I think it's best for Penn State to play today

[CoffeeCat]

This week has been very emotional--trying to get my heart and brain
wrapped around what had been going on at Penn State for years. Ten
victims of child-sexual abuse have been confirmed by law enforcement
so far. The pain of these victims and their families could probably
punch a hole in the world.

I have met hundreds of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, as I am one
myself. I cannot fully explain the depths of pain that I have both
experienced with my own healing--and witnessed others endure.

I recently heard someone say, "When you sexually abuse a child, you take
away what they were meant to be".

That pretty much sums it up. Lives and emotional growth become derailed.
Thousands of dollars and many hours are spent in therapy. But the truth
is--sexual abuse is like shattering a mirror into a million pieces. As an
adult, you can put the pieces together, but the breaks always remain. There
is healing. There is hope. However, childhood trauma is very unique in its
effects on the person.

It's similar to a soldier losing a limb during a war. That limb is lost
forever. Just as a soldier can move on and thrive--so can the child, but
that childhood--and normal development--is forever lost and is never coming
back.

I believe that it's best for everyone to see Penn State play today. I believe
everyone needs to look down on that field and see the reality. That countless
children suffered--for years--and will continue to suffer--FOR A GAME. A COLLEGE
FOOTBALL GAME.

I think Penn State's televised game will put in perspective just how unjust,
corrupt and truly sick this entire situation is. Everyone watching that game
will see--in full glory--the reason that University Presidents, head coaches,
defensive coaches, law enforcement and even district attorneys allowed little
boys to be raped and suffer a lifetime of trauma and torment.

All for a game.

[DURHAM D]

1. The game has started and right now the mood in the stadium is totally flat. nt

[former9thward]

27. I guess we are watching different games. Mood is fine.

[MH1]

2. What about the (presumably) innocent kids on the field?

Whose fault is it that they were taught to value football and make it such an important part of their lives?

You can care about Sandusky's victims and also care about the impact on the current players.

I hope there are some counseling sessions going on. Whether the game really should be played, I don't know. I would leave it to professionals to decide - professionals whose job it is to figure out the best way to handle these things for all involved, including the Penn State and Nebraska players.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I think there has been far more damage to the kids who were abused

than to the athletes.

[MH1]

8. Definitely. I'm not suggesting otherwise.

But that doesn't mean there is NO impact on the athletes. And they're innocent also.

Sure it's a life lesson kind of thing that they need to absorb. But still, it bothers me a little that so many people are slamming the entire program as if these kids don't exist or don't matter.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. I spent some time wondering if some of the walk ons on the Penn

State football team were not victims themselves. That was a ploy of Sandusky's, from the Grand Jury report.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. I wondered that too

I'd be surprised if he didn't molest some of the players.

[Demit]

12. Players & students shared in PSU's glory when it was raining down. They identified with it,

they felt personally connected to it. Why shouldn't they learn you have to take the bad with the good?

[MADem]

20. If they're smart and any good at the stupid game, they would be advised to start shopping around

for a scholarship at a less visible school, one that maybe isn't so football-frenzied, but will afford them a decent education.

That's what I'd do if I were in their shoes. I think the whole "football player from Pedo State" thing is going to stink for awhile, yet. Get a degree elsewhere if you can, is my advice.

The seniors and maybe the juniors--if they don't make the move quick--are pretty much screwed, but they've had their glory days already. Time to realize that the days of perks and glory are OVER, to live in the real world, and learn a nasty ethics lesson in the process.

So many people knew about that pervert. Do we know that this knowledge didn't percolate down through the ranks?

[Spazito]

3. Very powerful and well said...

I completely agree. Recommended.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. It's all about the money

College sports has reached the level it has because there is BIG money in it. And remember they not only don't share any of that money with the players, they make it ILLEGAL to do so.

It's a corrupt industry that needs to be brought down - has been so for YEARS. I'm hoping this latest scandal will cause a lot of people to stop and think for a minute before continuing to support this corruption.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. Since you're from Kansas, you might enjoy comparing the

salary of the head football coach at KU with the salary of a new assistant prof of Physics. (The comparison will make you want to shoot yourself.)

My Dad (who lives in Lawrence) turned me on to that little tidbit the last time I visited him.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. Oh yes. Been there done that.

It's absolutely disgusting.

[riderinthestorm]

5. I am so sorry for your suffering. Thanks for a wise OP!

:hug:

[MADem]

7. Not that I like football anyway, but I wouldn't go if I was offered free tickets on

the fifty yard line, a limo to the field, and a sumptuous meal after.

It looks like, despite outward displays of shame and remorse, nothing has really changed in their mindset--save they lost a bunch of television advertisers who didn't want to be associated with "Pedo" State:

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/week-turmoil-gameday-penn-state-14939570

Jay Paterno took his father's usual spot on the team bus, following the starting quarterback off when Penn State arrived at the stadium....Emotions, so raw throughout the week, were on full display again. The normally low-key Jay Paterno, Joe's son and a quarterbacks coach, pumped his fist and shouted, "Let's go!"

He high-fived passers-by on the way into the stadium, and several staffers gave him an encouraging embrace before he entered the locker room. Several players appeared to have tears in their eyes, and three wore shirts that read "Joe Knows Football."

...Thousands of angry students paraded through the streets after Paterno was fired Wednesday night, some throwing rocks and bottles and tipping over a TV news van. While the anger has waned, the affection for Paterno has not.

