tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
Doubt the author is the same Steve Smith who was a Penn State fullback and a captain of the 1986 Nittany Lions' national championship team -- would have been helpful if the paper had identified him. Whoever he is, he certainly seems to have a lot of familiarity with the program.
This is an excellent piece. A bit long, but it really lays out the case of serious deficiencies all around in handling the reports of child rape and abuse, and suggests it is all about power, money and secrecy. He lists a number of questions for Paterno.
PSU fan blog: Something must be said | Monday Morning Quarterback | CentreDaily.com
This is an excellent piece. A bit long, but it really lays out the case of serious deficiencies all around in handling the reports of child rape and abuse, and suggests it is all about power, money and secrecy. He lists a number of questions for Paterno.
PSU fan blog: Something must be said | Monday Morning Quarterback | CentreDaily.com
Lastly, the coach, the beloved icon, the man, the legend Joe Paterno. Ever since I've been coming to games, you've been a hero. THE HERO. PSU football, doing things the right way, with no major NCAA violations – ever. What I wouldn't give, right now, for this to be about a player getting a suit for the draft, or signing with an agent early. But, it's not about something that simple, that benign, that stupid. It's about a heinous crime committed by someone you were close to, for several decades. You said in your statement that you and Sue have devoted yourselves to helping young people reach their potential. You have. You talked the talk, and you walked the walk. Heck, you've enabled generations to do that, and much, much more. You've done it for an entire town and university. Someone need money or have a cause, you'd help out. Spare a million or 4 for a library? Sure. Build a chapel? Yep, done that. Educationally, the "Grand Experiment" fundamentally made the collegiate sporting world sit up and take notice. Your teams brought attention, winning at a dizzying pace. But no love from the polls, and the schedule was mocked (wrongly, of course). But even though you never publicly said you paid attention to that criticism, you obviously did. I was delighted, and proud as punch, to have sat through the glory years of the late 70s through the early 90s. It's mind-boggling now, given the complete joke that college schedules have become. Think about it: Alabama, Notre Dame, A&M, Texas, Pitt (at their height), Nebraska, Miami, USC, BYU, Maryland and N.C. State all populated the schedule at times, all while still playing the usual suspects and taking their best shots every year as well. And then, unparalleled success followed, and all by doing it the right way. It was success with honor, before it became a marketing slogan, and now, sadly, a punch line. You had heretofore when challenged by fate come up aces every time: Rashard Casey, nailed it. Anwar Phillips, got that one, too. Countless other players. You also recognized some bad apples, booting them. (Lavon Chisley comes to mind.) And the undeniable successes: turning around so many lives, whether it's Bobby Engram or Bob White, or seeing boys become men, like Fran Ganter, Bradley, Matt Millen, Todd Blackledge, Curt Warner, Blair Thomas, Shane Conlan, Al Golden, Mark D'Onofrio, etc. We could go on and on, quite literally, since so many of these men decided to put their children's fate in your hands as well. What do you think they are thinking about this morning? Or over the completely lost weekend this has become? Do you think any of them are wondering "I wonder if so-and-so touched my kid?" Some of them likely are wondering that, and it has to be a knife searing into your soul. I know it's been a knife straight through my head. Sure, you can give a statement asking everyone to trust in the system, and we will try. But who are you asking for? Again, the victims seem to be down the list. (At least you mentioned them, though.) But let's be honest here: the PSU football system didn't work for a lot of people in this instance. Why? Here's the answer: Money, power and secrecy. While money has always been down the list of your personal priorities, the other two almost seemed paramount to you. You have had unequaled power in this town, whether you'll admit it or not. Is there anyone else who can essentially ignore the university president and trustees? No. You built an empire and you were master of all that you surveyed. Nothing happened without your approval, without your knowledge. When this happened, you fulfilled your legal obligation, it would appear, and earned a thank you from the Attorney General's Office for testimony. However, as we all know, legal obligations and moral obligations are sometimes different. Given your impeccable moral standing, and good name, why didn't you follow up? Everyone knew Curley was your boss in name only. After a few weeks, why not ask where the heck are the police? Did you ever think to maybe have lunch with Ray Gricar and ask what's up? (Of course, Gricar's subsequent disappearance and the botched investigation raise its own questions.) Surely you have a lawyer that you can confide in. (I'd mention a priest, but the church you belong to has enough of its own problems on this subject.) Then again, you were dealing with a lot in 2002. Your beloved brother, and perhaps most trusted confidant, George Paterno passed away that summer. He might've been a good sounding board. Then again, a sick man probably doesn't want to talk about this. How about Sue? Again, you are probably too chivalrous to even bring up such a nasty subject. Perhaps the only conclusion I can come up with is you didn't follow up because you didn't want to. You were coming off back-to-back losing seasons, and you knew you were loaded for bear in 2002. If something came to light that summer, well, just perhaps PSU football implodes. I can see this very easily. 2002 becomes a huge distraction, and then 2003-4 happen naturally, and 2005 and the subsequent successful run never happen. And you, in your Byzantine (or Machiavellian if you prefer) way, you just let it slide, knowing that you can do greater good in the future by conveniently forgetting about a little boy allegedly getting molested in the Lasch Building, and also any potential future victims of the monster In Happy Valley. The military calls it collateral damage. Is that what you decided?
