Oakland at San Diego (-7)
Oakland is still without Darren McFadden, who was the main weapon in their offense. The recently acquired Carson Palmer has stepped into play quarterback, and has performed in a manner that is vintage 2010 Carson Palmer- sure, he can make some nice throws, but he's also going to throw some awful interceptions, and his arm strength is suddenly gone. The Chargers managed to keep it very close against the Packers despite 3 interceptions from Philip Rivers, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Sure, the Chargers defense looked silly against the Packers, but most defenses do. The Chargers seem to have hit a stride on offense, and the Oakland offense is nowhere near as good as the Packers. Looks like the Chargers should be able to break their three game losing streak, winning easily at home.
Pick: Chargers win, cover
Ok, massive switch in tone here, but here goes: Let's talk about the Penn State scandal and Joe Paterno.
As everyone knows by now, Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, has been charged with 40 sex crimes against various youths in his "Second Mile" program, one which aimed to help impoverished children. This man had complete access to the youths and (allegedly, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming) abused his authority to gain sexual access to many underage children. This is obviously a horrible crime, and Sundusky has rightly been vilified; but now the story has mostly shifted from Sandusky to Joe Paterno, the long time head coach of the Nittany Lions.
Paterno, according to the legal briefs, was informed by a graduate assistant that Sandusky had been seen in the showers at the Penn State facility raping an underage boy. What the graduate assistant actually told Paterno is unclear (he might've said Sandusky was raping the boy or just doing sexually inappropriate things to him); what Paterno passed on to his superior, the athletic director of the school, was that Sandusky had been seen fondling or doing other sexually inappropriate things to an underage boy. And that's all Paterno did. Passed on the news to his superior, the bare minimum of what he was legally supposed to do. (In addition, he might've even downplayed the graduate assistant's report to his superiors.)
In the wake of this scandal, Paterno has been fired. In response to this, a good portion of the Penn State campus erupted into a riot, defending Paterno. They carry signs that say, "We love you, Joe!" and vilify the board of directors that ruled to fire him. Their main argument is that Paterno's been made the scapegoat for the whole mess, and that he deserves to have the whole legal process run through before any judgement can be passed. By then, say all the defenders, we'll know what was truly reported to him and what he did. Here's the issue: Joe Paterno became some weird, mythic father figure to a whole institution. He became the figure head of a school, the shining exemplar of how to run a college football program. Unfortunately, he made a huge mistake.
When we're young we idolize our fathers. Everything they do is perfect. But there comes a time when we realize that our fathers are fallible (sorry, Dad. I still think you're awesome, though.) That they make mistakes. It's certainly a shock for most people-no one wants to believe it, and they fight against it. But there comes a time when everyone must accept the facts: there is no perfect person. Humanity is rife with mistakes. Everyone has something they're hiding or wish they had done better; humans simply are never perfect. Joe Paterno made a mistake. Even if the report he got was only that there was fondling of a child, he (and the rest of the administration) had a moral obligation to report it to the police. If it was your kid, or if it was a relative of yours, you'd feel the same way: the bare minimum is not enough in this situation.
Joe Paterno was Penn State's father figure. He built the program into a model for college football programs and made sure his players got an education. On the way, he became a legend. These student riots are just people struggling against the realization that he's not perfect. You can still love the man for all his accomplishments as a coach and in building the Penn State program, but that does not excuse his mistakes. People don't reside on opposite sides of a good and bad, black and white moral spectrum. There's shades of grey. Paterno was built up to be something more than human, more than fallible; a white knight of pure good. But there's no one out there like that in reality. The sooner Penn State students can realize this, the better off they are. It's okay to love the man, but his faults must be recognized. "We love you, Joe!"Well, at least the idea of you, instead of the reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment