News To Me

Sandusky Home Life Troubling Too? Plus Penn State scandal predictions...

Reports from ABC News indicate that Child Welfare services was contacted in 1993 (or thereabouts) regarding Jerry Sandusky's behavior toward one of his adopted sons. The boy's biological mother began to see changes in his behavior, eventually leading to a juvenile conviction of arson. She reported the changing behavior to the authorities, but again nothing was done about it.  And more information is coming out, as people are gaining courage based on the actions of others.  

I predict that:

• we will eventually find out that there was widespread knowledge of Sandusky's behavior, 
• victims will number in the dozens,
• Sandusky also had other aberrant behavior (in additional to homosexual child rape).
• we will see a huge ban on the Penn State football program--five years of no recruiting and no scholarships, minimum.  
• Jerry Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison

 

Et tu, Syracuse?

The Penn State scandal cannot and should not go away. But it is now joined by the Fine Case of Syracuse basketball. While the extent of the allegations (8 victims and 40 counts of abuse at Penn State vs. 3 victims and no official legal charges yet at Syracuse). The cases have similarities:

• A long time, well-respected assistant coach at a very successful, big-time college sports program
• Initial denials by administration and other coaches
• Abuse is of at-rick boys, who have little or no other voice to support them
• Abused boys were allowed to "sleep over" at coach's house with little or no supervision
• Abuse was originally investigated years ago, but not believed or pursued with vigor. 

People with a lot more time and resources than I have will undoubtedly explore these similarities over the next few days. The questions we should be asking are:

• Are there other scandals out there waiting for someone to believe them? The accusers in the Syracuse case brought their allegations years ago (2002) and no one believed them. They are of questionable character, to be sure, and the primary victim of abuse also had sexual relations with the abusers wife, as well as trying to extort money from him years after the abuse.
• What are the conditions that exist/should be avoided that made this type of abuse possible?
• How can we create a system that allows us to believe accuser/victims without opening up coaches and institutions to unfounded allegations?
• Is it possible to have a successful division I athletic program over a long-period of time without creating a separated sub-culture of exceptions for the athletes?

More questions will be asked an answered. For now, Syracuse is not Penn State. Boeheim is a highly successful coach, but not the campus godfather that Joe Paterno was, and consequently did not wield the same kind of power that Paterno did. There has been no grand jury investigation at Syracuse (though the police and the FBI are involved). That said, the abuse is similar, and the conditions are at least somewhat comparable.

Shame on Syracuse (lack of institutional control again?). 

 

Tracking Penn State Theories

Our little thoughts on Penn State were picked up by another web site called Penn State Conspiracy Theories. Let's keep pushing until changes happen and the truth is available for the world.

Why Paterno Didn't Fire Sandusky Earlier

By many accounts Joe Paterno is a gracious and humble man, who would go out of his way to help a total stranger and who is often surprised by the accolades he receives. That is the "JoePa" grandfatherly figure that we know from his off-field behavior.

But on the field, Paterno is a controlling egomaniac, who believes that all questionable behavior can be remedied with a few extra laps. Which brings us to the real reason that Paterno and Penn State looked the other way when it came to Jerry Sandusky and his problems. 

Winning percentage.

The cold hard numbers are these:

• WITH Jerry Sandusky as an assistant for 31 years, Penn State and Paterno won 79% of their football games, with only one losing season and two seasons with no bowl games.
• WITHOUT Jerry Sandusky as an assistant over a 14 year period (before and after Sandusky), Penn State and Paterno won 69% of their football games, with four losing seasons and five seasons with no bowl games.

Football success trumped children's safety. What a disgrace.

As you settle in this holiday season to enjoy football games--and I plan to watch an enjoy as many as I can--please remember the cost of those victories. Penn State looked the other way while children were raped--in the name of football success. Let's celebrate the teams that truly do "win with honor," that win with high academic standards and high expectations of moral conduct. Let's celebrate true victory--conquering self. 

And let's hope that Penn State turns town any bowl invitations this season in a first step to restoring its honor.

A rivals view of Penn State

According to ESPN, many people believe what I believe: that Joe Paterno knew about the Sandusky scandal:

"Joe doesn't know why [Sandusky] resigned?" says a former athletic director at a rival institution. "Bull----. That was the first cover-up. … In '99, when Sandusky resigns, you think this coaching staff didn't know what was going on? 

"In 2002, this could have been a two-day story: 'Ex-Penn State assistant coach is arrested.' I'm not saying it wouldn't have been a painful story, but it would have been dealt with. But there's so much arrogance to think they can keep it a secret. And it starts with Joe … Monumental ego and arrogance."

 

Paterno's "Boys will be Boys" Attitude

As part of my analysis that Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky's behavior, I cited his reaction to an opponent's sexual assault scandal. Seems I was not alone in my assessment.