Of course, none of this will ever actually get answered. PSU will likely circle the wagons and crawl into the Old Main bunker and see if they can wait it out. Since they've been ignoring this problem for going on 17 years, what another couple? The difference, though, can be us. We need to say something, we need to do something, we need to demand action. Does G$pan and those genius trustees think students are going to apply in record number to come to Pedophile State (I can see the T-shirt now)? How about those Wall St. recruiters ranking us No. 1? Think they'll have any second thoughts? How about those parents that are footing the bill?
The money/power/secrecy nexus that exists at PSU must be destroyed, forever. If alleged perjurer Tim Curley and the athletic department want anyone to believe them, it's imperative. Open the books, all of them, to anyone who asks. You are raking in millions upon millions from football alone. If TC is willing to forget this, why wouldn't eyes look the other way when hundreds of millions are involved? If six people at Kansas can run a multimillion dollar ticket scam in BASKETBALL under the nose of the AD, (an arena that seats a fraction of the Big Beav), anything is possible anywhere, especially when you have the closed secret power system at PSU. And this probably isn't the only deep secret being hidden inside the athletics and football offices. Whenever power and money are involved, you know there are plenty of opportunities for trouble to follow. Perhaps we should start with why our starting QB didn't play in the 1999 Alamo Bowl, which ironically was the lead villain's final, triumphant, game, a ride off into the sunset. I'm willing to predict that secret, which isn't really a huge secret, gets revealed in full this week, or very soon.
Of course, none of this will ever actually get answered. PSU will likely circle the wagons and crawl into the Old Main bunker and see if they can wait it out. Since they've been ignoring this problem for going on 17 years, what another couple? The difference, though, can be us. We need to say something, we need to do something, we need to demand action. Does G$pan and those genius trustees think students are going to apply in record number to come to Pedophile State (I can see the T-shirt now)? How about those Wall St. recruiters ranking us No. 1? Think they'll have any second thoughts? How about those parents that are footing the bill?
The money/power/secrecy nexus that exists at PSU must be destroyed, forever. If alleged perjurer Tim Curley and the athletic department want anyone to believe them, it's imperative. Open the books, all of them, to anyone who asks. You are raking in millions upon millions from football alone. If TC is willing to forget this, why wouldn't eyes look the other way when hundreds of millions are involved? If six people at Kansas can run a multimillion dollar ticket scam in BASKETBALL under the nose of the AD, (an arena that seats a fraction of the Big Beav), anything is possible anywhere, especially when you have the closed secret power system at PSU. And this probably isn't the only deep secret being hidden inside the athletics and football offices. Whenever power and money are involved, you know there are plenty of opportunities for trouble to follow. Perhaps we should start with why our starting QB didn't play in the 1999 Alamo Bowl, which ironically was the lead villain's final, triumphant, game, a ride off into the sunset. I'm willing to predict that secret, which isn't really a huge secret, gets revealed in full this week, or very soon.
