Thoughts on the Paterno/Sandusky tragedy and what it means

I'm a sports writer. Obviously, I love sports and I love SEC football. But a friend of mine emailed me this morning and wanted me to write about the situation at Penn State, what it means in the more important realm of education versus football. Here are my thoughts. College football can be deemed to be too important for some more serious-minded people. The Paterno/Sandusky debacle was an example of a football coach, Joe Paterno,  who had way too much control of a university, and, as it turns out, was amoral; he was consumed  with winning football games and it looks like nothing else mattered to him. In 1998, when Paterno first heard about Sandusky showering with a boy and, according to an assistant, molesting the kid, he did nothing. It was proven in court that Sandusky did commit that heinous crime and many more, Paterno responded by first not doing anything about it and then talking to the AD about keeping it under wraps. That's not only amoral, it's illegal.

Paterno was not winning as much at the time and this seemed to get in his way. Pretty heinous there. He had so much power at Penn State that whatever he said went. The president and the AD were puppets for Paterno. Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote that he went to Happy Valley in 1998 to write what was going to be a glowing article on Paterno, whom he thought was a saint at the time. A professor called Reilly and said Reilly didn't know the real Paterno. The professor told Reilly he would let nothing get in the way of winning. Not a thing. He was not a moral person according  to the professor. He basically said to Reilly that Paterno was a bad guy. Reilly blew it off at the time  thinking it was just  sour grapes from a professor who was highly envious of Paterno's success. But the professor was right as it turns out. They are a lot of the time. They're smart people and a lot of them are quality, highly ethical people.

Paterno did not have ethics or a moral compass as it turned out and let this sociopath go on and destroy many young boys' lives. The Paterno legacy is destroyed. There is nothing good to say about him. Former Penn State players and people in Pennsylvania may defend him but there is no defense for this despicable act, by Paterno and that animal Sandusky. Paterno was culpable in letting this pig destroy lives. Sandusky should get life in prison. I'm from the old school. I would just hang him. I know that doesn't work today in this all too forgiving, give'em a third, fourth or fifth chance society, but that might be a little better deterrent than just giving the guy life. Well, he may be killed in jail anyway. He's going to suffer, especially when Judgment Day arrives. He's not going upstairs. He's going to be in a bad place for eternity. That's for sure. He deserves every bit of retribution that he will get.

This speaks to the importance of college football and education. I love college football; I really do. But these blasphemous incidents make you take a step back and say "Wait a minute, this is out of control. College sports needs to be put on the back burner a little bit. This is way more important than sports."

It's a very serious matter. There are some incredibly talented and hard working teachers and professors out there who work their backsides off to educate kids and help them become the best people they can be. They deserve a lot of recognition and they deserve to be compensated better.  I was up at Washington and Lee with my daughter in June and we talked to the kindest, most helpful professor. He was incredible. We asked him where the bookstore was and he couldn't have been more helpful telling us to look at the student lounges and see what we thought. Seemed to love what he does and loved the school. There are a lot of dedicated teachers out there who deserve a lot more credit than coaches who are just about winning. Their value should be more recognized. We always need to start keeping college sports in more of a perspective. It's a great release. It is for millions and million of people. But perspective is something that we always need to have when balancing the importance of athletics/football  to that of life. Athletics are important, but life is much more important. The well being of people is so much more important than wins and losses on the football field. We need to keep that in mind. The Penn State tragedy brought that to the forefront. Human beings come first. Football is entertainment. It's not nearly as important. It just isn't. Joe Paterno had too much power. He abused it and ruined kids' lives. He will be remembered for that and nothing else that he accomplished on the football field. Time will not heal the feelings for Paterno. He ruined people's lives and he deserves every bit of castigation as he is getting and he will get. He turned out to be an amoral guy, who let this pathetically abhorrent behavior by one of his former assistants goes on. There is no defense for him. He was an animal. He will be remembered forever in infamy.

Sometimes we need to tone it down with our obsession with football. It's just not as important as family, belief in God, education and work. It should never be close to that level. It's a game. I'll keep reporting on it because I hope you enjoy the columns I write and I know I love writing about it. It's what I do. But it's not life. Never will be. We need to keep the importance of the game in perspective. It's just a game. It's fun, a lot of fun. But it's entertainment. School teachers, professors, doctors, nurses and ministers are a lot more important to people in the grand scheme of life. Those professions should be where our heroes are. It's a lot of fun to watch a guy run 85 yards for a touchdown, but how important is that compared to a doctor saving a man or woman's life, or delivering a baby, or a teacher spending time after school tutoring a struggling student who wants to excel, and needs all the tutoring and emotional support he or she can get? That's life. That's real.

Football is entertainment. Living a good, decent life is a lot more important. The Joe Paterno/ Jerry Sandusky tragedy should remind us of that. Their peons and should be treated as such. They destroyed lives and there is nothing worse than that. They deserve all the infamy that they will get.