Penn State made right move

Seeing a college football coach’s previously clean reputation become shamed is not anything new in today’s world of big money college football.

Most times, the “crime” in question is money related, some sort of favor given to a student athlete in exchange for a promise they’ll give their services to a university.

Sometimes it’s a basic hand-out, free books, athletic equipment or shoes. Other times, it’s more luxurious and in the absolute worst of cases, a car might switch hands or a house may be sold to a family for an extremely discounted rate.

Schools cover up their transgressions until (as it always does), the truth comes to light in which the NCAA delivers a swift slap to the university’s wrist to frown upon their misdeeds.

The school then plays nice for a year or two to show they are sorry, not for the action, of course, but that they got caught, then they begin bending the rules of morality again.

That’s just the crooked game we call college football.

Everyone does it. Yes, that means your school too, whether that be LSU, Texas, USC, Boise State or even Northern Illinois, EVERYONE does it.

This week, the already murky waters got even murkier; the shady game now has criminal undertones.

As you probably know by now, Penn State fired its longtime football coach Joe Paterno. The coach’s dismissal stemmed from his alleged knowledge of the molestations of eight children over 15 years by former Nittany Lions assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The incidents allegedly occurred on the university’s campus, some even within the team’s locker room shower stalls.

Paterno allegedly was made known of the transgressions by another coach but didn’t report to the authorities, instead opting to inform his superior, former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley.

Upon Sandusky’s arrest, the police cleared Paterno of any legal wrongdoing but said his decision-making was questionable morally and added that he did the “bare minimum” by reporting the allegations to Curley and doing nothing more.

The University’s Board of Directors made the decision to fire Paterno days after the story began to fully develop.

Upon the news of the firing, the shameful eyes of the world looked at College Station, Penn., where the community scrambled and some even rioted out of anger at the decision to replace the coach.

Protest or no protest, riot or no riot, Penn State did the right thing moving on from its longtime coach.

The crime we’re talking about in this instance is one of the most despicable acts that can be committed in society, certainly not an act one should hear about and do the “bare minimum” to rinse from their hands.

Imagine that’s your child allegedly being sexually abused. How would you feel if you knew someone had knowledge the crime allegedly took place, but did nothing to alert the authorities?

How would you feel if you knew that someone saw your child being taken advantage of and didn’t even stop the act, but instead just blew the whistle to a superior and then went on with his life, apparently not losing sleep any step of the way.

With that in mind, now imagine you’re the person victimized, the child in this case. As children we’re taught to see adults as responsible people, capable of making decisions about our well-being.

Imagine how low those children must feel hearing that there were people out there who could have prevented them from future shame, but didn’t, mostly because they didn’t want to disrupt the inner-workings of a football team.

Football is important, yes, heck, in the South, we know that as well as anyone. But it’s not more important than the health and safety of a child, even though it appears some in the world sweep things under the rug for the sake of keeping momentum going through a season.

Then lastly, imagine you’re the parent or friend of a current Penn State football player.

Do you feel safe with your child playing for Coach Paterno? Do you feel safe with your son even being on that campus at all, knowing what allegedly could go on inside those locker rooms?

Do you feel comfort when you lie down at night knowing that this alleged predator has been caught in the act multiple times, but hadn’t been caught until recently and instead was seen using the Penn State football facilities for camps and to work out, even as recent as a few weeks ago?

Joe Paterno is one of the faces of college football; he has been for the better part of the past 50 years.

But in life, all it takes is one mistake to tarnish a previously good reputation.

Sexual abuse is not anything to mess with.

That Penn State’s athletic staff couldn’t see that is just sickening.

That they are now mostly unemployed is the first right decision that school’s made since this scandal began.

Rinse your hands of this filthy, disgusting mess, completely, until there’s no resemblance of the past left.

And that includes Paterno, who has become the face of the scandal, for better or worse.

This is way more severe than a 19-year-old superstar getting a free car or a discounted tattoo.

This is a child’s livelihood at stake, that’s something you just don’t do the “bare minimum” to protect.