Ignorance Is...Penn State University's Version

Reader Beware:  

This post is more a rant than a fan’s take on a sports story…

More a question of human behavior than describing an athletic accomplishment on the gridiron.

This is bigger than football, college athletics or the illustrious career of a football coach that has spanned over 60 years.  It’s bigger than a state university that on football game day becomes one of the largest cities in Pennsylvania, and the sports program that literally put the city, “Happy Valley” on the map. 

The sex abuse scandal that is shocking the entire college community that supports Penn State University is much bigger than sports.

This is about the young boys who were taken advantage of because, well they were young.  This is about an incredibly selfish act of one sick man who some how felt he could get away with the heinous crime, and didn’t care who got hurt, whose lives were destroyed or who was left picking up the pieces.  This is about incredibly poor judgment by individuals who put friendship, the fraternity of coaching or their own short sighted needs ahead of what is the right thing to do.  Plain and simple, this is not about college sports, the legacy of a football coach, or a university football program that turned out NFL caliber athletes (Penn State is known as Linebacker U.) Anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken. 

What truly amazes me about this scandal is how one person, Jerry Sandusky (he doesn’t even deserve to be called a coach – the names he deserves are unprintable), can justify what he is doing, and where he is doing it, and not for one second seek help?  I mean, did Sandusky not know what he was doing was wrong? (He founded Second Mile, dedicated to helping children with absent or dysfunctional families.)  Did he not think about the consequences – obviously, not.  And this is probably a bigger question about mankind in general – a question we will never know the answer to, and certainly not one I am going to even attempt to tackle!  I will leave it to Dr. Phil. 

Finally, what does this say about the “Fraternity of Coaches” – the “what happens here stays here” mentality (So that’s where Sin City – Las Vegas, got that slogan!)  Can coaches, athletic directors, and anyone else who is a part of Penn State football program and vaguely had an idea about this crime be that loyal to Sandusky that they would turn away from a blatant and horrible crime against kids in order to live by some code of sports conduct?  To think, a week ago, before this case went public, Penn State University allowed this soon-to-be-charged-felon on campus and having use of the athletic facilities. This action goes way beyond Hear No Evil – See No Evil and Ignorance Is Bliss…

In this case, Ignorance is Selfish, Irresponsible, and more importantly, Harmful.