Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Memetrics
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktI have been largely baffled and appalled by the reaction to the unspeakable child molestation incidents that have been connected to Penn State, its coaches and administrators. I’m a big sports fan and my first child is due to appear on Saturday so I guess that helps explain my interest in the story. I have traded comments with many bloggers over at ESPN in the last week or so attempting to disabuse people of their inclination to defend Paterno. I have also read lots of columns addressing the issue, but the majority of them lack any semblence of perspective. This weekend I occasionally switched over to the Penn State v. Nebraska game only to hear announcers, coaches and players lament the empty seat on the Penn State bus usually occupied by Joe Paterno or to praise the focus of the players despite all the distractions (I get angry even typing that). I eventually just had to stop watching the game. I was also slightly disappointed in how Obama addressed the issue when asked about it during another sporting event, the Carrier Classic. While he made the point to focus on the children, he should have more forcefully condemned the attitudes that got Penn State to the point it is now. Finally I think I have found a column that strikes the appropriate tone.
The author may cast his net a bit too wide on occassion, but even when he does, he raises issues about corporations, religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. I particularly enjoyed his ending:
Nevertheless, Kenny said:
“Thankfully … this is not Rome. Nor is it industrial school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish-Catholic world. This is the Republic of Ireland, 2011. A Republic of laws … of rights and responsibilities … of proper civic order … where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular kind of ‘morality’ will no longer be tolerated or ignored … as taoiseach, I am making it absolutely clear that, when it comes to the protection of the children of this state, the standards of conduct which the Church deems appropriate to itself cannot, and will not, be applied to the workings of democracy and civil society in this Republic.”
He did not drop to his knees. He did not ask for a moment of silence. He did not seek “closure” but, rather, he demanded the hard and bitter truth of it, and he demanded it from men steeped in deceit from their purple carpet slippers to their red beanies. Enda Kenny did not look to bind up wounds before they could be cleansed. And that is the only way to talk about what happens after the raping of children.
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All Things in Moderation 
In an odd reversal universe, I will now become a Penn State fan again. As an alumni from the late 70’s, I used to sit 4 rows behind Joe Paterno at Mass in Eisenhower Auditorium on Sunday. Back then he was just a terrific football coach, and good man all around. Something happened in the last 10-12 years or so, that had made me root against my alma mater though. It had ceased to be Penn State University, and had become Paterno State University.It seemed at the time to be happening just on the football field, though now we know that much more was occurring elsewhere. When Sandusky “retired” in 1999 he was presumed to have lost some sort of internal power struggle. Tom Bradley took over the defense and essentially saved Joe’s reputation as Bradley produced quality defenses year after year producing the team’s winning records. Meanwhile on the offensive side of the ball where Joe ruled, ossification, nepotism and gerontology ruled the day. The coaching got less and less competent as prep stars came and went without ever achieving their potential. Joe’s son was given responsibilities clearly beyond his capability but was as untouchable as the ancient Galen Hall and Dick Anderson rounding out the oldest coaching staff in the NCAA, perhaps the oldest ever. Personal animosity seemed to rule the day as when QB Rob Bolden requested a transfer but was denied a release by Paterno. I need not go into the by now well known details of how this were happening off the field as well as on. A lesser known tale perhaps though is that Graham Spanier the President and Tim Curley the AD tried to retire Paterno in 2004 but were rebuffed. So out of proportion had things become at the university that a then 78 year old head coach could simply refuse to leave and be upheld. Never a material or acquisitive person Paterno loved the spotlight and cultic status bestowed on him more than anything else in the world. He perhaps knew better than anyone else that he could never have that adulation in pro football and decided not to go when the offers came. To say he was drunk with power, is not exactly accurate. It was the “love” he craved, not the power per se, not even the victories. For you see any coach as good as Joe must have known that his insularity was sacrificing victories. He didn’t gather his sycophantic band of offensive stooge coaches around him because he thought they were good. He did it because they were no threat to him on any level. No one could ever say that the Penn State program had a lot of bright young minds that were REALLY responsible for the victories. To that extent also, the players were anonymous and purposefully so. Tim Tebow could never have happened at Penn State. Penn State is one of the last major programs where the players don’t even have their names on their jerseys or are be made routinely available for interviews. While the particular cause of the ending is both shocking and horrifying, the fact that it could ONLY have ended this way, was inevitable. Paterno and Penn State University were locked in a death grip struggle that could only have ended when something pried one out of the cold dead hand of the other.
