Oy.
A friend just approvingly posted a link to a defense of Paterno that starts in total Nice Guy "here's examples of how so many people are falsely accused" and how poor lil Joe
trusted
that the people he reported to would do the right thing yadda yadda. Ugh. I'm holding back from responding because the friend is generally a good guy but is himself the son of the president of one of the major state sports universities and I can't see the conversation going anywhere good.
And THEN as I'm writing this my old minion emails to remind me that Sandusky used to frequent our offices at my old firm, and now I'm entirely skeeved.
(And extra glad I didn't respond to the post because it occurs to me that it's highly likely the first friend actually knows Paterno and Sandusky and the crew. Certainly his father does.
What does that make The Reds?
Amateurs. (ba-dum-chhhh!)
All it is, really, is a big small town, where high school sports are king.
What does that make The Reds?
Tee ball.
t edit
x-posty Reds bagging!
I think something the rioting students are failing to comprehend is that good people can make really bad decisions. I don't know the first thing about Paterno, but his reputation is clearly that of a decent, morally upright guy. And yet he absolutely failed in his moral duty to protect kids who were abused, and that is a terrible thing. It is possible for both things to be true, and the former does not in any way excuse the latter.
I love HFH generally, but my grandparents were the ones who started the HFH chapter in your fair city, Erin! So I like to read about what they're doing today.
Kate, I am sure they will still be working on it tomorrow. Are your grandparents still with you? I will be happy to take a picture! Heck, I'll take a carafe of hot cocoa down in your grandparents' honor.
Oh, you're so sweet! My grandfather died in 2005, but my grandmother is still with us. She's 95 and has fairly advanced senility and memory loss at this point, though she's otherwise remarkably healthy for someone her age. Anyway, if you feel so moved to take the Habitat workers some hot cocoa, I'm sure they would love the gesture!
HFH KC recently built five homes on a street named for my grandparents, in fact, and several family members were there for the dedication ceremony and took lovely pictures. If anyone is interested, here's a nice blog post I found about the street: [link]
(Except that "amateur" is such an incredibly fucked-up concept, and I have a whole other rant about that, and. God I need to shut up and work.)
Yeah, I feel sorry that when the coach screwed up and failed someone, he did it in such a huge way. That *is* too bad.
And yet he absolutely failed in his moral duty to protect kids who were abused, and that is a terrible thing.
And he admitted that in his statement, that it was a huge regret of his. Which means, at this point, I have slightly more respect for Paterno than Spanier.
Ultimately, I think this is a reflection of the corrupting nature of big money college sports. After years of turning a blind eye to supporters' supplying cars, apartments, cash and hookers to top players and to professors passing athletes who can't read, your vision gets cloudy.
Actually, Penn State really hasn't had most of those problems you listed. That's been a point of pride here for a while, and usually attributed to Paterno's influence. I'm sure some of it was going on under the radar, but Penn State's team has one of the highest graduation rates, and up until this week, people bragged about how we're one of only two schools that's never had an NCAA violation. The program isn't perfect, but in terms of bribes and academics, it's better than most.
