Down goes another one...

Just once I would like something that we believe to be true to stay that way. I would like to wake up and know that one of college footballs BEST people and most respectable coaches is truly what we've thought he is for the last 45 years. It seems as though this may never happen. I'm sure everyone has heard something about the allegations at Penn State regarding the former Athletic Director, Gary Schultz, and the former Defensive Coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, who allegedly sodomized young boys while at the University. There is an lot of different allegations, plenty of blame for plenty of people.

When I first started hearing about this the other day my first thought was “No way you force out Joe Pa. No way he leaves Penn State in any fashion other that on his own terms.” I don't like Penn State, I never attended school there, I have no reason to have such an emotion response to the news and the speculation that Joe Paterno would be forced out early. However, due to the reputation that Joe Pa has and the fact that man is an Idol in college football I immediately resisted what I was hearing. After all, Joe Pa has a sterling reputation as someone that loves all his students and does a tremendous job teaching them how to become men. I think too few college coaches teach their players about life and just do what they can to make sure they are able to play on Saturday. That's an unfortunate side effect of the money now involved in college football. Joe Pa was a fortunate coach in that his position at Penn State was untouchable, he would coach as long as he pleased and NO ONE would remove him from his position. There was suddenly a lot of talk that Joe Pa would be removed by the Board of Trustees because of what happened.

Then a strange thing happened. I heard an ex-Penn State alum on an interview talking about it. If anyone saw the interview with Matt Millen (yes, THAT Matt Millen! The man I revile and can't believe still works in football) you'll understand. He obviously has a closeness to the situation that far outweighs mine, and yet he was able to say that we have to step back, remove emotion from whats happening and look at all the facts objectively as they come out. This from the guy that almost fought Steve Young before a game for speculating about a team and their coach. Matt Millen was absolutely right, so I started looking at all the facts that had come out. Here they are as we currently know them.

Jerry Sandusky left Penn State somewhat suddenly in 1999.

Then Graduate Assistant walks in and sees Sandusky with a young boy (in the link called Victim 2) with the boy engaged in anal sex with the boy (estimated at 10 years old by the witness) in the showers.

Joe Paterno goes to then AD Tim Curley and tells him what was witnessed.

That, sadly, is about it. There is a HUGE time line for what happened, this is the part that directly relates to Joe Pa. Joe Paterno was made aware and when his superiors basically told him not to worry about it he didn't. He had knowledge that a 10 year old boy was being sodomized in HIS locker room by a coach that had been gone for 3 years and he opted not to go to the police when nothing was done at the school. I hate to say it but Joe Pa bears a lot of responsibility for what happened. Even if he never witnessed it and he never knew about all the other kids Sandusky raped he failed to act on the parts he did have knowledge of. Failure to act is every bit as bad as committing the acts when it comes to rape, whether its rape of kids or adults. I can't see how Penn State can allow him to coach out his final season. It would be like condoning his actions and saying quite loudly that he had no obligation, legal or moral, to do something. Both of those are completely wrong. I've heard that by telling his AD he was resolved of all legal obligation (still baffles me, whatever) but that still leaves the moral aspect.

That was always the great thing about Paterno. He was a man and a coach that held his staff and students, as well as himself, to the highest moral standards. Listen to any of his former players, they are all in shock. Not a single person can believe that he really chose to do nothing! Unless there is some big omission in these reports though that is exactly what he did. He is an accessory to Sandusky's 40 counts of sexual assault. Yep, 40. All of them involving underage boys. Several of them happening in the Penn State locker room. If Paterno escapes with only a tarnished legacy and missing his last two games he should be considered the luckiest man alive. I actually hesitate to say “lucky.” It actually makes me sick to think that. I think everyone knows what I mean though. If Matt Millen is making me see things clearly there is obviously a problem with my own thought process, even though he did get it right.

Here is the report on ESPN that gives the full time line of everything Sandusky did.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7212054/key-dates-penn-state-sex-abuse-case

Making a bad idea worse

I log onto ESPN to read this headline: Dems want HGH testing, tobacco ban in baseball. I refuse to read the article until I calm down. Before anyone starts to think I'm enraged because the Dems want to do something, take a breath. I hate both sides of congress equally, they each to stupid things and they are equally to blame for the state of this country. I also firmly believe that they are both incapable of fixing anything, and they are certainly less than qualified to stick their already busy noses into a professional sport that seems to have things under control.

My rage and anger come from two different areas. First off is congress assuming they have either the legal right or the moral position to tell Major League Baseball that they need to enforce more drug testing. Our congress is as corrupt and self serving as any of the Tobacco companies or oil companies. The difference, of course, is that Congress pretends they have our best interest at heart and that they perform some useful service. Both are incorrect.

I know what people are going to say, I've heard it all before. I know I have an unpopular stance on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports. I'm not really for it, but I'm not against it. Remember that summer when McGuire and Sosa were racing for Roger Maris' home run record? How exciting was that?! Seriously, everybody in this country was watching baseball. I remember people that didn't even like the sport were talking about it and wanting to watch a game with those two guys. The Home Run Derby that year at the All Star Game? EPIC! Oh, and one small note about that.. The Andro that McGuire kept in his locker and took before each game? It wasn't a banned substance at the time. Its a pill that increases testosterone production in the body, ultimately producing a steroid like effect. At the time it wasn't even classified as a steroid. Of course now we villafy him, Sosa has bleached his skin white (easily one of the grossest and most terrifying things I've ever seen, by the way) and people forget how great a hitter they both were. People forget how exciting that summer was and how much that helped bring baseball back from the work stoppage and increase popularity in the sport. Baseball has adopted much tougher drug testing since congress got involved a few years ago and I suppose the players are safer for it. Thanks to the Cardinals and Rangers I'd even argue that the sport is as exciting as it's ever been, without drugs.

The fact that congress, in all their wisdom, continues to feel like they need to control our lives down to the last little detail makes the call for banning tobacco a logical next step. I don't understand how anyone can accept our government telling a group of grown men that they can't do something that is LEGAL in this country. Why, because kids see the big leaguers do it and they'll want to do it? How about you leave that issue to the parents. Oh, that's right, parents don't have the capacity to teach their kids right from wrong anymore. If the kids do something bad its never the parents fault anymore, the blame falls to everyone else. Being a parent of two boys I can say, with all honesty, that if either of my sons start chewing before they are 18 I will personally kick their ass. After their 18, well, they can make up their own mind. I can't control them forever and I wouldn't want to. Once they hit 18 I have to hope that what Ice taught them sticks and they make the correct choices in life. If they do decide to chew that still is preferable to them becoming rapists or murderers. I still don't need congress to do my parenting for me.

Can anyone give me an example of anything congress has done right lately? Iraq? Wall Street? The mortgage crash of a few years ago? Pay and hiring freezes for government employees? I'm sure the fact that we had to raise the debt ceiling to keep our country from defaulting on loans to other countries makes people feel good. I can find no reason for congress to do this unless they also plan to make chewing tobacco illegal. If they do that they might as well keep going to make caffeine, sugar, cigarettes and alcohol illegal as well. Why stop there? Fast food makes us fat and causes obesity. Fried foods at home will do the same. Better stop stores from selling oil too!

I realize Ice ranted off on a weird tangent. Basically I just don't see any way for congress, especially given their track record and excellent moral fiber, to make Major League Baseball better. NOTHING they touch turns to anything but bankrupt. I think I'll go back and read the article now, I feel a little better. Long live the sovereignty of major corporations and professional sports!