Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE 2* Sandusky Arrested Again

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

And they're blameless. You can stop right there. Not entertaining this sort of bullshit as easily right now.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

No, I can't stop right there. Because you still have your head in the sand. You're still enabling that culture that forgives the players from acting human. From saying stupid things like Justin Brown did this week in his twitter when he said "media just wants us to do bad" as if covering such horrid crimes is STILL all about his fucking football team.

Wake up, dude. Just wake up. The quarterback of the team tweeted that he couldn't comment on the allegations -- couldn't even day "I am so sorry for the alleged victims" But he could promise they would have their "focus and accountability" on ... beating fucking Nebraska.

This isn't healing for the team. This is just the usual football bullshit in which they hope to push away the latest distraction. That's the exact culture that allows them to protect the program above all else.

Wake up.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

No. I'm pushing away a difficult week for a few hours and watching the football game. But you did lift yourself up to No. 38 on the moral indignation scoreboard, I'll give you that.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Exactly. That's the problem.

I see you edited your original comment that said "No, I'll just watch the football game" or something along those lines.

Which is fine. Your edited version isn't as tone-deaf, but now my response here didn't make sense, so I figured I'd note that.

I will also note that this has nothing to do with me trying to keep score on moral indignation and everything to do with people getting desensitized. Because, sure, it's been a tough week, you watch a game. I've done it all the time too. But there would have been absolutely nothing wrong with canceling this game for a week to tell the victims -- the real victims -- your healing is more important to us than that of a football team or its fans.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Agreed. But why let one "dumb fan" speak for 106,000 others?

The university has fucked up a lot for many years, and especially this week. Undoubtedly. I just don't know what everyone's expecting today, three hours of silence?

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

As disgusting as this story has been, these players are blameless. Let them play.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Someone earlier in the thread called bullshit on me when I answered yes to the question someone posed: Is it at all possible that the players, insulated as I'm sure they are, are unaware of how awful this story has become?

Having been around college athletes a long time, I see the way they are insulated. Do they know something awful has happened? Of course. But at the time that was posted, I am certain they did not grasp the size of this thing and its ugliness, and part of that is their age and relative lack of life experience. The person who called bullshit and cited a tweet by a player saying he wasn't surprised might be talking about something different, though. Do they know? Yes. Do they know the size of it? I don't think so. Yes, they probably have heard things. Yes, they might know more than we do about some secrets hidden inside the program's history, now coming out. All I am saying is they are too insulated, by many factors, to know the scope of the shitstorm that was going on, how big this story had become, how much the world was disgusted by it, when the question was posed. I stand by that. The entire system is set up for them to ignore everything outside them -- "distractions," real-world events are always called when they intrude upon the sanctity of the game-week agenda -- so it's the nature of things in big-time college sports. Anyone who has covered a control-freak beat has seen it up close.

The information age allows them access to world opinion. I still don't think at the time they could wrap their minds around it, and I'll always see it that way, especially because of the way big-time programs design things to insulate athletes from "distractions."

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Yep, it's already time for healing. No need for the community to take more than a few days to process how they enabled the man who enabled a monster.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

OK, no healing. Just third-and-1. Sorry.

I'd better just go over to my Gametracker, or I'm going to burn some bridges here.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

I don't think you are really sorry. If you were, you wouldn't watch the punt.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

That whole insulation is part of the problem for two reasons.

1. It separates them from society.
2. With that separated, selfish, self-centered focus -- because that's what it really is -- it's all about self-interest and focusing only on your success as a team -- they are still held up as leaders.

McGloin was actually lauded for his leadership this week with that tweet that offered no comment on the alleged victims, but a promise to be acountable on the field and to bring home a Big 10 championship.

Yeah, they don't know any better. I'm not trying to kill the young men -- not kids -- for their programming. I am saying people on all levels should recognize it and stop enabling it.