Why Don't You Say What You Really Think

[lame54]

http://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/football-not-absolute-monarchy

November 11, 2011 07:00 PM
Football is NOT an Absolute Monarchy
by nonny mouse

It all reads like an overheated John Grisham novel: A trusted football hero and director of a respected child refuge center is charged with sexually assaulting eight young boys for over a 14 year period. An assistant coach who was an eye-witness to the anal rape of a ten year old boy and rather than trying to stop the crime, or even report it to the police, instead told his boss, a legendary head coach, who along with a university president and his athletic director, covered it up. A district attorney who mysteriously disappeared six years ago, his body never found, before he could bring charges against the child rapist. A rapist who also – if rumors turn out to have any basis in truth – pimped out children to other pedophiles. And, rather than outrage at such evil finally coming to light, in a town so inculcated in a culture where football is king and so fearful it might lose its meal-ticket, the student body riot in protest when the head coach is fired. In a state where congressmen can still nominate said disgraced coach for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, turning a blind eye to the corruption riddling his university team until they simply can’t.
Except it’s not a novel. This is Penn State.

When universities become so dependent on athletic departments for their very existence, to the point where nothing – nothing – seems vile or heinous or repugnant enough to shake that iron grip, then there is something desperately wrong with American universities. When any game becomes so powerful that football coaches can play God to entire towns, cover-ups this massive are blatant and where so many people knew and did nothing, when students riot after the filth lurking under rocks start to come out not in protest of the crime but in reaction to the loss of their beloved coach, then Penn State needs to be shut down.

Completely. Dismantled, not a brick left standing. Salt poured on the ground so nothing grows there again. This isn’t just a case of a single bad-apple, not just a small, isolated or one-off event. A man raped children while his friends deliberately covered up his crimes. For years. All in the name of protecting football. The extent of depravity metastasizing an entire town because of the power embedded in one university’s athletic department is on a scale hard to imagine, never mind stomach. The Penn State football program has lost the right to continue to exist.

[Odin2005]

1. K&R

[Fumesucker]

2. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit..

It's the only way to be sure..

;)

[tawadi]

3. Well written.

K&R

[Dawson Leery]

4. No sport is a monarchy in any form.

[Merlot]

5. The Penn State football program has lost the right to continue to exist.

[murielm99]

6. This may yet happen.

By the time all the lawsuits are brought, there may be nothing left of the athletic program, or the school. The costs will be enormous.

Their downfall would be well deserved.

[hootinholler]

7. I think nonny mouse is mistaken in their analysis

Very emotional. Very compelling. But what is described is not the complete picture of Penn State.

Does football have an undue influence on the college? Likely, but not more so than it has in other universities across the nation. I seriously doubt that this was covered up in an attempt to save the football program, but in a very misguided and likely illegal attempt to save the school from the shame. As cover ups always do, it magnified shame upon discovery.

The town of State College would not exist if it weren't for Penn State. I mean that literally, it was incorporated at nearly the same time the college was created, thus the name of the town. The site was selected because it was in the center of the state.

Maybe 1/40 of the student body of around 40000 protested the firing last night. I doubt there were more than 100 running around breaking shit.

1/4 of the student body held a candlelight vigil tonight to honor and show support for the victims.

Should heads roll for the cover-up? Hell yes! And they are! Administrators have been fired, and may already be indicted. As the directors work through this, I think it is likely there will be more. Joe Pa was fired and is disgraced. It is possible he will be indicted as well. That is for the DA and investigators to decide, and juries to judge.

For whatever reason, the missing DA did not prosecute in 2002. His disappearance might be connected, but it was not to prevent prosecution.

[melissaf]

9. Why is it

that some of us have to explain to people that not all of Penn State was involved in this? I mean, say, in Chicago, they have corruption. They have crime. I'm sure they have their share of pedophiles, and pedophile enablers, and stupid thoughtless people who riot over stupid things and make tasteless jokes. So why is no one calling for Chicago to be torn to the ground? Why don't we take away Chicago's industries, sports teams, entertainment venues? Someone in Chicago did something bad, therefore they as a city have proven they have no right to exist.

Seriously, I'm asking this--why does anyone associated with Penn State have to point out that being associated with Penn State doesn't make them an evil person?

[coalition_unwilling]

11. Various non-ideological news sources reported independently of one another the number of

rioters at 10,000 (not your 1,000 or "100 running around breaking shit").

If 10,000 rioted, that's 25% of the student body.

[jberryhill]

8. The situation at Penn State only raises the question of...

...what is going on at other institutions.

[Hardrada]

10. The flames will cause other institutions to ignite, I am sure.

[jberryhill]

12. Unless it is perceived as a "Penn State Problem" instead of what may be a symptom

...of a larger set of problems.