At 9 AM on Thursday morning, former FBI Director and federal judge Louis Freeh released his report following an 8-month investigation into the happenings at Penn State surrounding the Jerry Sandusky child abuse trial. Specifically, Freeh’s report concerns itself with the responses of University officials in the early 2000s to allegations of Sandusky’s transgressions.
The Freeh Report, at 267 pages, condemns Penn State officials in very explicit terms. Freeh’s team found those at the highest University to ranks failing to aggressively address Sandusky “in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity.” That thesis, excellent for encapsulating the core findings, does not do justice to the scurrilous details contained in the report. A particularly uncomfortable episode describes a shower Sandusky took with a young boy, details and all.
But the responses of former football coach Joe Paterno, University president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley, and Vice President Gary Schultz are condemned by Freeh, and rightly so. Those four mean knew about Sandusky’s incidents as early as 1998, but did not report him then. In 2001, after Mike McQueary saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in a shower, the confederacy of dunces agreed they would tell the leadership of the Second Mile (Sandusky’s charity), inform the Department of Public Welfare, and prevent Sandusky from bringing young men into University buildings. That plan was found on handwritten notes after a February 25, 2001 meeting. A follow-up email the next day confirmed that.
Then the shoe really falls in the Freeh Report.
As it reads, “On February 27, 2001, however, after discussing the matter with Paterno (italics added) the day before, Curley recommended a different course of action to Spanier and Schultz: they would offer Sandusky ‘professional help;’ assist him in informing ‘his organization’ (the Second Mile) about the allegation; and, if Sandusky was ‘cooperative,’ not inform the Department of Public Welfare about the allegation.”
Most Nittany Lions fans read this and cringe…and they should. While the excerpt above says nothing about the revised plan being Paterno’s idea, associating his name will tarnish his legacy as a person (note: not as a football coach, but more on that in a moment). At certain points, people must act to stop wrongdoings. They must put aside thoughts of publicity, prestige, or greed and help those who cannot help themselves. That the police were not informed by McQueary or the officials already raises questions about their motivations in dealing with Sandusky, but to not inform any authoritarian body moves their actions firmly into immorality.
Some will disagree with that, pointing out we cannot judge someone until we’ve stood in their shoes. No disagreement from me here, but for particularly heinous crimes, especially directed toward those who are too young to understand such actions, we must do everything to eliminate those crimes from society. The email correspondence of these men acknowledges on their part that they covered up crimes. Spanier, the president of the major state university in Pennsylvania, said in an email to Curley, “the only downside for us is if the message isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it. But that can be assessed down the road. The approach you outline is humane and a reasonable way to proceed.”
I fail to see what about their approach can qualify as “humane.” Willfully covering up the abuse of children, especially in the interest of publicity, deserves intense criticism and condemnation. As Buster Olney on ESPN pointed out Thursday morning, “it doesn’t matter if it’s the janitor, the English teacher, the football coach, or the president: people in that position need to act for those who are unable to act for themselves.” Needless to say, Penn State has lots of internal policies and controls they need to review because while this happened in the athletic program, some details point to a pervasive deprecation of morals throughout the University.
That might be a stretch, however, since football brings so much money to Penn State that any hint of impropriety could mean a big loss for the institution…man I sure bet they wish they had disclosed it all then. The NCAA looks poised to wreck havoc to the program, potentially decimating the talent pool for a few years.
And that’s where the NCAA should understand its role. While the transgressions at Penn State are saddening, frustrating, and downright awful, the on-the-filed product was not affected. Penn State did not receive a competitive advantage as a result of the cover-up. Recruits were not improperly recruited, players did not receive cars or other improper benefits…the only relation to the NCAA in all this is that the athletic department involved itself. Any penalties at this point would punish those not at the school. Joe Paterno died shortly after losing his job as head coach, Spanier was fired by the state, and Schultz and Curley are on administrative leave with litigation certainly soon to come against them. For cases like this, public opinion has done enough to Penn State’s image, and NCAA sanctions might add headlines but won’t solve any issues. Lawsuits from the families of survivors are no doubt in transit to a courtroom as we speak.
Penn State officials acted wrongly and immorally. The Freeh Report confirms that assertion and damns those men to tarnished legacies, unemployment, and possibly periods in jail. For Joe Paterno, long the rock upon which Penn State built its athletic pedigree, his name looks forever lessened by these episodes. Should he have wins vacated or should the program lose scholarships next year? No. The transgressions in State College were of a moral nature, abrogating a code much higher than the NCAA Rulebook. They deserve the backlash for refusing to put the interests of innocent children above their misguided perceptions of “bad publicity.”
Bit #1: All the boring sporting events this week
This week has been fairly boring for actually watching sports. I’d go far enough to say it’s been boring since the NBA Draft.