Paterno apparently believes that current poor sexual behavior by players is only a problem because more people know about it. For example, "I can go back to a couple guys in the '70s who drove me nuts," he said. "The cops would call me, and I used to put [the players] in bed in my house and run their rear ends off the next day. Nobody knew about it. That's the way we handled it."

Seriously, Joe? Again, his attitude seems to be "boys will be boys." He would handle discipline his own way, by allowing the behavior, and then running their rear ends off. None of the players cited for legal violations ever missed a game.

Dr. Vickey Triponey was Penn State's officer for standards and conduct.  She repeatedly found that Paterno looked the other way when it came to poor behavior on the part of his football team. She feared that Penn State was creating a separate set of standards regarding football player conduct, and that the football leadership--including Paterno--was ignoring her requests to meet. She said, 

"Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code despite any moral or legal obligation to do so."

Eventually her insistence led to a meeting, at which she was insulted and belittled by Paterno. Paterno loudly criticized Triponey for "meddling". So that's "Winning with honor" Joe?

No, Paterno did not commit the crimes against children. But by creating a culture of indifference towards sexual assault, he as much as gave Sandusky free reign to behave however he wanted. What did Joe do to Sandusky after he first learned of the assaults--make him run laps?

Too Easy to Forget

We like scandals...but only for a moment. We like the titillating effect, the "ooh that was bad" moment, and the hint of danger. Then we move on. 

We don't like to live in scandals because that would imply dealing with some of the darker, more sinister side of humanity. Stories about serial killers or killings last in the news for a few days, and then move on--we are interested to know that the killer was caught, piqued by just how bad he was, pleased to move on from that moment and not have that evil touch us again.

So it is with most scandals, and so it has been with Penn State. The nation was shocked at the revelations of a decade or more of depraved behavior on the part of a well-respected coach. Shocked again that so many people knew of the incidents and so few people did anything. Saddened to see the scandal bring down a coaching legend.

And then they moved on.

Move back, people! This scandal should NOT go away. We must not let our reaction to the Penn State scandal descend into indifference, like we do with so many other scandals. This scandal is perhaps the worst in major sports history--a town, a football program, and an entire university so blinded by football success that it let a pedophile prey on the most vulnerable of victims--at risk boys.

Joe Paterno knew this was happening. He knew it was going to be bad, so he fired the coach in question. He knew he might be liable--if not criminally then civilly--so he divested himself of assets. The university knew about the behavior and said, "We'll look the other way, just don't do that kind of stuff on campus." A janitor saw the behavior and did nothing, fearing the powerful assistant coach. A grad student stopped an incident, but didn't go to the police, or even resign his position in protest. 

DO NOT MOVE ON, PEOPLE! Let's expose this scandal to the light, and learn from it. Read the Daily Collegian, which is not dismissing the scandal. Stay on top of this. Demand accountability from leaders of children--of all kinds, including well-respected coaches.  And let's make sure that this type of indifference doesn't keep us from protecting the next group of vulnerable children from the next monster.

If you need a refresher on this horrific story, see parts one and two.

Mistakenly Identified as disgraced Penn State Coach

Have you ever Googled your own name? Just for fun? I did that today and found out that I was a champion motocross mechanic who recently passed away (there is even a YouTube tribute for my peaceful rest), an advocate for the business advancement of Montana, and a salesman of cheap humidors. Humorous, interesting, but not too troublesome.

Now imagine your name is Gerry Sandusky. That's Gerry with a G, not to be confused with Penn State accused child molester Jerry Sandusky (with a J). Imagine that you are involved in sports--football even. Wouldn't life be a living hell for you these last few weeks?

And so it was (read about it here). Poor Gerry Sandusky, sportscaster for the Baltimore Ravens, will likely be linked to Jerry Sandusky, football coach and child abuser at Penn State, for a long time. When your name is a homonym for someone else's name, and that person has become synonomous with child rape, things aren't going to go easy for you.

Sorry for your troubles, Gerry.

(but not you, Jerry).

Penn State Conspiracy Theory?

When a scandal is so large it is difficult to believe that more people did not know. In the case of 40 counts of sexual abuse by a respected coach and emeritus faculty member, it is even harder to believe. That disbelief gives rise to conspiracy theories. Here is one:

The Penn State scandal very closely mirrors a recent episode of "Law & Order: SVU", called "Personal Fouls." In the episode a well-respected basketball coach is accused of sexually abusing his players over a number of years. In order for the police to make the charges stick they need the cooperation of reluctant players from previous years, some of whom have gone on to play professionally. 

Here's where the conspiracy theory comes in. The episode in question was written by Bryan Goluboff, who also penned "The Basketball Diaries." Goluboff is not a very common name in the US and yet...there are two faculty members at Penn State with the surname Goluboff.

Could the SVU episode be a fictional representation of the real Penn State scandal? Might Bryan have heard from his relative/sister/cousin/brother at Penn State about allegations regarding a coach--months before those things became public knowledge?

That's why we love conspiracy theories...