“The Lead” on ESPN’s crawl Sunday morning during SportsCenter highlighted LSU’s narrow win over Alabama in the rare No. 1-vs.-No.2 showdown. Then it noted that No. 3 Oklahoma State barely held on to beat Kansas State. It mentioned that Oklahoma beat Texas A&M but lost the nation’s top receiver to an ACL tear and it mentioned that the NBA Lockout is in its 129th day.
Much like a fumbled snap, the Worldwide Leader dropped the ball.
The biggest story in college football got swept under the rug because Saturday’s lights need to be shined elsewhere. The most tragic kind of scandal was ignored Saturday because the money-making machine that is young men grinding on grass was running at full steam.
Swept under the rug. Ignored.
These are same phrases you are – eventually – going to hear from talking the talking heads on TV, from the pages of newspapers and magazines, from the screens of your device of choice used to describe the adults in power at Penn State University.
And this is why we have a problem much bigger than a highly respected and successful coach raping a 10-year-old boy in Penn State’s locker room.
Photo courtesy of The Patriot News
Saturday, while defense ruled in Alabama and offense reigned on a football field in Stillwater, Okla., a grand jury report was brought to the public’s attention by The New York Times, the Washington Post and Yahoo! Sports.
It gave graphic and horrid accounts of sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky, Penn State’s long-time defensive coordinator who was at one time in line to be Joe Paterno’s successor. It described charges levied against athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance Gary Schultz for perjury and failure to report to authorities what they knew of the allegations, as required by state law.
And neither ESPN nor CBS – which aired Saturday’s big game – spoke hardly a word of it. (To be fair, the Associated Press report was on ESPN.com, but the story was not mentioned on air.)
There are three major problems here:
1.) Over a course of 15 years, Sandusky, now 67, is alleged to have sexually abused eight boys. He used his position at Penn State to leverage relationships and to open a charity organization, “The Second Mile,” to assist boys from underprivileged backgrounds.
2.) At the very least, four people from Penn State – the GA that originally reported seeing Sandusky raping his second known victim, Paterno, Curley and Schultz – knew of one incident that occurred in the showers of the Penn State football locker room in 2002. None of these four people called the police. None attempted to identify the 10-year old boy. Instead, they protected Sandusky and simply made him turn in his keys to the locker room.
3.) On Saturday, Nov. 5, ESPN and CBS protected college football and simply led its fans to good ol’ action on the field and away from that nasty scandal stuff.
This is not just a scandal; it’s a deal-breaker. This is not just about an old man raping little boys; it’s about a nation that has deeply troubling priorities. This is not about missing a story; it’s about entertainment trumping the truth.
And it is all about money.
Sandusky faces 40 charges stemming from the sexual abuse of eight boys. These are eight boys who have come forward. Sandusky had access to the boys through his organization. The boys came from troubled and/or poor backgrounds. He was supposed to help them. Instead, he betrayed them in a way that is indescribable in words. At the very least, he crushed their souls.
There is nothing more disgusting than what Sandusky did and it is difficult to talk about.
But Penn State – which has recently ridden around on the shoulders of its integrity as one of the very few big-time college athletic programs without major NCAA violations – has an ugly history of not talking about disturbing situations.
In 2007, Penn State’s women’s basketball coach Rene Portland resigned amidst a scandal and anti-discrimination lawsuit.
Portland, a two-time national coach of the year and one of just nine coaches to win more than 600 games, had allegedly created a hostile environment towards lesbian players – or players Portland perceived to be lesbian. Complaints had been levied, but action was not taken, even after the school instituted a non-discrimination policy in 1991.
Rene Portland at a game protested by LGBT rights groups / AP photo
The environment came to light after Jennifer Harris, who had been kicked off the team, filed a federal lawsuit. The university conducted an internal review and found and reported that Portland created a “hostile, intimidating, and offensive environment” based on Harris’s perceived sexual orientation. Portland was fined $10,000 and required to attend diversity training sessions.
A documentary called “Training Rules” describes the environment through the words of Penn State players during Portland’s 28-year reign. While not subjected to the horrific sexual abuse the little boys are alleged to have endured, these young women went endured a mental abuse that the administration just swept under the rug. Ignored.
Why? Maybe because it was uncomfortable to talk about. Or maybe because Portland was so damn successful.
Why wouldn’t have Paterno and Curley called the authorities? Because it was uncomfortable? Because he was so successful? Or because it would tarnish a cash cow of a brand: PENN STATE FOOTBALL?
This brings us to problem No. 3. Why wouldn’t these major media organizations give the audience the story on a timely basis?
Because, deep down, fans don’t want to be uncomfortable. Because fans want to believe in success. Because fans pay.
Fans pour into stadiums despite scandals. Fans want to believe Jim Tressel is still a “good man.” Fans force ADs’ hands to fire coaches who go 8-4 for too many years.
But what do fans do with this?
