Yes, You ARE Penn State! What Lessons Can Be Learned From This Tragedy?

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain."

When it comes to Joe Paterno and the ongoing catastrophe at Penn State University, I often think of this quote from the 2008 film "The Dark Knight."

In that movie, Harvey Dent, a well-respected District Attorney said this to Bruce Wayne.  Dent was the white knight of Gotham until tragedy sent him into insanity, where he became a terrorizing figure.

While Joe Paterno certainly is not the main culprit in this sad state of affairs at State College, Pa., it is tragic nonetheless to see a man who was so beloved end his career amidst a scandal that he could have potentially helped to prevent. 

Joe Paterno is now gone, as is former President Graham Spanier, and there will almost certainly be future announcements of additional administrators being fired or worse. 

Millions of people around the nation wait in nervous anticipation as to what will happen next at Happy Valley as the national media continues to descend on this small college town that under normal circumstances, would be getting ready to celebrate Senior Day when the Nittany Lions take on the University of Nebraska.

Every hour seems to produce a new bit of information that any network from ESPN, to CNN to a local news station broadcasts.  For example, tonight, it's being reported that Joe Paterno is hiring a defense attorney.  Expect this stream of news to keep occurring for days, if not weeks or even months.  Sad as it is to say, this controversy will not leave the national scene for a long time.

Simply put, what we are seeing play out before our eyes is the worst college scandal in history.  Sure, we've seen some pretty bad issues happen in our time at colleges and universities.  From paying players, to cheating on exams, to point shaving, to various types of other cover ups, we've been provided with some pretty juicy scandals over the years.  But what is transpiring at Penn State is entirely different.

This has nothing to do with cheating, whether it be doctoring test scores, or giving a player a house in order to recruit him or her.  This is a situation in which administrators from Joe Paterno to the President of Penn State University failed to stop a monster from preying on boys. 

For Paterno, it's pretty clear he could have done more than merely report this issue to his superiors.  When it became clear they were not going to take this case to the proper authorities, Paterno had the ability to go to them himself, but for whatever reason, he did not.  Paterno did not do anything wrong legally, but his morals will forever be questioned.

The same cannot be said for others like former athletic director Tim Curley and vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz, the two men Paterno reported to.  These two men have already been arrested for perjury and it's entirely possible they were involved in one of the most despicable cover ups in the history of any institution of higher learning.

Tens of millions of Americans tonight are outraged at what they have seen, heard or read in the past week.  For those who have read the grand jury testimony, it's some of the most disturbing text you will ever read.  Note:  I will not provide a link as I will not encourage anyone under the age of 18 to read it, but it's available all over the Internet.  To think that a place like Penn State would let this man roam their campus is a truly disturbing thought.

While Paterno will not go to jail for his actions, he was a contributor to Jerry Sandusky being on campus as recently as last week.  For this reason alone, he deserved to be relieved of his duties.   There are those who will say he followed the chain of command, and if you want to go by the legal definition, he performed the bare minimum to ensure he followed legal procedure. 

But make no mistake about it, his hands are not clean of this situation.  Paterno, like others, never went to the police.  Jerry Sandusky's alleged raping of a child was never reported and because of that, the monster was allowed to potentially prey on other children, continued to work with a charity involving young children and even continued to stay involved at youth football camps. 

For that reason, Paterno, a man that many refer to as godlike in State College, is out of a job. 

Despite grand jury testimony detailing Joe Paterno's refusal to go to the authorities, and his own admission this week that he wished he had done more, it has not stopped millions of Penn State students and alumni from steadfastly defending their former head coach. 

Approximately 2,000 students rioted Wednesday night, with a few bad apples toppling over a news van and assaulting reporters and police. 

In a sense, I can almost understand the anger amongst the students.  While you cannot condone the damage students did, there's nothing wrong with the public assembling.  Part of the reason students are in college is to gain maturity.  For many of them, I am sure they can't fully grasp the gravity of the situation that is occurring around them. 

As you heard calls to bring back Paterno as coach, you got the sense for many of these students, they lost their grandfatherly figure at State College, but truth be told, I am sure a good few were upset that they are seeing their beloved football team crumble. 

You can even try to make excuses for the Penn State alumni making outlandish accusations and comments on twitter, blogs and message boards.  After all, they're seeing their institution be shown in a negative light whether it's on SportsCenter, The Daily Show or Anderson Cooper. 

The group I cannot excuse are Penn State football fans, the group of people who have no ties to the University who merely root for a football team 12 Saturdays a year.  To have these people so furiously defend a coach and a school that allegedly allowed a sexual predator to roam free for over a decade is unconscionable. 

I personally had one such fan threaten to assault me and vandalize my car just because I supported the notion of Joe Paterno being fired.

For those fans, they need to realize that what we are witnessing at State College goes far beyond a mere game of football.  We are talking about numerous boys having unspeakable alleged acts done to them by a former coach.  The word molestation does what happened to them justice.  

A situation like this brings out raw emotions from all sorts of people and you can understand why.  Not only were these acts done to these poor children, but you add to the fact that the administration of Penn State University betrayed the trust of current, former and future students and parents alike. 

What parent in their right mind would feel safe to drop their children off at State College now and have any degree of confidence that the school is looking out in their best interests?

It's true that the firing of Joe Paterno deflected attention from the person implicated in the most serious allegations: in this case, Jerry Sandusky.  But the firing was a good decision and when the dust settles, perhaps people will realize it was in Paterno's best interest as well.

If he had stayed on as head coach, he would have constantly had to field questions about this scandal.  No one would care about his team and the push they're on to win the Big Ten.  Paterno can now get out of State College and allow the media to focus on other Penn State administrators who not only deserve to be fired, but potentially go to jail as well.

As we move forward, we will watch in horror at what we learn what did and did not happen at Penn State University.  And there will be those who are rightfully furious at the inactivity amongst administrators, and those just as upset about what happened to one of the greatest coaches we have ever seen.

But no matter what your position is, remember that what we are witnessing transpire is not about a football team.  It's true that Penn State football may well be in shambles for years to come.  Still, that's not what matters here.

This is about trusting that a school has the student body's best interests at heart.  It's about about a number of boys who, if allegations are true, have had their lives turned upside down by the acts of a truly sick individual. 

And it's about what we all can learn and take from this scandal to make sure this truly tragic tale will never happen again.