Penn State Riot: Misguided Students Deserve Public Ridicule

At a time where something much bigger than Penn State football and Joe Paterno's future, or lack thereof, with the team is going on, the students decided to hold a riot in protest of their head coach being removed from his perch after 46 years. 

The overwhelming reaction to this demonstration of unity has been that these students are blind to the bigger picture and only care about what is in the best interest of their football program. 

These students have been getting lambasted in the court of public opinion, and it is completely justified. While I would not go so far as to insult these people's intelligence, it does make you wonder what information they have been fed that leads to them rioting. 

Maureen Seaberg of The Daily Beast wrote an article in which she quotes several former Penn State alums to figure out why exactly there are people that feel like they have to destroy property and violate laws for a coach who basically stuck his head in the sand for years.

Pat Toohey said that there is a family atmosphere and that Paterno was the glue that held everything together. 

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Everyone here thinks he’s family. You want to believe the best of him. Everyone is more likely to believe Joe—no one wants to believe the worst of him. You can’t reconcile that he’s part of this or put JoePa’s face on this tragedy. There has to be more to the story.

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There is more to the story and that's the problem. We have not heard anything from anyone about any of the allegations against Jerry Sandusky or the people that knew (Mike McQueary) or were informed (Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz) something fishy was going on. 

The students in Happy Valley live in a bubble where the Nittany Lions are king and everything else is secondary, which is why they are getting ridiculed today. 

The story is not about Paterno getting fired, the potential fallout for the football program or losing recruits. The story is about Sandusky and the allegations levied against him. 

The rest of the country seems to understand that, but Happy Valley is more interested in focusing on the football team.