Please. Stop. Now.

For the record. Nothing in the Freeh report has been a surprise to anyone with whom I've personally talked. But it is still very distressing.

But this community has had ENOUGH.

And I've, personally, learned something very important. Don't take notes at meetings unless you can mail them on a postcard. (A lesson I've always adhered to regarding email.)

View from the cheap seats....

These are the things I think, I think:

I think you have to live in our insular world to have any concept of what has happened here, and continues. This is what I've finally sorted it down to. Hopefully, this will put it to rest for ME, for a little while anyway.

I think the alumni, university community, and neighbors who are still railing about the "unfairness" of the firing of Paterno (there is at least one new whine about this daily on the op-ed page), and to a lesser extent Graham Spanier: folks, think about this. If you were unable to do your job any longer, no matter why, would your employer keep you on? Maybe some do want to place "blame" at the feet of Paterno et.al., and certainly it is their right to do so, however, that, in my opinion, had nothing or little to do with the board's decision. Paterno and Spanier, were "players" in the NCAA and Big Ten communities. They sat on rules committees, boards and other groups that literally guided the ethical approach to college athletics and academic integrity. Even though, recently, he was a coach in name only, Paterno was still the moral/ethical leader of the football and athletics programs. This was a large part of both of their professional responsibilities. With the exposure of a possible crime that was committed under their watch, they lost the authority to represent a cogent ethical presence. Was it fair? Nope. But life is anything but fair. Ask the victims, particularly the victim who was "outed" by overzealous NYT reporting. (Nice work that.)To the cry babies who lament that he was "fired by phone". Please remember what the environment was like that Wednesday evening (and if you weren't here, take a gander) - the hordes of media outside the Paterno home, and the conference center where the board meeting was held. What would the pictures have looked like if a contingent of grim reapers marched up to the Paterno's home? Why would you want to do that to ANYONE? They attempted to keep a sad and bad business as private as possible. I'm tired of your whining. I'm sorry, but I am.

I also think Paterno built the culture that ultimately was his undoing. He had "control" issues. So do a lot of athletic coaches. In Paterno's case, it started out to be a good thing. Mandatory study groups for his players, EVERY NIGHT, mid-semester reporting for all athletes. (I once had a football player in one of my classes who missed a fair number of classes because he had an extraordinary number of relatives "die". In my mid-semester report to his adviser I mentioned that I hoped his family was coping with the tragedies (wink, wink). Not 24 hours after receiving my report, the adviser was on the phone to me asking me about my comment, we talked about the student's progress, how (and if) he could make up for lost time, and at the end of the conversation, the adviser said "His mother is going to KILL him!" I had to laugh. This was a good student who was getting lazy. He finished well. This is the only problem I've ever had with ANY athlete in more than ten years.) But in Paterno's case it progressed to other university aspects. He wanted to do EVERYTHING under the athletics umbrella. This athletics' omerta means that in general, unless you are here, and have some connections to athletics you didn't hear the "other stuff". I did, so I, and many others were not fooled by the press clippings. It was "normal" some good, some not so much. This is your wake-up call. Everything was not rosey all the time. The clue phone is ringing pick it up.

I think the cover of the current alumni magazine, we got it early last week, is brilliant. It is black, with shiny black letters that spell out the name "The Penn Stater" crumbled into a heap. But what is even more brilliant is an article by one of our sociology faculty, Eric Silver. Remarkably he was teaching sociology of deviance (BTW: this isn't exactly what you're thinking), and covering the topic of adult-child sexual contact when the story broke. In his essay, he focuses on the sociology of bureaucracy. It is lengthy, and I wish I could link to it, but here's one quote: "Everybody likes to think they would be the whistle blower. What I told my class was this: Statistically you're full of crap." The reason is that a whistle blower is deviant in his environment. This man is on to something. He also differentiates between moral and professional responsibility. Could we be seeing a decline in a moral imperative in our environments?




