Penn State college football scandal bigger than the game

Together they made up about 1/16th of the grass itself, signaling that this problem, this albatross of a scandal, may be bigger than they are.

 

Despite all their shortcomings and willingness to don pads, protective gear and do battle in different colored jerseys, they would band together for a few seconds in unity before playing the world’s most dangerous sport. 

 

This was only football, or so it seemed on a sunny Saturday in State College, Penn.

 

Was the prayer slightly theatrical? Absolutely, but it wasn't purposefully done for effect. These players, and fans, and coaches knew what had happened without even saying a word. 

 

Was it a funeral for a sport that has generated so much controversy over the years, with players taking payments from agents, and steroid-addicted former stars committing suicide, and current players being cited driving 100 miles per hour having drug paraphernalia on their person? Without question, but those services have gone on for years.  

 

Everybody knew this day was coming, they just didn't know when. Nobody knew it would come from Penn State, one of just an ever-shinking handful of schools in the country that hadn't ever been cited for any major NCAA rules infraction. 

 

One of the most hallowed programs in the land, Penn State was indeed undergoing its own death in front of millions watching on television. 

 

Like the tears flowing from the cheeks of fans at the stadium, everyone seemed to pause and take a moment of "soul searching," as President Barack Obama himself stated in a radio interview on Friday. 

 

Maybe Jerry Sandusky, the alleged perpetrator and former PSU defensive coordinator, was watching his own death on TV. Maybe he had the same acts done to him as a child, and maybe he didn't know any other way to express his sexuality.

 

Or maybe he's just as evil, and vile, as others say, and there isn't any other way to explain his reasoning, other than to say it was completely and utterly wrong for him to do what he may have done to those children. 

 

No matter what manner you choose to look at these allegedly heinous acts of child sodomy, the fact remains that something went horribly, awfully wrong, not just on the part of Sandusky, but on the PSU administration and its coaching staff for leaving these matters to school authorities and not to the attention of law enforcement officials. 

 

Has college football finally become less than the sum of its parts? Has it simply been made into a business and not what was its original intent was for, an avocation for college students, and a release from the everyday rigors of scholastic pursuit? 

 

Yes, the administrations, and the Nikes and Adidases of the sports marketing world have made it so, passing along their marketing campaigns and apparel to the schools, who pass it on to fans. 

 

After all these years, there are just very few major colleges without a "major NCAA rules infraction." 

 

Zero major NCAA infractions since 1987

Conf.       Schools

ACC        BC, Duke, N. Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest

Big East   UConn, Louisville, South Florida, W. Virginia

Big Ten    Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn St, Purdue

Big 12      Iowa State, Missouri

Pac-12     Arizona, Oregon St., Stanford, UCLA

SEC         LSU, Vanderbilt

Of course, as we all know by now, having such a distinction means nothing. And, you can probably strike Penn State from the list. 

 

Was it honestly something Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history did, or was it even bigger than he? Upon hearing about the atrocities reported by Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant, Paterno did allegedly go to his superiors. 

 

The question everyone wants answered, however, and hasn't been at all, is whether he could have done more to help these supposed victims. 

 

Was he simply a pawn in a big game of chess that rewards those who keep their mouths shut? Moreover, did Penn State do itself any favor whatsoever by keeping quiet, and does that mean that these 409 victories Paterno collected now mean nothing from 1999 going forward? 

 

People don’t know what to believe anymore. This goes beyond the SMU “Pony Express” death penalty, the Nebraska sexual assaults, the giant payout Reggie Bush reportedly received from a sports agent at USC…this trumps them all. 

 

But what binds all together is that there was a blatant attempt to cover up these horrendous atrocities. SMU spent millions upon millions doing damage control, Dr. Tom Osborne instituted a “gag order” on his program at NU, and the Heisman Trophy Trust is still, to this day, attempting to seize the trophy they gave to Bush for his accomplishments on the field. 

 

And all of these monstrocities add up to so little in terms of what is alleged to have occurred over the years at Penn State in federal Grand Jury findings.  

 

It was sad to see, really; this game that we all know and love, being reduced to a moment of silence by unspeakable nightmares.

 

When you thought for a split second that all it would take for this to go away would be for the perpetrators to say something, anything and admit culpability, you knew it wouldn't do a darned thing. 

 

That’s the sad thing about sexual abuse--once it’s done, it’s done. The pain stays throughout your life, and it never leaves. 

 

It lingers until you ask yourself why, and wonder in in your own personal hell why this ever happened to you. 

 

As the days go on, and more college football games are played, you might ask yourself why this might have happened, and by all rights, you'll be angry. 

 

You’ll also hope and pray, as you sit there, arms clasped, heads bowed, that it never happens again.