Penn State University has been identified by one man for what seems like an eternity; head football coach Joe Paterno. The winningest coach in NCAA history has been the main icon for college athletics for years, and has always been a shining role model. There is not a more beloved figure on any college campus in this nation. But his ultimate fate was deserved.
Paterno is not a football coach first; he is a man. Any man who hears of such heinous acts by a monster like Sandusky cannot simply just report to an athletic director; they must go straight to the police. You must go directly to authorities and get an investigation launched. That is simply a natural moral instinct any human being has etched into their system. His failure to fulfill his moral duties justifies his firing.
State College, Pennsylvania does not want to believe any of this. It has always been looked at as one of the most joyous settings in the country, a college town by its very definition. Paterno has been the beloved leader of that for years, and none of the residents want to see him fall. But the town must come to grips with the fact that football is absolutely meaningless in this entire situation. A Penn State win or bowl game could never alleviate the life-damaging experiences that the poor victims of Sandusky must now live with.
And that's what the actual students at that university need to realize; stop rioting. The football program at Penn State will play more games and show up to Beaver Stadium. If those students could be handed copies of the grand jury report, which details the disturbing crimes committed by Sandusky, then maybe they would realize the severity of this situation, the disgusting nature of these acts. Why are they not questioning Paterno's decision to let Sandusky back into athletic facilities as recently as last week instead of him being fired?
They choose instead to embarrass such a proud university. The path they have taken has shown how much a football program can consume and overshadow the mission and goals of an academic institution. The actions of Paterno and the entire staff at Penn State completely failed to live up to any of those; hell they didn't even sniff them. Yet reporters at the press conference of Paterno's firing and these students chose to be overtaken by emotion and not reason.
As this night of debauchery and imminent violence continues in Happy Valley, I would like to pose one simple question to all of Nittany Lion Nation: Is football really that important? Does it really mean more than the effects of all of these heinous acts? Paterno may not have committed them himself, but he played a role in the failure to stop them. And that alone may come to define him as something more than a football coach. It may change how some view him as a man; no matter how right or wrong that may be.