Sure, the All-Star Game garners serious attention from the media, but honestly do you think players treat it as more than an exhibition game? We’re ten years into that experiment and All-Star teams are still bloated with guys who don’t deserve to be there (thank you, fan voting) while the 15 best players for each league often don’t start the game! It’s ludicrous…Tony La Russa made a pitching change in the bottom of the 9th while up 8-0. This isn’t a game, it’s a spectacle, a way to show off players to fans watching on TV and otherwise. Home field advantage in October or not, the amount of attention paid to the Midsummer’s Classic astounds me. I give credit to media outlets for coming up with so much to discuss, because none of that stats affect the players for the season. It’s a way to recap first half storylines, but is also filled with fluffy stories about Bryce Harper’s devotion to the Food Network and R.A. Dickey’s resurgence, stories we’ve all heard before. It’s a great tradition…but if MLB wants the game to mean something it needs to change a lot.
Secondly, who cares about the Summer X Games? These machine Olympics come on every year and, short of the Big Air Skateboard competition, remain fairly pedestrian. At what point did we collectively start thinking of double motorcycle backflips as a sporting event? Or even the halfpipe? I don’t doubt the coordination and strength required to perform those events but golf also requires coordination and every year five people tell me how golf is a hobby not a sport. At least golf has an arena and set boundaries for its playing surface, whereas you can skateboard anywhere (kinda like you can make model airplanes anywhere too). And yet ESPN devotes their primetime space to the X Games for a whole week…a mindless experience in which the motorcycle races are the most suspenseful thing going.
I’m ready for football season.
Bit #2: Dwight-mare and NBA Free Agency
Dwight Howard’s annoying saga continues, with rumored deals to the Nets and Lakers all dying this week for the Magic superstar. And, truthfully, I’m not surprised. The Nets would have been unable to give the Magic any player of real value based on the proposed deal we all heard about, and the Lakers are quickly running out of tradeable pieces after Pau Gasol. For the Magic, it’s time to play hardball and ask Dwight to open up his trade list so they can find a better deal for themselves.
NBA free agency has not disappointed either. The sign-and-trade deal giving the Lakers a great point guard in Steve Nash makes me hopeful for an exciting season, with powers in Miami and LA. The pick-and-roll with Andrew Bynum that Nash ran so effectively in Phoenix proves to be very exciting and no less efficient at Staples Center. The Hawks unloading Joe Johnson shows they’re ready to land some big names before the luxury tax skyrockets in two years, and the Nets can create some buzz as a new team in Brooklyn.
My two oops moments of this free agency period deal with restricted free agents. First, the Portland Trail Blazers offered Pacers center Roy Hibbert a four year deal with max money. If you’re a Blazers fan, you know this is nothing new. The Blazers have played center roulette for the better part of 30 years and have lost almost every time. Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, etc. are all cases where Portland has made serious miscalculations or suffered bad luck at the position. As good as Hibbert might be, he was never worth that kind of money, and the Pacers look to match the offer sheet anyway.
And why does Bryan Colangelo still have a job as GM of the Toronot Raptors. In an attempt to lure Canadian Steve Nash back home and away from the Knick, Colangelo offered a three year, $20 million offer sheet to Landry Fields, a guy who had a crazy sophomore slump in which he was outplayed at every position. For almost $7 million, Colangelo tried to force the Knicks to match the offer sheet, eliminating their ability to go after Steve Nash. That’s Tom Clancy intrigue right there except Fields is nowhere worth that kind of money. The northern latitudes clearly did not show up in free agency this year.
Bit #3: ESPYs
The ESPY awards aired on Wednesday night, and I’m still confused how athletes come out to this event. Fans vote on awards for Best Play, Best Celebration, and other mind numbingly boring topics that remind me of the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. Certainly, some sports figures are recognized for outstanding bravery in the face of adversity, like Pat Summitt and Eric LeGrand, but what makes Juwan Howard and Mike Miller come to the ESPYs, besides seeing Jessica Biel in a dress?
It must be the goodie bags. The ESPYs are usually poorly hosted and fare even worse in ratings numbers. They also come at a time when all the major sports are in a lull, when nothing can hold the mind of most hardcore sports fans. Some of the awards given are bogus and totally at the behest of fan voters. Also, while athletes go out and perform their job, a celebration is so impulsive and “in the moment” that giving an award for Best Celebration resembles a medal for best sigh.
It’s fun to watch athletes and celebrities come together I suppose, but what a boring night.
Bit #4: NFL Preview is coming
That’s right…I’ve been waiting for NFL season for a while and this blog will certainly see tons of use during that time. I’ll be providing a divisional preview very soon for the junkies out there, and plan on devoting significant word counts to the Redskins. Less than two months away!
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