When enough isn't enough

What has gone on at Penn State this week has been divisive, heartbreaking, disgusting and wrenching. I won't restate the facts - surely real journalists have done a better job at that than I could do. Here are my thoughts though about when doing just enough is a failure just the same as doing nothing at all.

I speak of Mike McQuery who, in 2002 visually witnessed a child being sexually assaulted and did nothing to stop it in the moment. In fact the action he took was to call his father then tell Joe Paterno. Joe then sent the information up the chain of command with the expectations that more senior people would take care of it. Of course as we know, nothing was done to save that boy in the moment, and little was done to stop a predator after that. It's been nearly 10 years and neither JoePa nor McQuery came forward to the authorities when it was clear the university wasn't doing enough.

There is so much outrage to be shared here and I have heard some come to the defense of Joe, nothing that he was not in fact the pedophile here and perhaps he's being made a scapegoat. Are his actions as bad as what Sandusky is accused of? No of course not - but here's why I have outrage. In the town of State College there is no more powerful person that Mister Joe Paterno. Had he been the single voice of what was right - had he called the Police with what he knew - had he stood up and said 'not acceptable' - this unspeakable tragedy could have been stopped at least ten years earlier. Just imagine if in 2002 Joe defended the defenseless; imagine if anyone had the courage to protect the boys that Mr. Sandusky systematically damaged and destroyed and stopped him ten years ago. Instead, no Joe and Mike washed their hands of it after they told someone else and went on sleeping at night.

Now he's fired, the program and his legacy are forever stained, bomb threats are being made and a proud football program is left reeling, and all because he didn't stand up for a child in need. THAT my friends is why there is outrage on my end.

Today in Happy Valley is Senior Day. There are 21 Seniors who had every expectation of finishing their college careers with their beloved JoePa, whose accomplishments are now completely unimportant in the shadow of this scandal. And frankly - I feel for these players. More is being asked of them than I suspect any other college team ever. They had nothing to do with any of this; they are not involved at all. In fact, given their age the young men playing for the Blue and White today are the same age as some of Sandusky's (alleged) earlier victims. This is NOT like the Duke Lacrosse scandal that was entirely ABOUT the players. These guys just wanted to play for JoePa, play for the Lions. Now they are left without their leader and are cast in the shadow of this dark dark time.

Normally I'm not a PSU fan. Part of me wants them to lose but that's just because I can be a little emotional and vindictive. Truthfully though, if I think of it, I want them to win today. Win without Joe. Win despite the ugliness. Win to show yourself that no one is bigger than PSU, no one is bigger than the team. Joe or not - the team can win. I hope they do.