Where do we go from here?

 

I won’t harp on the issue too much, since it’s been scrutinized and beaten every way possible, but I wanted to offer my two cents about the whole Penn State/Paterno/Sandusky nightmare that came to a conclusion last week when the NCAA penalized Penn State significantly for its involvement in the situation.

First, let me say that the punishment was fair. I agreed with it. PSU is looking at a four-year ban from bowl games, was fined $73 million dollars total ($60 million by the NCAA; $13 million by the Big 12 when it announced the football program could not compete in championship games or receive any of the financial split between league members), and vacated all wins from 1998-2011. The last component was, yes, important, contrary to many’s thinking, since it was Joe Paterno’s legacy, as well as the program’s, that was protected at all costs in this whole thing. The vacation of wins knocks Paterno off the top of the ladder as owner of the most wins in college football.

Second, I hope we can all stop talking about Penn State football. Football is grossly irrelevant in this case. This is a matter of a heinous crime, committed by an assistant coach and aided by Paterno – two sporting gods trusted and beloved by so many. The crime itself, and how we can further prevent child sex abuse and the monetary support that will be directed to programs that aide those victims , is No. 1. No. 2 is the fact that trust is at the centerpiece of this. Just as those kids trusted Jerry Sandusky, and just how others trusted Paterno and his response when he found out Sandusky was sexually assaulting kids, how are we supposed to expect young kids to trust coaches today? How do we as parents or guardians fully lend our trust toward a coach or administrator and expect them to truly have our kids’ best interests at heart? Where do we go from here?

The essence of sport, even more so than wins or losses, is the bond we develop between teammates and coaches. For many young athletes, from the day they can pick up a ball, they spend a great amount of time under the care of their coach. Generally, we’d think to never second guess the concept. We meet with the coach, we’ll talk with them, we get to know them. Perhaps we invite them over for dinner or hit up a ballgame with them. We feel comfortable in their presence, so, naturally, we let our guard down a bit. Or a lot. We begin to see them as another selfless caretaker for our child, and when our kid refers to the coach as a “second father,” we don’t even blink. We even understand it.

But this whole Penn State debacle has only proven once again that we never, ever, truly, really know someone. We just don’t. We don’t know what an individual is capable of, whether it’s our mother, brother, son, friend, or, yes, coach. We tell ourselves we do, but who are we kidding? Sandusky founded an organization in 1977, “The Second Mile”, that was a children’s charity that provided care for foster children. He was one of the most respected defensive coordinators to boot. His name, like Paterno’s, was angelic around Happy Valley. And yet when he was found guilty on 45 of 48 charges against him, including eight counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with minors, many of his victims came from that same “Second Mile” franchise he had built. But how was anyone supposed to know? That’s why Paterno deserves so much scorn sent his way. Only he knew. Only he, within the parameters of the university, could stop it, and he chose not to.

It is a scary proposition, this idea that the best friend or coach or parental figure that we know today could be someone entirely different. And what’s more, I’m not sure there is a way to be more aware or conscious of that. We can’t be with someone 24/7. As human beings, we (most of us, anyway) have a propensity to trust, to give our fellow human being the benefit of the doubt. Especially if that someone plies his professional career in a field like coaching, which embraces discipline, responsibility, accountability, teamwork, unselfishness. What are we to do? Sure, for every 1 Sandusky there are 300, 400 others who truly care for others and would do whatever possible to see young kids succeed and fulfill their dreams. But the bottom line remains that there is that 1 guy. There is a possibility. In sports, we’re coached to gameplan for everything that can go wrong. We’re taught to have a plan B and C, and then to have a counter should those be unavailable. But how do we gameplan for misguided trust? Even more so, what are we to do when those “players” are precious kids, who are only more impressionable and giving of their heart the younger they are?

I really don’t know what to think or even what to make out of the Penn State stuff. I’m a bit shell-shocked, to be honest. The past 7-8 months have been a blur of disgust, discomfort, anger, tragedy, you name it. It’s all come so fast, that I really haven’t gone too deep beyond the basics to really tear this thing apart. I don’t know if I even want to. It’s maddening. But I do know that in sports, trust is something you don’t play around with. So what happens now? Perhaps there is nothing to be done. Optimistically, we can look at Sandusky as more of a rogue figure. Either way, it’s unsettling. It’s disturbing. It’s an issue that, in my opinion, should at the least be approached, be given some thought. Even if these were disadvantaged kids Sandusky dealt with, that still does not mean it can’t happen to anyone else. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t.

I just know that I’ve been told so many times, over and over, is so very true: No one is as they appear to be.

 

Abusing the profession

Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is carried by players Rick Bolinsky (92) and Jason Wallace (88) after they defeated Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl, Tuesday night, Dec. 28, 1999. Sandusky marks his 381st and final game as a member of Penn State's coaching staff. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

It’s been tough to get into the spirit of the holidays. In fact, this particular season, it’s been downright impossible.

At an especially delicious time for sports when we’re supposed to be consumed by the drama of the NFL, NBA and college basketball, instead I find myself having to go through story after story of child abuse scandals.

If it’s not Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky, it’s Syracuse’s Bernie Fine. If it’s not Bernie Fine, it’s veteran Philly Daily News sports writer and distinguished journalist Bill Conlin.

It’s gross, unsettling and mind-blowingly disturbing to know that these human beings violated many young children – boys and girls, in Conlin’s case – and continued living their lives as if all is well. How are we supposed to realistically focus on the spirit of a giving season when we know of stories like the aforementioned, with surely many, many, many more left uncovered.

