A Few Last Concluding Words About The Sandusky Scandal (Hopefully)

PATERNO and WIFE SUE

While researching the story immediately below, we were taken aback by the rising number of comments defending Joe Paterno and claiming Penn State was using their historic old coach as a scapegoat.

Really?

Who thinks that?  The only people who could possible think Paterno is a scapegoat are people who: 

1) have never been a parent or who are parents and don’t appreciate that their first priority is to protect their child emotionally and physically;

2) have never been a decision maker responsible for the well-being of others or the well-being of an important institution;

3) have not taken the time to learn the details of what really happened, and how badly Paterno and the other administrators at Penn State responded to the situation;

4) doubt the validity of the Grand Jury report that cites eight victims and supports 40 criminal counts, and/or

5) are just plain stupid.  

Simply put, if your allegiance to a college football team is so strong that you can look the other way while a grown man rapes a ten-year-old boy, then you are an idiot.  If you think the most powerful man in the Penn State universe isn't responsible for doing right by that ten-year-old boy, you're an even bigger idiot. 

There, we said it. We got it off our chest.  

Now, if you're a college student, we forgive you. You're young, and in spite of  your confident belief that you "know everything," you don't know everything because you simply haven't had the full gamut of life's experiences (including parenthood, which, as it turns out, is a bit of game changer!)

For you “scapegoaters,” one last quick review:

A (we presume "credible"), grad assistant told Paterno he heard and then saw a former coach having SEX with a ten-year-old BOY in a shower in a PSU football building. A day later, Paterno told his Athletic Director what now appears to be a watered-down, sugar-coated version of what the grad assistant very VIVIDLY describes in the Grand Jury report.  The A.D., summons the grad assistant more than a week later to discuss the matter, and in spite of being told the same DETAILED story, he decided to go with the water-downed version he heard from…drum roll, please…Joe Paterno.  The rest is history.

Here’s what should have happened:

The grad assistant punches Sandusky in the face and breaks up the rape, then he immediately tells Joe Pa what he saw.  Paterno contacts the A.D. and says get over here NOW.  The grad assistant tells the A.D. what he saw.  Now pay attention, ‘cause here’s the important part.  Joe Pa should have then said “We need to call the police, NOW.”  The A.D. should have responded in one of two ways:  1) The preferred response: He picks up the phone and calls both the campus police, the city police and the state police. 2) Acceptable, but not preferred: “I’d like to speak to President Spanier before we take any further action.”  You, know “chain of command” and all that stuff.  

Either way, Joe Paterno should have insisted that the appropriate law enforcement agencies be notified and that Sandusky, a man so brazen that he would rape a child in a public place, be detained and, at the very least, questioned by authorities about the incident.  

Now, if you still think Joe Paterno is a scapegoat answer these two questions:

1) What would Paterno have done if the ten-year-old boy pinned to the wall in the shower being raped by a 64-year-old man was his son?

2) …or his grandson?  

Would Paterno have categorized Sandusky’s behavior as “disturbing” and “inappropriate” or would he have kicked his a** and then called the cops?

Over the span of almost fifty years as the head coach of Penn State, Joe Paterno became the most powerful man in Happy Valley.  Clearly, over those years he made THOUSANDS of good decisions that had positive impact on literally THOUSANDS of people.  However, he also made a series of painfully, unbelievably horrible decisions when he decided (for whatever reason) to downplay the rape of a child.  His termination was justified and inevitable.  

(Editor’s note: By way a full disclosure T.A.H. Worldwide Media Headquarters is occupied by a very funny, very charming and very innocent almost ten-year-old boy.  So, if we seemed a little pissed off about this…well, that’s ‘cause we are.)