First things first: I love sports. I love football. I love college football. And as an Alabama fan of a certain age, I grew up during an era in which my Crimson Tide played several hard fought, brilliantly coached and played, exciting games against Penn State. And over the years I developed a great respect for Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, not only for his coaching ability, but for the emphasis he placed on the education of his players and the millions of dollars he poured back into the university.
But now I, like so many others, have lost virtually any respect I had for JoePa. About the only positive thing I can say now reiterates something I heard ESPN's Scott Van Pelt earlier this afternoon: that of all of the Penn State personnel connected with the case against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, Paterno is the only one who has in statements shown any compassion for the alleged victims.
But to say it's too little, too late is an understatement.
But even more remarkable than the silence from most of the Penn State administration (now's not the time to hide behind attorneys, assholes) is the fact that the media - and not just the sports media - has somehow made this all about Joe Paterno. The victims of Sandusky's crimes are a mere blip on the media radar.
Sexual abuse - especially the sexual abuse of children - is a topic which we as a culture seem almost completely incapable of discussing. There's reason for this, of course: it makes us very uncomfortable. And it should. I can think of little if anything more reprehensible than the sexual abuse of a child.
But sometimes it's not only necessary but absolutely imperative that we have uncomfortable conversations.
The Catholic Church. The trial of Michael Jackson. Ten-years plus of Law & Order: SVU. Countless hours of advocacy on the part of victims, and on their behalf. All of this, and we still can't seem to focus on the matter at hand, which is that children are sexually abused in this country every...single...day.
And in some instances, there are adults - seemingly fine, upstanding citizens all - who are at some level or another aware of the fact that something very wrong is happening, and fail to act. It's rather like the Kitty Genovese case, but in slow motion. Perhaps no one wants to believe that what's happening is actually happening, or perhaps the assumption is made that "someone else has to have called the police." Not that it particularly matters. The net result of the failure to act is the same.
And in other instances - like this one at Penn State - seemingly responsible adults do act, but in a manner so phenomenally and disgustingly irresponsible as to defy belief. It's been said that oftentimes the coverup is worse than the crime, but that's not true in this case. Nor is the coverup any better than the crime. Indeed, the coverup here may as well amount to active participation in the crime.
So perhaps this case will spark a conversation - or, better said, a set of conversations - about sexual abuse, and about our moral obligation to confront it. If not, the victimization of these particular children will continue, and thousands more besides.