I had promised to post earlier about the conclusion of the first challenge. I had promised and failed to deliver. To be honest, I have been absorbed in what has been going on at Penn State. I just had to see what was going to happen. It was a lot like a car crash, if the car also ran over hopes, dreams, and integrity of an entire program. I'll get back to Challenge in a bit, but first I have to rant about PSU.
I am not a Penn State fan, nor am I a Nittany Lion, but I have always been a Big Ten (or B1G, as the logo goes) guy. It may seem bizarre to some people, I grew up wanting to go to one of these schools. As a kid and a prospective student, you know about the Rose Bowl, the rivalries, and all the history that comes with these institutions. It's not just athletics, but it's also a collection of research-sharing, like-minded institutions. And if you have been born after Woodstock, then you know of no other coach at Penn State than Joe Paterno. Supposedly, he has been the last bastion of the "old school" philosophy of coaching where character and development is supposed to matter.
That is what has made the past week crushing. Not just tough, or bewildering, or shocking. This is crushing. If you don't know what happened, please fill yourself in before continuing.
As the saying goes, it isn't the crime, but the cover-up that sinks people. I never thought anything would sicken me more than child sexual abuse. It turns out that hiding child sexual abuse for over a decade while allowing the perpetrator to prey on new victims is the New Low. I tried to hold judgement until the actual trial, but the grand jury testimony is so damning from so many witnesses... If only one testimony turns out to be true, it would still be just as bad. I am so angry that this could happen and I can't imagine what Nittany students and players are feeling like now, so I won't.
The conflict I face is how to reconcile the Jo Pa I have known v The Jo Pa revealed to us. I had a philosophy that certain coaches have earned the right to style their own exit. Now I realize the folly of that thinking. Even the most well-meaning of men can become enamored with fame. It ends up defining your life to the point where you don't know how to live without it. Jo Pa was asked to leave in 2004 and basically told the AD "I don't think so." Who the hell can tell their boss that? Someone who thinks they are untouchable. Someone who has grown so completely into their job that no one - not even themselves - can wrench them from it. A man like that was only going to exit one of two ways: scandal or death.
I don't want to blame Jo Pa for all of this. Sandusky allegedly did these heinous acts and he is the culprit. But the buck stopped with Paterno when it was reported to him. If he covered up the crimes, he is certainly just as reprehensible. If he didn't know or forgot, he is not truly in charge at PSU, which would make it even worse since the inmates were basically running the asylum. He just cannot escape this.
None of this is demonstrating character. None of this is helping the young men on the team learn anything. None of this is like the Paterno we had come to know. I guess this proves we didn't know him at all.
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