Death of a Salesman

Penn State didn’t have the book thrown at them on Monday morning.

It was more like the Encyclopedia Britannica.

And it is certain to leave quite the mark on a once storied football program:

• $60 Million Fine
• Four-Year Post-Season Ban
• Lose 40+ Football Scholarships
• Five years probation
• All wins vacated 1998-2011

Definitely not in that order.

Let’s be clear here.

The NCAA is sending one giant message.

Joe Paterno is a loser.

Oh sure, all of the other stuff will cripple a football program that was once considered one of the best.

And one of the cleanest.

But the poster-child for these penalties will be one Joseph Vincent Paterno.

And even though he died the winningest coach in college football history.

He won’t rest that way.

History books can be changed.

And Monday morning they were.

111 wins wiped away from Penn State.

111 wins wiped away from Joe Paterno.

And with those wins no longer there, Paterno’s claim to fame is no longer a claim at all.

Joe Paterno is not the winningest coach in college football history.

He is the biggest loser.

The NCAA put the final nail in his coffin on Monday.

Erasing a man’s legacy.

Whatever was left of it.

His alma mater, Brown University, had already taken his name off a prestigious award.

Nike did the same with their child care center.

And after a debate more talked about than health care reform.

Penn State finally decided to tear down a statue of their former leader.

Saddam style.

When we first learned that the NCAA had finally reached a verdict on how they would penalize the university.

The punishment was called “unprecedented.”

Monday morning they didn’t disappoint.

Handing down penalties that will destroy the past, present and most definitely the future of Penn State Football.

The NCAA is sending a message that for 14 years Pennsylvania State University harbored an abuser.

Oh not Jerry Sandusky.

Although he will pay a price too.

A hefty price.

Behind bars.

The message here is that even though the actions of Sandusky are among the most heinous we could imagine.

It was Paterno who committed the ultimate crime.

Looking the other way while his friend was molesting young boys.

Protecting a criminal to avoid bad publicity for his castle.

Pretending there is no fire, while his friend is burning down the lives of dozens of innocent victims.

And when the kitchen got too hot.

Paterno took the easy way out.

He died.

There was some talk that Penn State football might too get the death penalty.

That’s where the school gets banned from competing in a sport for at least one year.

But according to most of the so-called experts, what they got was far worse.

Instead of killing the victim.

The NCAA is letting them suffer.

Sandusky style.

Paterno may no longer be with us, supposedly he’s in a better place.

But anytime his name is mentioned in the future, there will be no mention of anything he’s done on a football field.

No mention of the undefeated season in 1968.

Or 1969.

Or the one in 1973.

Or the one in 1986.

Or the one in 1994.

No mention of the national championship in 1983.

Or the one four years later.

Nobody will remember the 409 wins.

Or the 111 that were taken away.

Joe Paterno will be remembered for one thing.

His biggest loss.

And that’s the way it should be.

The Blame Game

I have this friend.

Really.

Real person.

And two days ago I found out that this friend has a friend.

And this friend is a friend of a guy.

A guy who has been involved with major college football for a LONG time.

Well about five years ago, this friend (of a friend of a friend) was looking to hire someone for a job.

That someone was Jerry Sandusky.

Yes, THAT Jerry Sandusky.

Well this friend wanted to know more about Sandusky.

So he spoke with an assistant coach at Penn State.

Mike McQueary.

Yes, THAT Mike McQueary.

And in 2006 when McQueary was asked about Sandusky he responded that “(Sandusky) likes little boys.”

Yada yada yada.

Sandusky didn’t get the job.

If you haven’t figured out by now, my blog is not the New York Times.

And I don’t have two sources for what I just wrote.

And yes, it is possible that some of my t’s where not dotted.

And my i’s were not crossed.

Or whatever.

But here’s the point....

In 2006, according to my source, Mike McQueary was contacted to be a reference for Jerry Sandusky.

2006.

Four years after McQueary stumbled across Sandusky in a Penn State shower.

Molesting a boy.

A boy McQueary thought was 10-years-old.

His testimony, not mine.

And this background check came four years after McQueary didn’t tell the police about what he saw.

According to the police, not me.

But in 2006, McQueary didn’t hesitate to tell a man on the other end of the phone that Sandusky “likes little boys.”

It makes me wonder how many other people McQueary might’ve told.

Other than the police.

AFTER THE FACT.

It makes me wonder how many other people might’ve known.

BUT DID NOTHING ABOUT IT.

It makes me wonder how many other people might’ve decided to let Sandusky run free.

AND CONTINUE TO ABUSE INNOCENT CHILDREN.

Mike McQueary is a football player at heart.

Back in the day, he was the starting quarterback at Penn State.

And football players are tough.

But it has to be eating away at McQueary that he let a child molester get away with this crime.

Crimes.

At least I hope it does.

How many innocent victims could he have saved?

If he just would’ve broken that code of -- what happens in a Penn State shower stays in a Penn State shower.

Clearly McQueary wasn’t afraid to talk about what he saw.

He just didn’t talk to the right people.

He talked to his dad.

He talked to Paterno.

He talked to the school’s athletic director.

And VP of business and finance.

And none of them told the true authorities.

And if he was willing to tell someone four years after the fact, how many other people did he tell along the way.

