Written November 11, 2011<\/p>\n
By now it seems clear that Saturday\u2019s game between Penn State and Nebraska will go on as scheduled, barring a monumental and sudden shift in public mood. I\u2019m writing this for two reasons: 1) because I perceive it as so true that if I don\u2019t get it out it will burn a hole in my brain and 2) so that in the aftermath of this game, when it becomes clear that it should have been cancelled, I will have a basis for my \u201cI told you so\u201d comments<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not the only person who holds this opinion; that the best way for Penn State to start the process of clearing out the current culture and replacing it with a better one is to not play this game. I\u2019m just one of the people who looks beyond the obvious, which is that the logistical challenge of calling it off, combined with the emotional effect it would have on the Penn State players themselves, make it much easier in the short term to go forward with it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that the players would be paying a high price for sins they didn\u2019t commit if their last home game was canceled. That\u2019s not fair, is it? Let\u2019s pose that a different way, though. Is it as unfair as having an adult you admire take advantage of you sexually? Repeatedly? Okay, losing \u201cSenior Day\u201d is starting to look not quite so unfair.<\/p>\n
These children didn\u2019t do anything wrong. They didn\u2019t deserve what happened to them. What they deserve right now, at this moment, is for the world to take what happened to them seriously, and if you play that game tomorrow, it\u2019s a giant flashing neon sign that says \u201cyou know what, kids? We really don\u2019t care. We\u2019ll wear blue shirts, we\u2019ll throw money in a pot for you, we\u2019ll have a moment of silence; but we\u2019re not willing to give up our entertainment, our recreation, our drinking; in short, our fun, because of what happened to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let the NCAA step up for these student-athletes. Grant them an extra year of eligibility to compensate them for losing the rest of this season. Allow them to transfer without sitting out a year if they want to. Don\u2019t let the couple of dozen seniors on the football team be the reason that this momentum for change is stopped in its tracks.<\/p>\n
The other reason I hear that the game needs to be played is that there are contracts for TV, and \u201cthink of all the money.\u201d I actually laughed the first time I heard this, because I thought the person was joking. Then I realized that they were dead serious. Folks, that\u2019s exactly the kind of thinking that got us here in the first place. Penn State can write some checks and get out of whatever TV contracts and game contracts they have. No other school is going to protest; they\u2019re too busy looking in their own closets to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen to them.<\/p>\n
Already the talk is about Paterno\u2019s successor. People are already tired of talking about child abuse, and it\u2019s much more fun to talk about football coaches.\u00a0 Firefighters sometimes have to destroy houses or trees to stop the flames from spreading, and that\u2019s the situation facing Penn State\u2019s Board of Trustees right now. Tomorrow\u2019s game is fuel for the fire that threatens to consume all of the good intentions and pious speeches that you\u2019re hearing right now. \u00a0Cancel it, and the rest of the season, and you have a chance to save the other half of the forest.<\/p>\n
Not enough for you yet? Here\u2019s another reason to cancel the game, and the season. Do you know how long Tom Bradley has been on the PSU Staff? 33 years. He worked under Jerry Sandusky, and eventually replaced him as Defensive Coordinator.\u00a0 He was at the practices, the bowl games, the events that Sandusky is alleged to have attended with underage boys.\u00a0 They just fired Joe Paterno because they know he knew about Sandusky. What are the chances that Bradley didn\u2019t know? What are the chances that the rest of the staff didn\u2019t know? I mean, really? These men work together for decades, and a couple of them know that this man is sick, and the rest of them don\u2019t? Really?<\/p>\n
I understand that there\u2019s no proof that Bradley or any other PSU coach knew anything about the allegations about Sandusky, but the general consensus about this story is that we\u2019re at the beginning, not the end, and it would be terrible if we find out in a year that it was an open secret in the football offices, and all of the people they let coach the remainder of this year were in on it.<\/p>\n
If Penn State is serious about getting its University back from the football program, it has to make a clean break from the Paterno regime, and that means cancel the rest of this season and maybe even next season. A self-imposed Death Penalty, ESPN Legal Analyst Lester Munson called it. Bring in a new coaching staff, give them the tools they need to be competitive, but make it clear that the football team is the tail, not the dog.<\/p>\n
Penn State alumni have been among the most proud and vocal of any school in the country. As soon as this happened, I thought of several of my friends here on the West Coast who went there, because if you know someone who went to Penn State, you know they went to Penn State. That\u2019s how it can be again, but only if they resist the urge to play that game tomorrow, and call off the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
Show the victims that you\u2019re willing to put more than words on the line, Penn State. They\u2019re watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written November 11, 2011 By now it seems clear that Saturday\u2019s game between Penn State and Nebraska will go on as scheduled, barring a monumental and sudden shift in public mood. I\u2019m writing this for two reasons: 1) because I … Continue reading