The plight of these three individuals has done nothing but remind us of the constant suffering that is overwhelming our youth. It’s deplorable for two of these three men to use their status as coaches as bait for their crimes. It’s sickening to think how many children’s lives these three men alone have been responsible for ruining.

As coaches and influential administrators in a child’s game, they should know better. They should be better.

I hate to even bring this up at a time like this, with a new year on the horizon and hope and optimism never higher, but it would be wrong to ignore it. In my eyes, if found guilty, these men deserve life in prison without parole. And I understand this probably happens more often than we think, but it maddens me to no end that they took advantage of the trust and admiration of young boys and girls.

However, it also makes you appreciate more the coaches who do completely hold precious that trust and admiration and use it as a gift to, in fact, help the youth. We have plenty of those in Laredo. They are coaches who are under scrutiny because of that nagging win-loss column, but when tragedy – and yes, the circumstances involving these three men are indeed tragic – strikes, it forces you to re-evaluate.

And the bottom line is that Laredo is home to many coaches who devote their entire beings to benefit the city’s youth.

The stories of the three men have darkened public perception of the coaching profession, and sports in general. It’s unfortunate, but it’s painfully obvious eyes need to be opened. It’s not a good look, and it will only get worse before it gets better.

But the horrifying actions of the two coaches should not take away from those who do their job with honor and accountability. For every Fine or Sandusky, there are dozens of Hecky Noyola Jr.’s, J.J. Gomezes and Oscar Villasenors.

This holiday season, be thankful for who the city’s coaches are and what they stand for. For we have seen too closely what others have become.

Scandal, disgust and disbelief at Penn State

In this Aug. 6, 1999 file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. Pennsylvania state prosecutors said Sandusky, 67, was arrested Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, on charges that he sexually abused eight young men. Also, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Penn State vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz, 62, are expected to turn themselves in on Monday in Harrisburg, Pa., on charges of perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania’s child protective services law in connection with the investigation into the abuse allegations against Sandusky.

Shock waves, disgust and disbelief were sent through college football on Saturday as Penn State University, specifically its athletic department and football program, found itself amidst child sex allegations involving a former player and longtime coach.

If you think that’s bad, no need to read on. It only gets worse.

A 23-page grand jury report revealed disgusting acts by former DC Jerry Sandusky, who allegedly sexually assaulted eight young boys – around 10-12 years old – and used his “Second Mile” foundation, an organization he founded in 1977 to help troubled young boys, to seek these young kids.

All eight were from that foundation.

You can read the grand jury report here, though I warn you it is not for the weak of stomach:http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf

Here is a recent column by respected Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel on the situation: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_penn_state_child_sex_case_110511

At initial glance, this whole report is unbelievable. Not even Hollywood would buy a script of such a scandal. An athletic program, dictated by one of the most revered and legendary head coaches and admired for its principles of honor and dignity, finds itself mired within, likely, the greatest scandal in all of sports, involving a former coach, its athletic director, probably that aforementioned head coach (remains to be seen how much Joe Paterno is involved) and, the most sickening part, troubled young boys, not even teenagers yet.

But the grand jury report is as thorough and intricate as deserves in this particular case. There are a whole lot of people in a whole lot of trouble. College football has been through a lot in the last year. It’s seen hookers, dirty money, drugs, cheating, lying, betrayal, more dirty money.

Still, it’s never seen anything like this. It’s never seen such a heinous act of crime, and with so many people doing as little as they could in response.

The NCAA so far has only delivered one death penalty, to the SMU football program in the late ’80’s. They cheated, got caught and were told not to do it again, and then cheated again.

It’s that whole “fool me once, fool me twice …” charade. So it should be mentioned that Sandusky was also investigated in 1998 for “incidents with children in football building showers.” But AD Tim Curley ordered no background check, and Sandusky was caught AGAIN, by a graduate assistant returning to collect some belongings, in 2002, with a 10-year-old boy in the showers of an empty football locker room.

Curley, remarkably enough, AGAIN did not report the findings in 2002 to university police and didn’t even bother to question him further.

And it wasn’t just Curley who’s guilty of failure to report. It’s also Gary Schultz, Penn State’s vice president for finance and business who withheld information of the graduate assistant’s discovery of what took place between Sandusky and that young child in that football locker room.

This was, apparently, a matter of an athletic department protecting its people (Sandusky was once figured to be Paterno’s replacement before retiring from the program in 1999, yet still maintaining full access to football facilities) and its storied tradition and reputation.

Paterno, who was alerted of the graduate assistant’s findings in that shower in 2002, reported that to Curley, but this too was a man – with as much power as a head coach can have in his football program – eager to protect his image as one of the game’s icons. Of course he did not want his reputation scorned.

What we know to be true at this point should leave no doubt as to the following: Penn State football should be crushed. This scandal is worse than the SMU acts in the late ’80’s. It is certainly deserving of a consequence as bad as the Death Penalty. It’s one thing to pay players; it’s another to take advantage of your status and the program’s facilities to abuse young children.

This doesn’t make me mad, it makes me furious. I’m ashamed to have once looked at Penn State and Paterno as beacons in a dark and crummy college football world. I’m ashamed to have respected what that university and its athletics stood for, and I’m embarrassed that people can turn their back on something so glaringly wrong and inexplicable.

I hope they get crushed. Sandusky, Paterno, Curley, Schultz. Everyone and anything involved. I hope that Penn State and its football program never recover from something like this.

I hope people remember. And, and I may regret saying this in a few days but it’s how I feel right now, I hope they never forgive the acts and blatant lies and disgust perpetrated by the aforementioned trio.

I hope people, the NCAA, society all look down on Penn State athletics. Just like they looked down upon young, troubled children.