WE ARE…Disgusted and Sickened!!

As I'm finishing up work today and getting ready to head to tailgate the Eagles vs. Bears game, I check my e-mail and see a message from a great friend and loyal reader of Obstructed Views; Mark Jakatt.  Mark is/was one of the biggerst Penn State football fans I know.  It has been impossible to miss the sickening story that is coming out of Happy Valley the past few days.  As Kyle and I are not the biggest PSU supporters (Go Blue!), we were no doubt both going to give our opinions eventually.  What Mark left me in my e-mail was a well written and heartfelt account about his feelings on the case.  Kyle and I decided that what better person to address this situation than a PSU fan themselves.  So please enjoy Mark's take on this and all 3 of us can't wait to hear your comments.

On a week of college football when PSU is on a bye, football fans and PSU fans alike woke up expecting to hear little about the program.  Instead, a nuclear bomb of a legal action was dropped on everyone with details of a grand jury investigation against Jerry Sandusky and decades…yes, DECADES of child abuse, child molestation, rape and who else knows the evils that this man allegedly committed that our legal system hasn’t even put a criminal charge to yet.  The world of college football, Penn State University as a whole, and the collective alumni/fans/supporters/boosters lives from this point on, will forever be marred.  Take a good look at the picture folks…if even a sliver of the allegations are true, you are looking into the face of pure evil.

Let me take a quick second to explain who I am.  Yes, I am not your friendly neighborhood Montgomery, I am just an avid reader of their thoroughly entertaining blog, as well as a friend to the fellas.  I am also a loyal PSU football fan, ever since I was 13 and my big sister was accepted into the university.  I have spent the last 5-10 years having “discussions” with Jim and Kyle and anyone else who has come at me, concerning PSU and specifically, JoePa’s future with the program.  Especially as of recent, I have always been in the position of completely defending the universities decision to keep such an aging and seemingly, less effective coach in charge of their program.  However, yesterday when faced with my absolute disgust and embarrassment of these allegations towards Mr. Sandusky, JoePa and the University…I have been forced to remember the fact that above any football loyalty, I am a father, husband and a human being first and foremost.  So for the remainder of this blog, I would like to comment on three things…Jerry Sandusky, the alumni, and lastly JoePa and the University.

Listening to sports radio this morning, I have to first make the obvious statement that myself, and we as the public should…SHOULD, hasten our judgments until all of the facts and circumstances have been presented.  The court of public opinion is ruthless and unforgiving for even the slightest of infractions; however, that being said, there is honestly little I could hear about this case that would even begin to heal my absolute disgust and hatred for any of what transpired at the University over the past couple of decades.  I would love to be objective and “see if it’s true or not,” but a grand jury is not formulated and charges of this caliber are not thrown around lightly without definitive evidence of wrong doing.  And these are not charges where the degree of severity needs to be brought into play. 

For instance, a guy gets caught stealing bread for his family…ok he stole, but for a worthy cause so you can at least understand.  The molestation and rape of children, in ANY degree is the act of pure remorseless evil that if there is such a thing as hell, I hope the deepest darkest levels are reserved for perpetrators of such heinous acts.   These kids were already disadvantaged, looking for anyone to call friend/mentor/father figure and these allegations suggest that Mr. Sandusky preyed and violated these kids for over two decades.  I do not have the words harsh enough for a person that does such things. 

  I have participated in the big brother/sister program and have seen firsthand the solidarity and normalness these kids feel when they find someone to just call them friend.  I found myself driving this morning fantasizing what I would do to this man if my son was one of his victims and I found myself most comfortable with the idea of me being Bruce Willis in that opening scene of Sin City where he “then takes away both of his weapons” and shoots the child molester in the balls.  If even a sliver of these allegations are true, Mr. Sandusky is the lowest form of life I can imagine that deserves no pity, no understanding, no second chances…I think the character Carl Lee Hailey played by Samuel L. Jackson in A Time to Kill put it best “Yes he deserves to die, and I hope he burns in hell!!”I will be paying close attention to this legal process hoping and praying our legal system works as the way it was intended to work…if even just this once, justice needs to be administered correctly and thoroughly. 

