In Which I Weigh In On Unspeakable Acts Of Human Cruelty 

I made it through page 10 of the Jerry Sandusky Grand Jury report before I got physically ill.

That's the section devoted to the 2002 eyewitness account by a graduate assistant of the former Penn State coach anally raping a ten year old boy in the shower at the Lasch Football building, the inaction of all parties involved to stop this despicable monster and the ensuing cover up.

I was red with rage. I still am.

This entire, disgusting hot mess could have been avoided had someone, ANYONE done the right thing and called the police immediately. The boy was only ten. TEN, for crissake!

Sure it's shocking to witness such a vile act, but I'm sorry, you don't just run to your Daddy and cry on his shoulder then wait a day to talk to your supervisor who talks to his supervisor who sweeps it under the carpet never to be spoke of again. Screw chain-of-command proprieties! In that instance you step in, pull that prick off of that little boy, call the police and beat the shit out of that fucker until the cruiser gets there.

I repeat, he was TEN FUCKING YEARS OLD!

Do you remember being ten? Do you remember how innocent you were at that tender age, not having a care in the world with no responsibilities except to do well in school and play with your friends. Trusting the adults around you to take care of you. Knowing nothing about the dark side of the world or the big bad wolf dressed in upstanding-charitable-organization-founder's clothing. Can you even imagine how shattered that little boy became in that moment. How splintered his little psyche is now after walking nine years down that dark path.

He looked right. At. The. GA.

How do you NOT do something after registering the terror in his little eyes?

I tell you what, if it was my kid, GODDAMN there would be a crater in Sandusky's head inflicted by the bloodied lead pipe in my hand.

Last night the Board of Trustees at Penn State cleaned house, terminating all involved including the President of the college and Joe Paterno.

Good.

They should all rot in hell for placing priority on football over a child's innocence. Their silence allowed this predator to violate at least 20 other young boys through his unchecked involvement in The Second Mile, a charity Sandusky started to "help children who need additional support and would benefit from positive human interaction."

I taste bile.

And yet there are still Paterno supporters who feel he was targeted by the media as a scape goat. Really.  I say to them, if this was Paterno's grandchild being heinously violated you better believe he would have demanded the firings of every single department member including the janitors.

These same die-hard supporters call him a victim in this sordid scenario. Clearly they have not read the Grand Jury Report. If the had, they'd realize Paterno's not the victim here. The victims are the children who are forever damaged and deeply scarred by the sick and vile actions of a pedophile enabled by the INACTION of heartless men solely concerned with their own survival.

The video of Paterno asking the students who had gathered around his house Tuesday evening to pray for the victims in this case makes me want to vomit. It's offensive. Where was this compassion back in 2002 when he had the power to stop the madness? Too little, too late Jo Pa. Buh-Bye. You got to have a life. These poor kids were robbed of theirs. As for that bastard, Sandusky may he be buggered by Clydesdales for all of eternity for what he's done.

Last night students rioted in the ironically named Happy Valley not because of their outrage over a cover-up of a despicable crime perpetrated on an innocent child, but because the football coach was fired.

(shakes head)

Someday, when these students gaze into the eyes of their own ten year old child, they'll look back on their misguided anger and feel ashamed.

The only positive thing we can hope to come out of this quagmire is next time, and sadly there seems to be no shortage of predatory monsters in the world, finally the child will come first.



Much better written related articles by Harlen Coben, Rick Reilly, the former Pitt Girl, Pittsburgh Sports writer Gene Collier