Tragedy At Penn State: Who Is To Blame?

I understand that when it comes to the media, scandal attracts more attention than tragedy. However, in the case of Penn State University, scandal just doesn’t explain the delicate nature of the situation. Herman Cain’s wandering hands are a scandal. Eight lives will never be the same because of the actions of the athletic department at Penn State.

The monster here is former PSU defensive coördinator, Jerry Sandusky. Mike McQueary is not guilty of these horrifying acts of sexual abuse, nor is Joe Paterno. Still, Edmund Burke had a quote that is very fitting for this situation. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” McQueary and Paterno simply did not do enough to satisfy a good man’s conscience.

To explain to you what has happened in this prestigious state university means we have to go back to 2002, to the day Mike McQueary walked into the football locker room at PSU and saw the shower lights on and heard the water running. I apologize for the graphic nature of the following text but this is as it appears in the court statement. As McQueary approached the shower he could hear what he described to be rhythmic slapping. He believed the sounds to be of a sexual nature so he continued toward the shower to investigate. Upon peering into the showers, McQueary saw Jerry Sandusky engaging in anal sex with a boy he believed to be only ten years old. Sandusky allegedly saw McQueary which caused McQueary to leave the premises abruptly.

When McQueary consulted a relative about what he should do, he was instructed to tell Coach Paterno. Mike McQueary confided in Joe Paterno and left it up to him to decide how to handle the situation. Now this is where the story gets fuzzy. It has been widely spread that Paterno informed his boss, Tim Curley of the situation but then forgot about the issue when nothing was done.

Most recently, Paterno was fired from his position at PSU. Saturday was the first time he was not a member of the coaching staff since 1950. The game resulted in a 17-14 loss. Paterno is the winningest coach in Division 1 Football history. It’s a shame his career had to end like this but the truth is Paterno owed it to that child to do more. Eight more children have accused Sandusky of inappropriate sexual behavior. Every child after the one Paterno knew about falls under his responsibility. It could have been stopped and it wasn’t.

The blame can not fall only on Paterno and McQueary. In 2000, a janitor at Penn State walked in on Sandusky performing oral sex on a child. Even before that in 1998, a child’s mother confronted Sandusky about showering with her son and engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior. Sandusky responded to the accusation by apologizing and wishing he could take back what he did and further wishing that he were dead.

The simple fact is, where there is tons of smoke, their tends to be a whole lot of fire to go with it. Jerry Sandusky is a monster and there were many people who knew this. So why are we just hearing about all this now? It seems that too many people were aware of this for Sandusky to just be given the benefit of the doubt.

What we have here seems to be a coverup. Numerous questions remain unanswered. How deep does this coverup go? Are there more guilty parties? Has all the information come out? We can be sure that not all the information has come out. In fact, Mike McQueary has recently made several statements eluding to the fact that more information will come out showing that he did more to blow the whistle at this horrible secret. If we read between the lines we can see that this is likely true. When Sandusky was finally told to move on, he peaked the interest of one other school’s athletic department despite a stellar history as a defensive coördinator. So did other schools know what was going on here? And if so, how much did they know. There is even information slowly coming out that suggests local law enforcement knew entirely of the goings on at Penn State.

Is it possible that the community knowingly helped sweep these horrific crimes under the rug for the sake of preserving the idea of “Success With Honor” at PSU? Can that even exist at a place of learning if the school is involved in something so morally wrong?

After listening to Jerry Sandusky break his silence last night with legendary sportscaster Bob Costas, one thing can be concluded. Sandusky is a sick man. He claims he is completely innocent of these crimes and that everyone is lying about the things that took place. Further, he seems unsure as to why he would be set up like this.

After assessing all this information and internalizing it, there are two certainties. This is going to get a whole lot bigger before it goes away and Jerry Sandusky is evil.

Follow Nick on twitter @captainclutch27