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John,That comment should have been a post. You need full posting powers. Email me at kevinwillis@kevinwillis.net, and let me know when you've done so. I'll email you an author invitation. If someone hasn't already done that.BTW, my favorite conspiracy podcast suggests (and this is not knew) that the elites, the shadow governments, the secret societies, etc., are full of pedophiles. While it's a crackpot conspiracy, it would explain the bizarre behavior of not just Paterno and Sandusky, but those around them.
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John- Excellent comment. A very interesting perspective.Kevin- There is that rumor that Sandusky was pimping little boys out to pendophile boosters so….This story also reminds me of a recent freakonomics podcast about booing. It's notp polite to boo, so instead we find nice things to say like the commending the players and coaches for enduring a hard week. Everyone just should have booed.
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Thanks, John.I do not intend to be an apologist for Joe Paterno. I do think the child abuse reporting requirements: when, to whom, and about what; should be made clear in every teaching environment, including universities. I think it should be part of the "education" curriculum so that every prospective teacher and coach is aware of it. Experience tells me that it is not well known in these environments [as it is in day care].**************************Has anyone wondered why McQ did not intervene in the original incident of 2002?
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Mark:Has anyone wondered why McQ did not intervene in the original incident of 2002?Every day since I heard about it. And the description of him at the time as a "graduate assisstant" was misleading, at least to me. I was surprised to learn that he wasn't some 22 year old just out of school. He was 28 years old. How can a 28 year old man witness another man sodomizing a 10-13yr old boy and not do something to immediately stop it? He instead leaves to call his own father to ask him what to do? Are you kidding me? Inexplciable.
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kevin:I have a better idea. If there is any comment of mine that you believe merits a separate posting, please take whatever action you think best.
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Mark-The law should also simply require the witness to report it rather than allowing them to tell their boss who then is required to report it. What is the benefit to that? I certainly have wondered about why McQ didn't intervene in the locker room and I have also wondered why charges were not persued back in 1998-99. I can't even begin to speculate as to what McQ was thinking. You said in the previous thread that in your experience people often just choose to walk away and not become involved. I am guessing prosecutors have asked him to stay quiet. While I have very little knowledge about the criminal side of the legal field I assume the prosecutor holds some things back at the Grand Jury stage. If any clarity is to be had, I doubt we'll get it until the trials or after. I also wonder if Paterno made a deal because it seems to me that there is a strong argument that as McQ's boss he was required to report the incident to Children's Services rather than to the AD. Or maybe they just figured a conviction against Paterno was a near impossibility.
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"How can a 28 year old man witness another man sodomizing a 10-13yr old boy and not do something to immediately stop it?"As inexplicable as it is, aren't we, as culture, told to tell someone else? not get involved. don't fight back, give the mugger your wallet, be a good witness, etc.
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John. Fine! I will, then.
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I was surprised to learn that he wasn't some 22 year old just out of school. He was 28 years old. Not to mention former QB and Captain at PSU so he had no reason to be physically intimidated by Sandusky and was allegedly a leader. I guess that background may also explain why he kept this all in house. John may be able to correct me, but my impression was that McQ's family is friends with the Paternos. Also, if the Second Mile board of directors was told about the incident in 2002 and all they did was quietly remove Sandusky from the charity, they should all be removed, too.