I think if I had to pick one of the administrators at whose feet to lay the bulk of this mess it would have to be the former business director. He oversaw the University police and met with the chief of police every two weeks. How hard would it have been to call the chief on the phone and explain what he learned and ask how to proceed. No one is blameless, but jeepers....he met with the chief, regularly. It was his job!


I can't imagine what to think if the state can't get a conviction. I think it is a realistic worry.

The students, themselves, are still struggling to make sense of this - to put it in some context. Most of them were in grade school, when Sandusky allegedly began his crimes. I think this is a worthy attempt to figure it out. Music and lyrics were written and performed by the two students.

Lord help me there's more....

..... We are currently embroiled in a circus, inside a carnival, within a rodeo. I am beginning to scream at the radio because EVERYONE has[is] an assh.... uh, opinion, and apparently no one has taken the time to think this through. (Also my regular coffee shop was completely filled. No seats! How rude! And the streets are FILLED with satellite trucks.)

Here are a few more "facts".

Fact: The graduate student is not named in the indictment as a witness. GET THAT? NOT NAMED      ( go ahead, read it, I dare you). It is a pretty easy inference, especially here, but still. Because someone speculates on a blog is not an adequate reason to crucify someone. IMHO.

Fact: Another eyewitness, named in the indictment, to a second, later, equally horrific event, at the same facility, was reduced to blubbering when he met with his shift supervisors. Does this not tell you what this does to a normal psyche? Also included in the report, is the little line that the perpetrator and victim saw both witnesses at the times of the incidents. For those that are hollering "why didn't [witness] stop the assault"...well, maybe it's because it did stop when they were seen. This information may possibly be in reports that will be used for prosecution. Didn't think of that did'ja?

Fact: For all of this, the victim of the first witnessed incident has yet to be identified. I have very good information (you can't imagine how small this town really is), that indicates two full time state authorized investigators have worked full time for six months to identify this individual, with NO success. While not deadly to a conviction, this can be used to cast doubt in a defense strategy. While on the search, they participated in gathering all the other witnesses that the GJ heard. (And yesterday, Victim Nine was forwarded to them.)

Fact: Has it not occurred to anyone that being quiet is the best strategy for the prosecution? If ONE of these allegations is true, this man is a monster, and I do not want to risk him getting off. That being said, another fact, is that he is being represented by a pretty sharp lawyer. He's local, but he's one smart cookie. I suspect he is waiting for information he can use to "pop up" in the press. I hope everyone who may be part of the prosecution just shuts up! NOW!

Fact: Everyone is making a big deal about Paterno's cancelled press conference. Here's the unvarnished story. Paterno has become the Andy Rooney (RIP) of the sports world. The filters between his brain and mouth have deteriorated. He regularly intimidates the local sports media,  backing them down, they're afraid for their jobs and need PSU access, but the national media is another matter. Of course, he doesn't see it that way... We were settling in for a Woody Hayes moment, where he'd say something completely off the wall and he'd have to be locked in a closet for the remainder of the season. Also, there is the possibility I alluded to above that he might have compromised the investigation and prosecution. I can't imagine that this situation is REALLY a complete shock to him. Call me a cynic. Then there is the turmoil within the administration, while I have no sympathy for anything that's going on there, let's not make it worse. No matter what happens they're all pretty much done. Call the realtors now is my advice. So we have someone who is deluded at best, mean at worst wanting to answer questions--from a bunch of sharks..... Does this not sound like a train wreck to anyone?

Fact: ESPN is reporting that Paterno has announced his retirement. Too bad he procrastinated so long he's riding out on a wave of crap, rather than glory. Leaves his team and staff in a bad situation. Another post for another day. Won't be any retirement celebrations any time soon, I suspect. 

ETA: As I walked back through campus, from honest to goodness university business...the worker bees are still toiling, every person I passed had a cell phone glued to his/her ear and what I inferred from the one sided conversations is that the board of trustees has asked the president to step down or be fired by the end of the day. Nothing official has been released. No surprise there. The PR faculty are thinking that this is the worst PR performance since BP, which recently overtook the Exxon Valdez as the way not to address a crisis. Nice, huh?