This isn’t tattooes-for-jerseys. This isn’t Camaros-for-commitments. Right?
No, it is not.
But it is just the next logical step in an environment that is corrupt and wholly hypocritical.
It is the next logical step for an entity that is based on the lie of amateurism.
It is the logical evolution of an environment that slaps the wrists of rule-breaking players and coaches, that rewards coaches with millions of dollars while the rest of the state’s educational system crumbles, that uses catchy slogans to mask racism and sexism.
And we are all complicit. We watch. We attend. We cheer. We eat from ESPN’s spoon. We sweep under the rug. We ignore.
I am doubly complicit as both a former fan and former sports writer.
No more.
A 60-year-old coach raped a 10-year-old boy in the showers of the Penn State football locker room.
What else do we need to hear before we change?
Very well said Molly.
The story was mentioned on air on ESPN. I watched it yesterday.
I had ESPN News on all day. Didn’t see it at all. I’ve been told it was mentioned on GameDay Final. I stand corrected then, but it still wasn’t on the crawl in the morning. And I am still stunned by the lack of coverage from a media outlet that takes such ends to be “first.”
Molly. I agree with most everything in this article. I am a sports fanatic, and I felt like rending my garments on Saturday and more so today, as I read the indictment.
Any person who abuses authority due to a severe sickness punishable by law & those who supposedly knew to protect a ‘tradition’ should be forced to resign during any & all pending allegations, step forward & apologize not only to the PS Faithful but to those who have lost their faith in humanity for LIFE, the boys, helpless at best.
No program, no sport, no excuse is justified as should the allegations be true & just with heads turning the other way for the sake of cover-ups to what some believe to be a prestigious leader, following the lies of his mentors, hiding behind them like the children he scarred for a lifetime, should be brought to the forefront of every news outlet, not tomorrow or today but many a yesterday ago.
No comment & no verbiage from PSU is beyond unexceptable, it’s heart-breaking knowing winning at all cost possibly cost innocent victims their freedom, their self-esteem, their childhood & their livelihood.
Until the real fans of PSU demand answers & NOW, they too should feel the shame these boys live with daily….A Happy Valley? As Lee Corso would say, ‘Not so Fast my friend’!
Great reporting Molly. You should be commended before ‘the powers that be’ sweep you under the rug too & fast.
I just e-mailed the Penn State Board of Trustees. The A.D. needs to be replaced and all those who might have known (including Paterno) must be suspended
The story was all over the news. I was watching a game on ESPN/ ABC and it was told at half time of the game, ticker on the bottom of the page, NFL games and this morning on the Today Show. You are clearly wrong that it was not covered on TV. I am Penn State but I do believe Joe Pa must retire after this season or the school needs to fire him.
It was all over the web, but it was not on ESPN News all day, or on its ticker (the “crawl.”) If there was mention — and I do not doubt you — it was absolutely brief.
I was told it was on College GameDay Final (which came on damn late Saturday night), but I had games and/or highlights on all day and did not hear a word on ESPN or on CBS during the LSU-Bama game.
I’m glad to see all media outlets reporting this story. The Patriot News and New York Times have been at it since early Saturday morning with breaking stories, columns, etc. Those outlets deserve respect and praise.
It’s all over ESPN today. So they didn’t publish it immediately. Not the end of the world. How about you do something more useful with your time then create non-existing issues like ESPN covering up this scandal?
Use your real name if you feel the need to troll, you half-wit.
Amazing post Molly.
Paterno, along with the entire Athletic Department, was wrong and they should all be fired.
The grad assistant, Mike McQueary, testified to the grand jury that he witnessed Sandusky rape a young boy in the shower, although I don’t understand why he didn’t have the stones to save the little kid from being raped in the moment, at least he informed someone about it the next day.
Being that that someone was Joe Paterno, something should have been done about it.
Instead, Paterno passed it off like a hot-potato to the Athletic Director who sat on it for a week before confronting the grad assistant about it, although never really doing anything about it allowing Sandusky to continue his onslaught of abuse for another decade.
I don’t understand a lot about this case, like why the hell would the grad assistant take a job where a University allowed a childhood rapist to go free and continue to utilize their facilities while entertaining these young boys?
If Paterno’s son had been the boy the grad assistant witnessed, how different would things have been? Would Paterno have at the very least given a shit?
Paterno should step down, along with anyone else working in the Athletic Department with even the vaguest degree of knowledge regarding Sandusky’s pedophilia.
Penn State has already spent too much time and too many resources protecting these pedophile coddling coaches. They need to start protecting the children.
http://www.deadcomet.com/?p=25
Well done, Molly!
I used to be a member of the FWAA, was for about a decade. Why I’m not any more can be summarized by your words here. Good luck with your new career. Not only does it appear to be more fulfilling, but you also have a talent to excel in it. Thank you for your insight and the ability to put them into a very well-written essay.