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"Finally I think I have found a column that strikes the appropriate tone."I liked the column as well, until I hit this:"If Mike McQueary had seen a child being raped in a boardroom or a storeroom, he wouldn't have been any more likely to have stopped it, or to have called the cops, than he was as a graduate assistant football coach at Penn State. With unemployment edging toward double digits, and only about 10 percent of the workforce unionized, every American who works for a major company knows the penalty for exercising his personal freedom, or his personal morality, at the expense of "the company." Independent thought is discouraged. Independent action is usually crushed. Nobody wants to damage the brand. Your supervisor might find out, and his primary loyalty is to the company. Which is why he got promoted to be your supervisor in the first place."http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7233704/the-brutal-truth-penn-stateThe failures at Penn State weren't due to a lack of unionization by the assistant coaches. Nor does this explain the Catholic Church.
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jncp- Like I said in my post, I thought the author struck the right tone, but cast too wide of a net on occasion. My take away was that the only way to honor the victims is to talk openly and honestly about what occured rather than create false moments of reconciliation or healing. Actually I think the likelihood of a cover-up would have been just as high or higher if those involved had been in a union.
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With unemployment edging toward double digits, and only about 10 percent of the workforce unionized, every American who works for a major company knows the penalty for exercising his personal freedom, or his personal morality, at the expense of "the company."Really? How many people here are going to come across someone you work for raping a kid, are you stopping and doing a pro-vs-con argument? "Well, I could get in trouble. And I might lose my job. And then it would be hard to make my car payments. And what's a little child rape, when I think about missing some car payments?" If you're going to skip reporting on a child rape (or avoid interference) because you don't want to jeopardize your job working for a place where people rape children, this is not a problem with insufficient unionization.
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I was less bothered by the assertion per se than by the fact that the previous 1/2 of the article was a straight "Take personal responsibility" old school screed, that then used the typical "I'm not saying this is about X, however" twist to make it not about personal responsibility and instead about larger societal factors.I.e. You can't square"The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about. The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the possibility that people lied to a grand jury about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the likelihood that most of the people who had the authority at Penn State to stop the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky proved themselves to have the moral backbone of ribbon worms."with"If Mike McQueary had seen a child being raped in a boardroom or a storeroom, he wouldn't have been any more likely to have stopped it, or to have called the cops, than he was as a graduate assistant football coach at Penn State. With unemployment edging toward double digits, and only about 10 percent of the workforce unionized, every American who works for a major company knows the penalty for exercising his personal freedom, or his personal morality, at the expense of "the company." Independent thought is discouraged. Independent action is usually crushed. Nobody wants to damage the brand. Your supervisor might find out, and his primary loyalty is to the company. Which is why he got promoted to be your supervisor in the first place."Either the people who overlooked the abuse and covered it up are responsible or they aren't.
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Kevin:Really? How many people here are going to come across someone you work for raping a kid, are you stopping and doing a pro-vs-con argument?Very very few, I imagine. Although I wouldn't have imagined McQueary doing what he did, so perhaps my imagination is not what it ought to be.As for his double digit unemployment point, well, in 2002 the unemployment rate was 6% and the economy was just taking off again. I think he overreached just a bit in trying to turn this into a contemporary political issue.
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Just saw on ESPN thatMcQueaty apparently did stop the 2002 incident. Not that it excuses what he did next but I think I am going to abandon any attempt to figure out what happened and wait for tis thing to play itself out.
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I need to stop posting from mt iPad. Too many typos.
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ashot, can you elaborate on what you saw on ESPN that McQueary did stop the 2002 incident? Something more to stop it than just interrupting by appearing suddenly?I too think we have to wait until this plays out, but I suspect it will be a very long time before that happens. I am even more curious about possible complicity of PSU officials at many levels re the coincidental timing of Sandusky's retirement. Did they all know even earlier than the 2002 shower incident and do absolutely nothing??? I'll probably never have an answer to that one.
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Okie, Here is an article discussing that McQueary intervened.That article doesn't make it clear how he intervened, though.Here's the transcript of Sandusky's interview with Bob Costas.
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