The Penn State Football Show

I remember his last game so vividly. It was December 28^th, 1999 and the Alamo Bowl was being broadcast on ESPN. Even at only 13 years old, I knew Penn State football like it was a multiplication table, and I knew the significance of this game. It was Jerry Sandusky’s last game after 32 years at Penn State, the last 23 as defensive coordinator. This Penn State team was special. LaVar Arrington and Courtney Brown, who would get drafted into the NFL with the first two selections) led a Penn State team to a 9-0 record before they broke the hearts of PSU fans by dropping their last three games to the three M’s (Minnesota, Michigan, and Michigan State).

My family at that time (and even 10 years after that) did not have cable. Our next-door neighbors happened to be out of town for the holidays, and being that we lived in a small friendly town, we had exchanged keys over the years just in case someone got locked out or if someone had left the stove on and realized it later. I was probably screaming at my parents that I wanted to watch the game. “Why can’t we have cable like everyone else!?” Eventually they gave in. They gave me the key and I ran through the short path between our houses and let myself into my neighbors house. I went upstairs, turned on the TV, and watched Penn State shut out Texas A&M 24-0. I was so proud of the team. They had put forth arguably their best defensive effort of the season to send their retiring defensive coordinator our on top.

Now the pillars upon which he once stood in my mind have shattered. The recent news of Jerry Sandusky’s child molestation has sent shockwaves not only though the Penn State family, but the entire country. People are sickened, as they should be, and now the blame game ensues. People are calling for Joe Paterno’s head. They say he should be fired. They say the entire staff should be replaced. Well, here’s what I have to say:

The incident that set all of this in motion occurred in 2002. Jerry Sandusky was retired as a football coach, but was helping out with an organization he created to help children. He was on campus at the football building and was seen by a graduate assistant (Mike McQueary, now the receivers coach) in the shower with a young boy. Mike reported what he saw to his boss, Joe Paterno. He probably said something along the lines of: “Coach, I saw Sandusky doing something inappropriate with a boy in the showers”. Joe immediately reported this to the athletic director, Tim Curley who was Joe’s boss and it was his job to notify the University police who had jurisdiction. This never happened. Should Joe have pursued further? Should that young graduate assistant continue to pester the legendary coach or confront the athletic director? Maybe. But who knows what they were told. It’s possible that Curley told them all that everything was reported and that the police were going to look into it, don’t worry.

Joe banned Sandusky from football buildings after that. He probably had a conversation with Sandusky, informing him that someone saw him doing something. Jerry had worked with Joe for 32 years. Joe probably thought he knew this guy pretty well, and gave him the benefit of the doubt that what someone witnessed was not what it really seemed. Regardless, Joe still told him that he was no longer welcome at football facilities. Joe is not a cop, he is not Jerry Sandusky’s boss anymore, and what he did was perfectly legal. He does not deserve to be tossed out of his position that he has held for over 40 years because of something people think he should have done. People that were not in his position. People that have no clue of what actually happened. Firing him, or having him resign now would taint his legacy. And I know that this is about more than Joe, that it is about young men that were abused. But firing Joe doesn’t fix that. It only makes it worse by destroying the man we associate with honor and integrity. He did what he did, and can you blame him? Would you have done anything different? Like Drew said so eloquently. Fuck you.

Now people are coming out of the woodwork, calling out Penn State for not being as upstanding as we all thought. And you know what, sure, I guess we deserve to be humbled, but this was the heinous act of one man, and the bad judgment of an athletic director that probably didn’t know the extent of this issue. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with the current Penn State team, the current Penn State students, and for the most part, the current Penn State coaching staff.

Friends have texted me asking me if I’m embarrassed. Am I going to change my license plate (JOEPA) now? Am I not going to wear Penn State stuff all the time? Hell no. Penn State has educated my family for three generations. My grandfather was a professor there, and my own father called State College, PA home. I am still proud to be a Penn Stater, and that will never waiver. That school made me a better person, and those 100 kids on the football team will leave Penn State as better men as a result of the coaching and the education they receive. Success with honor. That’s what Penn State is about, and what it will continue to be about. The action of one man will not bring down what hundreds of thousands of us have built together. Sandusky deserves whatever is coming to him, but I will not let him destroy something I have loved my entire life and will forever. We Are Penn State