I don't even know where to start with this, but I feel like I can't stay silent. I'm sad, heartbroken, and distraught over this entire Penn State scandal. I feel betrayed by a man I've never met, but have always respected. My world has been rocked by this.
If you had asked me Saturday morning if Joe Paterno should retire, I would have said "I hope he dies pacing that field, during a game, doing what he loves and all he has ever done"
Today, I think he should step down. This is the end of his career and what his legacy will now be known for, regardless of whether he is morally innocent or guilty.
I desperately want to hear his side of the story. I want to know what he's known for the past 9 1/2 years. I want to know that his conscience is clean. But I just don't think it is. I won't say that he met his legal obligations and could then sleep well at night. If he knew something illegal/immoral happened, he should have done the follow ups and he should have been asking if this had gone to the police. If he didn't know the full extent of the 2002 incident, his era at Penn State is still over and will be tarnished forever.
It is just awful that he is the main target being persecuted in this whole thing. I'm hearing more about Coach Paterno than I have about Jerry Sandusky, and he is the one that raped those boys!
There are now about 20 boys/men that have come forward as victims in the awful and horrific mess. 20 boys whose lives will never be the same because they were exposed to a predator who set up a foundation to supposedly help them. This man preyed on these helpless boys, giving them gifts and opportunities that they would never have gotten without him, but they paid the price of abuse and molestation for it. It is absolutely disgusting that this man put them in these situations. He should be the one persecuted for these crimes. He should be the one under the microscope in all of this.
Where was McQueary in the days/weeks/months/years after he saw what he saw in the locker room? Did he tell JoePa all the details? Why isn't he being called on for moral obligations?
People are calling for the cancellation of the rest of the Penn State season. This would punish players that had no idea and were in elementary school when this happened. This would hurt their chances of having a professional career. Boys that had never met Sandusky, boys that had no idea this man was lurking in their shadows. This would punish the other coaches that knew nothing of the situation, and I believe there were some.
Now is not the time for the Penn State community to turn their backs on their Alma Mater. Now is the time for us to come together and show that Penn State is so much bigger and so much better than this.
As posted on Facebook:
“We are…….sad. We are…….grieving with the families and the victims. We are……broken hearted. We are……trying to make sense of things. We are……confused. We are…..over 94,000 students strong. We are…..ranked among the top 15 public universities. We are…..the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. We are…..over... 8,500 top ranked faculty. We are…..hard working student athletes in many sporting events with NO connection to former events. We are….more than university officials and athletic department members. We are….more than this scandal. We are Penn State, and we have always been more than just a football team.”
I will be wearing my Penn State Football shirt proudly for the rest of this season and as long as I can still scream out "WE ARE"
