Ruinous ending for an icon

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Ruinous ending for an icon

Sports

Friday, 11 November 2011 12:09

Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

There's usually room for levity when making these football picks, but given the horrific disclosures from State College, Pa., this week, that's not possible.

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno is out, removed by the school's Board of Trustees Wednesday, in the aftermath of a sex abuse scandal where his former assistant, Jerry Sandusky, allegedly molested several young boys on campus as Paterno and other PSU administrators looked away.
Paterno resigned Wednesday with the intention of finishing the season, but the trustees removed him later that day.
Paterno's 61-year legacy with the Nittany Lions, once one of college football's brightest, is now so utterly buried in shame and disgrace that it's impossible to watch today's game and think of football.
Paterno might escape legally from the nightmarish events he largely ignored when Sandusky allegedly sexually abused a young boy in a campus shower in 2002.
The 84-year-old icon forever will be remembered as a person more interested in preserving his football program's elite status rather than in doing what is right after graduate assistant Mike McQueary, an eyewitness to the rape and despicable himself for not immediately stopping the attack, brought the 2002 incident to Paterno's attention the next day.
Given the knowledge that a young boy was attacked by his good friend, what did Paterno do? After mulling it over, he told Athletic Director Tim Curley.
Not the university police. Not the state police. He did not confront Sandusky. He did as little as possible.
No, Paterno isn’t the police, he alone was not responsible to stop Sandusky’s reprehensible behavior. But, Paterno could have stopped it all in an instant.
He might have been the most powerful man in Pennsylvania in 2002, and he was certainly strong in 2004 when PSU President Graham Spanier and Curley asked Paterno to resign and he shooed them away like inconsequential minions.
Spanier, also fired by the trustees Wednesday, and Curley, charged with perjury for false testimony before a grand jury, are now properly identified as cowards in their own right for taking no measures to stop the systemic child abuse taking place on their campus.
Any of those men, and other informed PSU leaders, at any time, could have stopped Sandusky.
Instead, they did what cowards do when they see their kingdom at peril – they ignore, equivocate, cover up.
The police weren't notified until the mother of one young man abused by Sandusky five years ago filed charges against Sandusky. The grand jury finally brought the sexual abuse to light.
Maybe it hurts so much because "JoePa" was everything good about college athletics for so long. Even opponents acknowledged that Paterno was the gold standard, the epitome of what we all strive to be, professionally good, personally better.
In his resignation statement Wednesday, Paterno said, "It is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
So inadequate, so disappointing.
With the benefit of hindsight he wishes he had done more?
It takes hindsight to know that when one of your former coaches is sexually abusing children, that you should make it stop? Has Paterno been senile for 10 years that he forgot right from wrong?
I don't know what's more maddening, that JoePa so blundered in his handling of this tragedy, or that hundreds of clueless PSU students rioted Wednesday in Paterno's support.
It was never going to end well for Paterno at Penn State, because he refused to let it end. But, could anyone have imagined such a dark, tragic ending to a once-majestic career?
The Mighty News-Gazette Divine Nine is a short one this week:
No. 1: The victims who persevered through this tragic sexual abuse, and to the adults who had to fortitude to make it stop.
Let's try to put on a game face:
Miami at FSU (-10): Not a prime time showdown this year, but goofy things happen in this series. Noles by 6.
Florida at South Carolina (-4.5): This would be a great way for the Gators to salvage what has been a pretty bad season. USC by 2.
UCF at Southern Miss (-10): Perfect week for the Knights to fire the AD and await NCAA probation. Who's paying attention? Eagles by 4.
Nebraska (-3) at Penn State: How to make sense of this one? Huskers by 3.
Oregon at Stanford (-3): Stanford has been flirting with defeat for the past couple of weeks. They'll get one here. Dashing Ducks by 2 in Upset Special.
The paid professionals:
Jacksonville at Indianapolis (-2): One of the worst games of the NFL season, but don't worry, football fans, we see it live! Colts by 3.
Houston (-2.5) at Tampa Bay: Bucs due for one of those weird upsets. Bucs by 3 in the "How'd They Do That?" Upset Special.
Washington at Miami (-2.5): Fins getting better, Skins aren't. Fins by 4.
Detroit at Chicago (-1): Was that really Jay Cutler playing quarterback for the Bears Monday night? Can he do that again? Maybe. Bears by 2.
New England (-2.5) at N.Y. Jets: How are the Pats favored in this? Has anyone seen them play the past two weeks? Jets by 3.
Brian "Big Man" McBride's Super Sniffer Upset Special: The Bucs by 5.
Petey "The Gators Are Going to Win" Covino says: Gators by 5.
Ken "Young" Jackson says: Cardinal by 3 because I have to stay true to my title game pick, Jags by 4, Texans by 7, Lions by 4, Pats by 14.
Last week: Gnarly Knight (5-5, 67-33) held off Stunned Steeler (5-5, 63-37).