Penn State Football Has Really Let Me Down

I’ve been a Penn State football fan from the time I began watching football at the age of about six. I’ve always admired how Joe Paterno ran his program and I’ve always respected the coaching ability of his long-time Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky. To find out that Mr. Sandusky has been molesting and sexually assaulting young boys is devastating (grand jury report here). To realize that Paterno knew about it and did basically nothing? I feel personally betrayed. It gives me a sense of how Catholics must feel about the pedophilia scandals in the Church. A football team is not as personal as one’s personal faith, but I can see how it creates a real conflict of emotions to realize that an organization you have loved has some really grotesque flaws. Joe Paterno recently became the winningest football coach in NCAA history, and he’s generally run one of the cleanest and classiest programs in the country. To see all of that so badly tarnished is really depressing. Unfortunately, I can come to no other conclusion that Paterno should resign in disgrace.