I'd like to sincerely apologize to the victims of Jerry Sandusky. This doesn't come from someone associated with the tragic events. I am not a Penn State alumnus nor even a current student. In fact, I'm not even a fan of Penn State. However, I am a fan of sports, have been all my life, and the events that have taken place in State College have made me reflect on the role of fans in contributing to such horrific actions.
Passing judgment on those directly involved is easy to do; evaluating the root causes of this tragedy is much more difficult. Sick people exist in the world, and as much as society would like to be able to eliminate them and their activities, it will never happen. One thing that gives us reassurance is the assumption that responsible people will do the proper thing when they learn of others misdeeds. At Penn State, this did not occur. In fact, some of the people given positions of highest responsibilty, both by reputation and title, failed in spectaculor fashion. They not only failed to do the right thing, they worked together to do the wrong thing and cover up those misdeeds. Plenty of others out there have been and will continue to analyze what should happen to these people as well as to the University itself. I want to take a moment to assess what made these people think covering this up was even an option.
The reason they felt this was an option was us...fans. We as consumers give them their power. We watch the games. We buy the merchandise. We attend the games. We idolize humans for an ability to teach a sport to capable young men. Everything we do has added up and created the modern college sports landscape, a multi-billion dollar industry. This won't be changing anytime soon. I'm not even advocating that it should. Sports are a great way to for many people to relax, to escape from the stresses of daily life. They also can be a huge benefit for the players. The nature of the game teaches life lessons non-players might not learn until much later in life. As a fan, I love college sports and will continue watching.
So what can be done? As consumers, and more importantly, as taxpayers, we hold the power. Most of the institutions playing the games we love are public entities, relying heavily on money from the federal and state governments. Before we continue to blindly watch the games and support everything around them, we as consumers have to hold those involved accountable. This includes coaches, athletic directors, presidents and members of the boards of trustees. Now some will say, how could this have been done with the Penn State situation? Admittedly, it would not have been easy. We oftentimes have to rely on other professionals, those in the media, to be diligent regarding their jobs. We have to push them to ask questions and dig into things that look suspicious. There were many signs at Penn State. But we all know now that things were hidden, buried and not properly investigated. Too often though we don't find about the wrongdoing until it is too late. That was the case here for some of the victims - but not all. Many victims could have been spared had the people trusted to act responsibly done so. But they didn't and now the responsibility to act must fall to others.
That is why someone, whether it's the NCAA, the Big Ten, the state or federal government must step in. Someone has to step to the forefront and tell the world these actions in no way, shape or from will be tolerated by our society. Football must be taken away from Penn State immediately. You can argue that this punishes innocent people. Too bad. You can argue this will hurt businesses in State College. Too bad. A culture has been created around that football program that led to these monstrous acts. The best way to try and ensure that this doesn't happen again at any other school is to inflict the stiffest penalty possible. Losing out on playing football for Penn State or a few dollars at your business does not begin to compare to the loss and pain experienced by the victims of Jerry Sandusky and all those that covered up for him to protect themselves and Penn State football. Protecting innocent children and the values we base our society on are way more important than any sports program. If it isn't, then we truly are headed toward a hell on earth.
