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As more and more information comes to light with the investigation into the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, there are six little words that still haunt me:
“I wish I had done more.”
Those words were uttered by Joe Paterno after he was fired by Penn State trustees when the Sandusky child-abuse situation was unraveling in not-so-Happy Valley.
To me and many others who weren’t among JoePa worshippers, this meant that he knew about Sandusky and his possible abuse of kids and didn’t do enough to stop it or at least have authorities investigate it.
It pains me to say it because I always had great respect for Paterno. And I still do for what he did on the football field and how many kids he helped to have better lives through sports and a college education.
But his legacy is tarnished by what he didn’t do to help the kids who were abused by Sandusky. In fact I wish Paterno would have at least said: “I’m sorry I didn’t do more.”
The words “I’m sorry” have been missing from everyone’s lips at Penn State through all of this. As people make excuses for what happened or try to figure out the logic behind it, somehow those poor kids and what they went through are overlooked.
One of the things we need to look at as “haters” continue to pile on JoePa’s memory is what went into the apparent coverup by PSU officials. The main thing now is: We need to find a way it can be prevented everywhere.
People feel that part of the problem was the “culture” at Penn State that the football program was more important than anything else. That explanation is too simplistic for me.
It is actually a national culture that surrounds sports and men in general.
In sports, it is usually impressed into athletes from the time they are young that what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room. And unfortunately, it appeared that the Penn State officials felt if they kept the Sandusky problems in-house they could help him and “cure” his illness.
Forget about the abused kids, they were more concerned about a fellow coach and friend.
This was not unlike the Catholic Church officials who knew about priests abusing kids, but covered it up thinking the institution is more important than anything else.
One of the better explanations about the Penn State situation perhaps came from national columnist Jason Whitlock who blamed part of the problem on “sexism.” He described how men and women react to situations differently.
He pointed out that if the people in charge at the university were women, rather than men, they would have handled it properly and immediately contacted police. I agree with that theory completely.
The infamous “Bro Code” is a sad thing sometimes.
But men and women are wired differently and I don’t think I need to tell you that it’s men who are messed up.
There are a lot of things that need healing after the Sandusky scandal. But I don’t feel bad at all about the tarnished legacy of Joe Paterno or Penn State football.
I do feel very bad for those abused children whose lifelong memories of Penn State won’t have anything to do with winning football championships.
The Herald’s Lynn Saternow writes this column each Saturday for the Opinion Page. He can be reached at lsaternow@sharonherald.com
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Lynn Saternow
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