Secondly, I heard many PSU alumni calling into the radio this morning speaking of pride in their university stating that PSU is more than just the football program.  To that I can only drop my jaw in astonishment.  I am not a PSU alumnus, I am merely a football fan, and even I am severely embarrassed of myself for being a fan, let alone part of the PSU family.  To anyone of you alumni who feels misplaced pride, I ask that you take a second to realize that these allegations will not only rock the Universities football program down to its core, but will also severely shake up the entire Universities administration, faculty, students; the entire town will be changed from this.  We are not talking about players being paid and the coaches and the university covering it up…we are talking about criminal actions of molestation and rape being covered up by EVERYONE who makes the decisions at your University.

Let’s also be clear, this has been going on for decades…IN the athletic department facilities.  Yes, decades…which means at 13 years of age when I was making my stake and claim as a PSU football fan, there very well may have been a boy my age, trapped in the shower with Mr. Sandusky being forced to perform unspeakable atrocities.  I think about that and tremors shake down my spine.  I applied to two Universities back in high school, PSU and Drexel…I ultimately chose Drexel, but I am sure if I was looking at Universities today, these allegations would factor into my decision to apply to PSU.  If these allegations are true, this man has forever tarnished your beloved PSU…from the football program down to the students…the entire reputation of that school will be “asterisked”.  There are going to be many people like me who will walk around feeling like the “Aint’s” fans of old, except that none of this shame is sports performance related.

Lastly, JoePa…there is no way to get past your inevitable fall from grace.  To quote a caller I heard this morning on the radio, who was quoting a line from the Dark Knight “you either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.”  No blasphemy intended here to any of you religious folks reading this, but Joe Paterno was considered nothing short of a football God.  He truly is, one of, if not THE greatest college football head coach of all time…or should I say was. 

Not last week Thursday, I had a discussion at a bar between two knuckleheads claiming that JoePa should retire, and even though PSU was 8-1, they are the weakest 8-1 team in football.  I argued my usual point that a living legend leaves the program he built, when he’s damn good and ready to leave…especially when the current team is ranked in the top 15.  What a difference a week makes.  It’s over with me, I now officially have joined the haters…Joe must go.  But what brings a tear to my eye is that it is COMPLETELY unrelated to college football. 

Again, IF the allegations towards Mr. Sandusky are true…there is no way in my heart of hearts that I believe JoePa knew nothing about it.  And even when he did find out about it, and allegedly reported it to the Athletic Director…there is no way I can forgive JoePa for allowing Mr. Sandusky back into any building at Penn State.  This guy was allegedly molesting and raping children in the athletic facility showers and you know nothing about it?  One of your own staff members’ witnesses an act and you allow him anywhere near the program?  Completely unforgivable Joe!  Any action other than immediate expulsion from the University and alerting the authorities is wrong.  Look at what your program will become due to your inability to act accordingly Joe?  Look at what your reputation will become due to your inability to do everything in your power to keep this alleged monster from coming within miles of another child?  Shame on you sir…if the allegations are true, you are a disgrace to all of humanity the same way those German people who “turned their eyes away” to the Nazi atrocities of the past were.  To see or have knowledge of such an outrageous crime and do nothing to prevent it just sickens me. 

Every child harmed after you found out Joe is as much on your souls conscious as it is the rest of the parties involved.  You could have stopped it, you are Joe MotherFu**ing Paterno for petes sake…PSU is your University…you could have stopped it.  The line is drawn in the sand Joe, and if the allegations are true…I do not want to be on the side where you stand.  There is right, and there is wrong…and everyone who knew about this and did nothing, needs to be held accountable in a court of law before they are held accountable by their maker.  You and everyone involved who did nothing to stop this monster has brought shame and dishonor to every man, woman and child who ever loved the University or the football program.  It is time for you to fall on your sword Joe and retire from the program…especially since if the allegations are true, I foresee you doing your fighting in a courtroom rather than the football field.

This is Mark Jakatt, and…WE ARE…I…am embarrassed, disgusted and ashamed of PSU.