Mere days ago, it was announced the Joe Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer; a good friend of mine, who is both named Laura and a considerably larger football fan than I am, suggested it was to gain sympathy after the recent scandal.  This prompted me to do some research and write the following…

Here is what we know:

Jerry Sandusky, the Defensive coordinator for PSU from ’77-’99, was arrested this year for forty (40) counts of different sexual abuse of young boys over a 15 year period. That’s a lot of counts.

In 2002 – which was after Sandusky was a coach, but obviously still around – a grad student assistant coach named Mike McQueary went to Joe Paterno and said he saw Sandusky ass-raping a 10 year old in the locker room.

Joe immediately told Tim Curley, PSU’s athletic director, who basically did nothing but ban him from bringing kids to campus or being around kids on campus; he was arrested and charged at that same time as Sandusky for failing to report the incident to police, though he did call up Second Mile and tell them that one of their highest-profile childrens’ coaches might be a pedophile.

Those are the key facts, in terms of where Joe Paterno is sitting. He’s barely a footnote.

Because both McQueary and Paterno seem to have a very “Oh, shit…I don’t want none of this…run it up the ladder and get it away from me!” attitude. But I don’t think either of them did anything illegal.

Unethical?

Maybe.

But arguably, they had no reason to call the cops before telling their boss, and if their boss said, “I’ll handle it,” then they’d have no reason to do anything, especially if it was an isolated incident, and they didn’t see him with little boys ever again, which it appears was the case. They’d assume it was handled. It’s not like you’d walk up to the guy and say, “Hey, did the cops ever contact you about raping that kid in our showers?” So it’s a weird area, and it’s the reason McQueary and Paterno haven’t had anything happen to them, legally.

So, it’s a tough situation to place blame, which seems to go from McQueary all the way up to PSU’s president. Criminally, only three people have been charged; socially, PSU is distancing itself from anyone who might have known anything and not done anything about it. There seems to be a lot of “chain of command” “I was just following orders” “passing the buck” bullshit, but it’s not unexpected.

You wouldn’t call the cops without telling your boss, first. You wouldn’t call the cops if your boss said he would do it, and to let him handle it. You wouldn’t confirm it, either, because it’s just an uncomfortable subject. You’d be happy your superior said, “I’ll handle it,” and could let it go. It’s fucked up, but it’s true. Someone you knew for 25 years, suddenly you hear he’s raping a kid in your locker room – having your boss take it off your hands is like a gift from God. Yeah, I know, it’s fucked up. It’s also true. If this was the PSU field hockey team, the same would apply. I’m a feminist, and a realist, and I know people, and this is just how people react.

They also act outraged, and I think people have a right to be that way, too. I see many sides of this. I think it’s interesting that everyone is focusing on Paterno, considering he hasn’t been, nor will he be, charged with anything regarding this. He’s just the “big name” for headlines; but he’s one of many that PSU swept out, to clean house and save itself from massive litigation, just to be on the safe side.

In terms of cancer…I don’t know why he’d be telling anyone that, at this point. It’s not going to get him more sympathy. I don’t know what the logic is, for him. I do think it’s interesting that right after he got fired, he got diagnosed; so either that’s bullshit, or it’s really one Hell of a coincidence. I guess getting fired, he only has so much time left on his insurance? IDK…

It’s interesting to note that Sandusky figured he would replace Paterno, and quit in 1999, when he was told that wasn’t going to happen. I want to know what he was doing banging boys in the locker room in 2002. I can’t find that answer anywhere.