Pennsylvania State University, home of the storied Nittany Lions football team and its legendary coach, Joe Paterno, was rocked by allegations that one of Paterno’s former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with sexually assaulting eight young, disadvantaged boys.
The point of the article I posted earlier today, about former Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Fumo, was abuse of power. This sex abuse scandal is a variation of the same theme. Sandusky’s inappropriate behavior went on for years, probably because no one wanted to challenge a football dynasty.
According to the grand jury report:
• In 1998, Sandusky brought an 11-year-old boy into a Penn State locker room shower and behaved inappropriately. The boy’s mother reported it to Penn State University police. After a lengthy investigation, the Centre County District Attorney decided there would be no criminal charges.
• In 2000, a janitor saw Sandusky in the showers with an 11- to 13-year-old boy pinned against the wall, performing oral sex. He was distraught as he told his fellow janitors and his supervisor what he witnessed. But most of the janitors were new employees, and they were afraid that if they reported what had happened, they would lose their jobs.
• In 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant witnessed Sandusky having anal sex with a 10-year-old boy in the locker room showers. The graduate assistant told Joe Paterno. Paterno told his supervisor, Athletic Director Tim Curley. There were a few meetings, but no official investigation. In the end, all that happened was that Sandusky was told he could no longer bring boys to Penn State. Then, when the grand jury investigated, both Curley and the university’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, downplayed the incident.
For more, read reporting in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Ex-Penn State coach charged with sex crimes
Paterno says all at Penn State were fooled by Sandusky
I agree, Hens, it makes me furious that the amount of money that is spent on “sports” isn’t funneled into ed-u-ma-kay-shun so them there kids can learn to rade.
I’m not against RECREATIONAL SPORTS but this play for blood carp is just tooooo much! Reminds me of the gladiator sports in Rome. Paying people MULTIMILLIONS OF DOLLARS to throw or catch a ball when teachers get diddly and soldiers and cops’ families qualify for food stamps–what is WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
Ox – Dont even get me started with football coaches that get millions of dollars and are worshiped like Gods.. did anyone say Narcissist?
Hens, NO, I didn’t say “narcissist” but I did say PSYCHOPATHS!
Isn’t there something to be said for just “HOW” so many of these ‘non scholarly’ kids make it to college football/sports?
Isn’t it the coaches who make certain these kids hands are held amd education paid for to get them through school…..to ensure they make passsable grades in order to play, to entice the professors to pass these kids in a pinch, to provide ‘tutors’ (or ‘help’) to ensure the kids make it to gameday…….
My impression is……the degree is NOT what most are there for……it’s the sport that brought them there….and the sport that shoots them out the other side…degree in hand.
Now….having said that…..doesn’t it raise a red flag in some sort of way that us as a society will keep that all quiet….because it’s become accepted behaviors?
How many of the Penn state (and all schools) football team get scholarly awards? Community service awards?
What happened to a kid ‘earning’ a spot on a team with his grades? These kids are athletic scholarship students……who most woulnd’t have gotten to college unless it wasn;t for their sport! Certainly NOT grades…..
When are we going to stand up for RIGHT? And not popular or the dollar?
If the coaches bring in kids on this preface…..isn’t that a ‘character’ flaw (red flag) to begin with?????
A big part of the problem with college football is that it is essentially a development league for the NFL. There is no minor league football, like there is minor league baseball, where young players can develop their skills for the big league.
There are plenty of good young football players who have no business being in college. But it is the only route to the NFL. Essentially, the NFL has saved itself the trouble (and money) of developing new players by delegating the work to colleges.
It’s causing problems. Colleges were once about the “amateur experience.” Now, there is too much money in college football.
One article says they can’t have it both ways:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/872234-college-footballs-moment-of-truth
Also, apparently the NFL is considering starting a developmental league. Which it should do.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/NFL-exploring-creation-of-developmental-league.html
I also heard something a few weeks ago before this all hit the news that there was talk about PAYING college athletes!!!!!!!!!! YIKES!!! Imagine that??
I think this is a really great article about PENN STATE.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/the-inexplicable-events-at-penn-state/248287/
The issue is she is looking for logic or reason. As many of us know at LoveFraud we look for logic all the time – WHAT WAS HE DOING? WHY DID HE DO THIS? WHY TO ME? And often there are no answers, really, as to WHY, aside from the simple answer of EVIL.
Athena
Athena,
thanks for that link. VERY interesting.
IMO Evil = Power hungry.
My BF doesn’t keep up with this type of news, so he hadn’t heard about it until this morning when I mentioned it to him over coffee.
His reaction was to predict exactly what Madden said was happening: this scandal is about rich and powerful people feeling entitled to abuse children. BF said that they get away with it because it’s EXPECTED that in order to rise in power you accept the slime. You participate in it and you keep your mouth shut. Only then will you be honored with a rise up the career ladder. The reason? Power. Once you have accepted your part in the evil, your evil masters have power over you and allow you some power.
These children are nothing more than the sacrificial lambs being used to ensnare the participants in the power plays. By operating the Second Mile, Sandusky had a veritable “lamb factory”.
It isn’t so hard to imagine that anyone who desires AUTHORITY and power over others, could be indoctrinated into a belief that they and their cohorts are above the law, or even above having empathy. Like any other club, there are certain pledges of loyalty one has to take. Often times, they have to “prove” themselves by doing something they normally would never do.
My spath BIL, who is a cop, made his entitlement clear when he said, “the laws are in place to keep the sheep herded so that us wolves can get around them.”
When he first began dating my sister, he gave her a business card. On the back, it said, “…please extend professional courtesy to (spath sister)” This card is used whenever a member of the cop’s family gets pulled over. It’s a “get out of jail free card.” This is commonly done on many police forces. Cops won’t give each other (or their families) tickets. Part of the club mentality.
As far as ensnaring people to do evil, my own spath admitted to doing this in the letter he wrote to “god”. All spaths want others to cooperate with them in doing evil.
A friend of mine taught political philosophy in a college, and he was INFORMED by the administration that he WOULD NOT flunk a ball player —-no matter what “grade” the kid got or didn’t get. He finally got so fed up he retired from teaching.
The liberal arts college where I was director of student health, with only 1200 students was FOCUSED on education, not sports, though there were many sports teams (no foot ball though) and the sports stars who didn’t get good grades didn’t play, and in fact, one who acted very inappropriately to me one day was suspended from the baseball team for two weeks by the Dean of Students in spite of the coach needing this “star player” win a “big game.” The president of the college told the coach when he complained to him about the kid being “unfairly” suspended that the student “shouldn’t have told Nurse Oxy to fark off.” LOL
After the student gave me both the verbal and written apology the Dean required that he give me (which I’m sure chapped his cheeks!) he was at least VERY polite to me afterward and adjusted his behavior, at least publicly, to what is normally expected at THAT college at least. But it is one reason that the college has a 75% freshman to graduation rate, and a 65% graduate school rate, with a high number of graduating students going on to medical school, law school, and so on. Even with an sports scholarship (and there are a few) there, if a kid doesn’t make the grades and have a high ACT/SAT score etc. s/he is NOT getting in or staying in. That is why though that a diploma from that college is respected nationally in graduate schools and in employment.
skylar
you wrote “all spaths want others to cooperate with them in doing evil”. bingo girl. simply put and clearly right on.
that’s how my husband infected my little girl. she wanted a daddy to love her. and when she did what he wanted (that would wound me), she got SOOOOooo much approval. To a lonely child that approval feels like wonderful love.
sad how being rejected is actually better for an abused child than being showered with approval (approval for doing mean evil acts to drive away the one who truly loves her).