I guess he was hoping someone else would take the ball and run with it.

You know, the football mentality. 

When I heard this news a few days ago, it made me wonder how this friend (of a friend x2) felt.

Guilty would be my guess.

Guilty would be my hope.

He found out in 2006 that Jerry Sandusky “likes little boys” and he did nothing about it.

Nothing.

Like so many others.

What would you have done?

That’s easy to say now.

When I first heard of the McQueary shower observation, I tried putting myself in his shoes.

Ok.

I’m 28... grad assistant at Penn State... trying to start a career... at 9:30pm on the night of March 1, 2002 -- I walk into the Lasch Football Building to drop off some gym shoes... I see a grown man doing things to a young boy that no one would believe.

And they really wouldn’t believe it when I see that it’s Sandusky, the longtime Penn State assistant coach.

I stand there long enough to watch what the man is doing.

Or how else would I really know what is happening.

Then I leave.

Maybe I tried to stop it.

Maybe not.

But I pass this info onto Paterno, the legend.

The 75-year-old living legend (and 40-year friend of Sandusky).

Done.

I’ve done my part.

Go Lions!

For nine years I remain silent.

Publicly.

For nine years I let Sandusky run free.

Free as a pedophiliac bird.

And for nine years I get to be a coach on the Penn State staff.

Living the dream.

All while a nightmare is living inside of me.

Don’t get me wrong, Mike McQueary is not the victim here.

Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Any.

But knowing what we all know now it’s very easy for any of us to play monday morning quarterback.

Shoulda, coulda....

I just wish one person woulda.

Criminal Minds

Two men were found guilty of a crime on Monday.

One in a court of law.

One in a court of public opinion.

One could go to jail for four years.

One will live in hell for the rest of his life.

Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.

A jury found that “Dr.” Murray was guilty of giving the King of Pop the drugs that eventually killed him.

For some fans of Jackson, this may feel somewhat satisfying.

For me, it really doesn’t mean much.

The bottom line is Michael Jackson is gone.

And even with the guilty verdict, he’s not coming back.

Twitter exploded when the news came out.

It’s amazing how many different ways you can say CONRAD MURRAY GUILTY!!! in 140 characters.

Or less.

Murray will be sentenced on November 29.

And that’s the last we will hear of him.

Hopefully.

The other case is just starting.

And we don’t know yet just how ugly this will get.

What we do know is that Jerry Sandusky is an animal.

A lion.

A Nittany Lion.

Since 1963, he has spent his life at Penn State.

First as a player.  Then as an Assistant Coach.  Then as the Defensive Coordinator.

He retired from active football duty in 1999.

But has remained on campus until as recently as last week.

But everything he accomplished on the football field has been wiped out by what he may have done off the field.

Sandusky was arrested Saturday.

Charged with molesting boys.

Eight boys.

In a 15-year period.

What Sandusky is being accused of is beyond criminal.

But the details of these crimes will change the lives of many beyond this sick 67-year-old.

And his eight innocent victims.

Or more.

In 1977, Sandusky started a program to help at-risk youths.

Apparently Sandusky thought that helping them meant touching them.

And slapping them.

And groping them.

And assaulting them.

And molesting them.

And raping them.

There are 40 charges in all.

Most of which include some type of legal mumbo jumbo.

Like corruption of minors.

Endangering the welfare of a child.

Unlawful contact.

Whatever you want to call it, Jerry Sandusky is accused of being one of the sickest people on the planet.

A pedophile disguised as a great guy.

Someday he will get his day in court.

But he will never change the way we will always remember him.

Even with all that he has done though, Sandusky is not the only guilty party here.

In 2002, a Penn State grad assistant watched the former defensive coordinator performing offensive behavior.

With a boy.

A boy believed to be 10-years-old.

Sandusky was assaulting that naked boy in a shower.

A shower located on the Penn State campus.

But instead of trying to stop the attack.

Or going to the police.

That grad assistant did what everybody would do on the Penn State campus.

They ran to dad.

Or in this case grandpa.

Joe Paterno has been the head coach at Penn State since 1966.

The 84-year-old is the all-time winningest coach in the history of college football.

And by all accounts, he has run one of the cleanest programs in the country.

Until now.

Upon hearing of this horrendous allegation back in 2002, Paterno waited a day.

And then he told the school’s Athletic Director Tim Curley.

Who told the senior vice president of business and finance, Gary Schultz.

And within weeks, this story was gone.

Before it became a story.

Poof.

Just like that.

The two school administrators had found a giant rug.

And pushed this program-destructing allegation under it.

I’m sure I left a few details out.

I had to leave something for Nancy Grace.

But the bottom line is for nine years Joe Paterno knew about this.

And for nine years, Joe Paterno did nothing.

Tim Curley did nothing.

Gary Schultz did nothing.

Penn State did nothing.

The police knew nothing.

At least they were not contacted by the university.

As it is required by state law.

This was not just a grown man doing inappropriate things.

This was a grown man, representing a state college.

In State College.

For 30 years.

Performing unlawful sex acts on a child.

On the school campus.

Witnessed by a member of the football program.

Being covered up.

Not even Joe Paterno can get out of this mess.

And he’s got nobody to blame.

But the man in the mirror.