Several students were dressed as Paterno — rolled-up khakis, white socks and thick, dark glasses — and an entire family wore shorts that read "We (Heart) JoePa." Paul Diehm, a Penn State graduate who made the three-hour trip from Delaware, bought a blue T-shirt with the simple message, "Thanks Joe."


Could there possibly be a more compelling display of willful ignorance? These people just don't give a shit.



Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley acknowledges the student
section during warm ups before an NCAA college football game
against Nebraska in State College, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011.
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. ESPN is reporting that no one sat in JoePa's spot on the team bus.

I think the coaching staff and the administration didn't give a shit. I think a lot of the kids were young and stupid last week. I think the majority of people do give a shit.

[MADem]

15. I think ESPN might not have their facts in order. They also report that he DID take his dad's seat.

Straight from ESPN: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7223687/penn-state-nittany-lions-focus-game-day-amid-turmoil


STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Jay Paterno took his father's usual spot on the team bus, following the starting quarterback off when Penn State arrived at the stadium.


After all, this is their bread and butter, football--not child advocacy.

Get a load of the INTERVIEW with Jay on the same page -- he tells the team to "Have some fun, they earned it."

WTF???

My sense is that these people think wearing a little blue, throwing up a few signs, and yelling RAH RAH louder than people can yell "You unfeeling, morally bankrupt assholes" will make it all go away.

Fuck them, they can wear their PEDO STATE t-shirts with pride, if they'd like. Ignoring this debacle will not make it go away.

[snagglepuss]

16. That speaks volumes and provides a glimpse into a minset that is alien to me.

Thanks for posting.

[kath]

31. Eww, Eww, EEEEEEWWWWW.

Reading that makes me want to :puke:
"Several students were dressed as Paterno — rolled-up khakis, white socks and thick, dark glasses — and an entire family wore shorts that read "We (Heart) JoePa." Paul Diehm, a Penn State graduate who made the three-hour trip from Delaware, bought a blue T-shirt with the simple message, "Thanks Joe.""
:puke: :puke: :puke:

[coalition_unwilling]

13. K&R. This one should be kept kicked, imo - n/t

[hedgehog]

14. I think that for many football and other sports are a kind of amalgam

of the worst aspects of religious fervor and jingoistic patriotism. You can enjoy watching a game, but making the team the center of your existence? It's not just an American problem, look at what goes on at some soccer matches. Look at how athletes in East Germany were poisoned with steroids in order to win gold medals.

So, whether it's Friday night football or March madness or whatever, people need to remember it's only a game!

Before this scandal broke, the ongoing scandal with all levels of football is the attempt to ignore emerging information about the brain damage caused by repeated concussions. How did playing football become worth risking early onset dementia?

[MADem]

17. If the dementia is avoided, the damage to joints and cartilage is often devastating.

I don't get the appeal of the game.

[snagglepuss]

24. Very true that this is not just an America problem, however what seems

unique to America is the fixation on sport in American colleges.

[postulater]

18. Sure, play it but donate all proceeds to a suitable charity.

And the proceeds of all football games that PU is involved in for the next two years.

[MADem]

21. They will need that money for the lawsuits. nt

[Tsiyu]

19. Interesting take on this issue

I just saw the pics of 10,000 students holding a vigil for the victims, and then read some comments claiming the candlelight vigil was a last minute PR move. As if all the students at Penn State were formerly complicit...a broad brush attitude that most of us must realize is ridiculous.

The pictures of the vigil struck me in a different way. To me, those attending the vigil are like all of us trying to come to terms with the horrific. We all have to stand against people who care more about their sacred cows (football, social power, affluence, political influence) than they care about the rights of children to grow up in safe, healthy ways.

The sexual abuse of children is a WORLDWIDE problem. It did not begin and end at Penn State. We're focused on that place now, but all of us have to come to terms with the fact that this evil is all around us, in every town, every city, every place in the world.

The game today is a current reminder.....what will remind us tomorrow?

Thanks for this thoughtful OP

[Spazito]

26. "...what will remind us tomorrow?"

Sadly, we have seen what happens 'tomorrow', nothing of substance. At best, the language of the laws around this are changed but still not enforced, the penalties for child abusers, those who traffic in child rapes which have been photographed/ videotaped and shared will continue to be minimal slaps on the hand.

I keep hoping, one day, the horrors perpetrated upon children will be substantively addressed but my hopes are not high that this latest horror will do much toward that end in any substantive way.

[Tsiyu]

32. There are people in positions of power

who make sure the penalties are mild and private. I am convinced.

Check this out: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2296194

I have hope that more people will speak out, and more perps will be caught, and those who have these proclivities get help before they do something soul-murderous.

More importantly, I hope that judges with integrity kick the asses of those with none.

[ellisonz]

22. Let's go Cornhuskers!

Right now it's 3-0 Nebraska with 8 left in the 2nd quarter.

[rbnyc]

23. Love ya CoffeeCat

:loveya:

[AnotherMother4Peace]

25. Playing the game encourages discussion in many households & possibly empathy for the victims

will increase. These children are not "throw aways". The crimes against them need to be at the forefront of all conversations. If there was a "conspiracy of silence" that allowed and encouraged (unlimited access to the locker room) these crimes to occur again and again - then that topic also needs to be discussed.

I've heard these crimes discussed very explicitly. That honest language is needed for honest discussion, and then perhaps people will realize who the true victims are. These children are not "throw aways". And Paterno, et el are not the victims.

[Seedersandleechers]

28. If you need a link

watch the game here.
http://tvpc.tv/Channel.php?ChannelID=6185


Go Nabraska