging around the spring training facilities in Miami but the front office didn't do anything about it. Years later, one of the abused held up a sign on national TV accusing the clubhouse manager of molesting him. Then the Boston Red Sox paid the victim $100,000 for his silence.... This is just another case of protecting the system , as was detailed in the article EA submitted..... How many more are out there?

Edith Ann said...

This morning they are reporting 18 victims and counting!

All I have to say is this entire bunch better jump on that civil suit that includes Joe Paterno--his clock is ticking...

Nancy Grace and Dan Abrams discussing this on GMA. She's madder than all get out, and I do not see her giving this up. This is her new 'Casey Anthony'.

Mike said...

EA
It's not going away,so Penn State needs to make this a priority and it should be a lesson for all institutions.

Legion said...

The caller was defending Paterno.
The radio hosts point was that Paterno should be fired, HE IS Penn State. Paterno has, oops had more influence and power at Penn State than anyone else, the President included.

Mike said...

The sport writers who covered the Nittany Lions said Joe Paterno was an arrogant SOB and he showed that by wanting to retire on his own terms. He didn't care about the seriousness of the incident by saying he would stay until the end of the year.