Grumpy drive home (RL x3!)

[thistlechaser]

Usually I listen to NPR while driving, but for some reason my radio was set to the local news/talk station, so I left it there. In case you've missed the news, a college football coach knew an assistant coach was molesting young boys but did not call the police. He was fired. Now people are up in arms. Because he was a "legendary" coach.

So so so many things wrong with this situation. I don't even know where to start. If this "legendary" coach had said something, if he had picked up the phone and called police, a serial pedophile who acted for YEARS could have been stopped. And people are angry over him being fired because he's a coach.

I snorted out loud at this part: Some people are upset that he was fired over the phone. Know what? If he had picked up a phone to begin with, he could have prevented his whole firing! Not to mention, all the pain and suffering!

So many things about this make me so mad. I know this seems like a minor thing to complain about in the face of many young boys being molested, but it pisses me off that people act this way (angry he's been fired because he's a coach). If a scientist had done this, would people be up in arms? Why in the world do people collect baseball cards instead of cards with scientists and other smart folks on them? (Other than the fact that they don't exist...)

Grrrrr. Anyway, usually Friday night is my "free" dinner (can have anything I want), but I have an event tomorrow night and "eating anything I want" generally leads to higher chances of being sick, so I moved it to tonight. For the first time in many, many years, I went to Taco Bell.. Even the most mild food is generally too spicy for me, so usually I avoid Mexican, but they had a steak sandwich thing that caught my eye, so I went. I really can't explain my desire for the sandwich, other than maybe because it has been about two weeks since I last had red meat.

Anyway, somehow the sandwich was bland. o.O I can't remember ever experiencing bland food before -- even just a little salt on something is plenty of taste for me. I finished the whole thing for the novelty of the blandness. (That sounds wacky, but I kept eating it thinking there had to be taste I was missing somehow...)

And in good news, Ellie New Cat has forgiven me. I've been trying to pick her up once a day to get her used to it, but yesterday she freaked out. Big, big fear reaction, bigger than I'd seen in a while. CAT EATING MONSTER IS GRABBING ME! And for the rest of the night, she ran from me. It was so sad, such a big backslide, I kicked myself for breaking all the trust we had built so far. Even this morning she was still avoiding me (she kept leaving any room I was in!). But luckily, when I got home from work tonight, I had been forgiven. She's been on my desk rubbing against me while I've been writing most of this post. Whew!

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to defend Paterno in any way - he made decisions and has faced the appropriate consequences. But it's hard for a non-Sports fan to appreciate who he was - he was not just some college football coach, any more than JK Rowling was some fantasy writer, or Einstein was some physicist, or Lincoln was some President.

He had become this icon for all that was good and pure in the world of college sports. He's been head coach at Penn State since 1966. He's had tremendous success as a coach (the only person enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame before he retired), and an excellent reputation as a human being. If sports people make lists of the greatest coaches of all time, pro or college, he's a sure-fire for top 10 all time, and is widely considered the greatest living college sports figure. The award for the college football coach who has made the best positive impact on his community is the Joe Paterno award.

I can see why, if you didn't know who he was, the mixed feelings of many sports folk would seem strange. But for people who follow college football, he's unquestionably the most beloved figure in the sport, and it's hard to see heroes of that magnitude fall. I wish it weren't true. Nobody can live up to the kind of reputation he had, but it was awfully nice to pretend that Joe Paterno, the Legend, was real.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

In all fairness to the coach, it's not like he 100% knew what was going on, he just had the allegations made by someone else on the staff. It's also not like he sat on his hands and didn't do anything with the allegations. He did report things to his higher ups (which to my understanding was school policy) and then the higher ups decided to not do anything with it.

He's even admitted to that he did was he was supposed to do by the rules but he didn't do what he should have morally. In fact, I understood it that he was going to retire after the current football season was over. I guess the school decided otherwise. Ya, he could have done more and I think he unfortunately got caught in the middle of a situation where someone under him was doing horrible things and the person he trusted above him didn't act the way they were supposed to.

I'm not giving him a pass and saying his actions were ok. I just think that we should be focusing on the guy who straight up lied about it to cover it up, and the guy who committed the crimes. I think the school should have just let him retire and fade away so the focus could be where it should be. Instead we end up with this circus and people not focusing where they should.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

The link didn't work, but gah - if a person tolerates, aids and abets something like sexual abuse (which he IS by not reporting it), he has no business working with kids in the first place. What a creep! :|

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Penn State is my alma mater, and while I hate to see Paterno's career end this way because I really admired him and feel he was truly a living legend, the Board of Trustees absolutely did the right thing. I was appalled and horrified when the campus erupted in riots last night. That made everyone associated with the university look bad. If there is any justice in this world, McQueary will be gone next. Those poor kids, God.

[redtangents.livejournal.com]

Everyone who had a chance to do something at Penn State failed.

The graduate assistant coach did not stop Sandusky from raping that boy in the shower when he saw them. In fact, the most he did was tell Paterno what he saw and left it at that. He did not call the police or follow up on the action and if he was threatened to keep his mouth shut, by doing so he's just as guilty.

Paterno waited 24 hours to even tell anyone about the incident. And this was not just a rumor he was told, his graduate assistant coach /actually saw what happened/. He reported it to the next level and did nothing else. He did not call the police, he did not follow up on anything. By not doing so, he allowed a child rapist to remain free.

Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz had this information and their response to it was to prohibit Sandusky from having any children from his charity at the Football stadium grounds. That's it! They did not report the incident to authorities.

All of that is reported in the Grand Jury testimony. All of them failed those poor children being raped and abused by Sandusky for at least a 15 year period. Who knows how many children could have been spared this if only they had done their moral duty and reported this child rapist to the police back in 2002 when they became aware of what Sandusky was doing.

All of them deserve to be fired for it, and really all of them should be tried for being part of the conspiracy. The lack of empathy for their victims is disgusting. I don't care how legendary Joe Paterno is/was. He is complicit with the rape of at least 8 children, quite possibly more.

All because a lot of people put Football above the welfare of children. Shame on all of them.