In the past few days on Facebook, I have seen links from some of my old PA buddies to articles defending Joe Paterno in the wake of the Freeh report. Since I don't feel like making a stir on FB, I will comment more anonymously here, and get it off my chest.
Allow me to start with some confessions - (1) I have not read the whole Freeh report; (2) I did not read all of each of the articles that landed on my Facebook page, either. The reason for #1 is that I don't have much time to sit still reading anything of any length that can be found on a computer. If I have it in print or on my ipad to read on the subway that is a different story. As for #2, I just couldn't get through the poorly written drivel. I would start, then something would piss me off, and I'd have to stop. Maybe there were some good points buried in there somewhere under the self-pitying muck, but I just could not stick with the articles long enought to find them.
Look - I trust the Freeh report did a solid job, because that seems to be what he does. Also, let's face it - football is a sacred ritual in central PA, and Penn State is the grand temple. When I used to visit my aged father during football season, my first step was to consult the schedule and plan visits during away games. Otherwise the traffic was murder, not to mention that doing one of my dad's favorite activities - going out to dinner someplace - was impossible. Traffic going back east on Sunday morning was heavy, and crazy; I mean, I live in NYC - why would I want to subject myself to high-speed stupidity during a home visit? No thanks. Basically, if you were not a Penn State football booster, you did not belong there, at least from about September until January (that would include me).
The emails uncovered in the Freeh report make clear what many of us already knew. They covered for the guy. They did. They covered for him because reporting him would have been bad for The Program. It's not just the university that depends financially on the football program, the entire area - restaurants, hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and ancillary businesses in that tiny town have profited enormously from Penn State football. So some poor kids got thrown under the bus. Everyone else was making a profit, engaging in Lions' Pride. How many times have any of us, especially women, when victimized, been asked to not say anything? He has a family. He'll lose his job. (Or you'll lose yours.) It's not so bad. You'll get over it.
Did other people cover besides St. Joe? Yes. Lots. That the family is now hiring people to conduct their own investigation is, to me, yet more evidence of hubris. Don't like the results? Buy some new ones. Keep going until someone tells you what you want to hear. And for the one apologist in an online article who said these sorts of crimes take place "everywhere" [so what's the big deal about this time?] I say, yeah - that's right. That's why Joe P. should not get a pass. No one should.
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