One of my first vivid memories of college football is the Snow Bowl, the 1992 game at Notre Dame Stadium between the Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions. At the time, my love for Notre Dame football was still in it’s infancy. I had only been watching college football for a few years, catching games here and there after Saturday morning cartoons were over.

The game was the weekend after my 13th birthday. I was officially a teenager. It was cold and snowing outside my parents’ house in northern Minnesota; one of those lazy winter Saturdays, perfect for cozying up with a good book, working on a jigsaw puzzle or settling in for some late-season college football.

The game was an epic struggle and as the snow fell heavier and heavier, my respect for the Nittany Lions grew, but I was still pulling for Notre Dame. With just four minutes left, Penn State scored and took the lead. Scoring had been at a minimum all afternoon and the chances that Notre Dame could come back were slim. But they did. A gutsy drive capped by a TD toss to Jerome Bettis and a 2pt conversion heave to Reggie Brooks solidified my love of the Irish. It was magic. 

I will never forgot the immense respect I found for the Penn State players and their venerable coach, Joe Paterno. The shot of him on the sidelines after Brooks’ amazing diving grab to give Notre Dame the lead (pictured above) epitomized the game of football for me. Just a shrug and a “damn…guess that’s how it goes” look on his face said so much. It reinforced that this was just a game, even with how large and important every play had seemed, it was just a game and there would be other games. Losing wasn’t the end of the world, especially when you lost with dignity and class.

So much of that is gone, now. So much of that dignity and class is lost.

The allegations against former Penn State player and coach Jerry Sandusky that came to light over this past weekend and Joe Paterno’s involvement (or lack thereof) sully him forever in the eyes of not just college football fans, but in the eyes of the world. He flat-out abdicated responsibility when informed of the perversions of Sandusky.

He did what he was legally required to, immediately informing the higher-ups at the university, but he failed to do what he morally should have once it was clear that the university was not going to take proper action. He didn’t call the police. He didn’t do everything he should have to ensure that Sandusky, a man whom he had known for over 50 years, didn’t abuse another young boy in a similar manner. 

Of course, all of the blame shouldn’t fall on JoePa’s shoulders. The Penn State administration failed more than once to take proper action after being informed of prior incidents involving Sandusky. By doing so, they enabled and sheltered an accused sex offender, despite numerous first-hand reports. One can only assume that they did so to save face and protect the university, instead of protecting the defenseless young boys that Sandusky is alleged to have abused. 

But as the face of the university for more than half a century, as a man who always stressed honor and accountability over everything else, Paterno should have done more. He was obligated because of his position to do more. That he didn’t do more mars his entire legacy. It calls into question how dedicated he truly was to honor and accountability. It shouldn’t, but it does. It just does. 

And it’s sad, in a way. Not nearly as sad as what is alleged to have happened to those poor boys, of course. But it tarnishes the past 60 years of college football. It tarnishes Penn State University as an institution. It tarnishes Penn State football and athletics. It tarnishes every single member of the Penn State administration and athletic department who knew and did nothing, who suspected and looked away, who saw Jerry Sandusky around the program for years after accusations were made and waved or said “hi,” who treated him with respect when they had reason to believe that he deserved none. 

It’s sad that a man who, let’s face it, is Penn State football. A man who owns so many records, who has made good, morally upright citizens out of the boys that he recruited into the Penn State program, is going to leave the game that he gave so much to in such a way.

Joe Paterno, in not making the proper moral decisions, made his bed and he has to lie in it. That’s the most disappointing part. This was a failure on the part of so many others, but it was also a failure of Joe Paterno to live up to the ideals that he stood for and instilled in so many young men. He failed to be the man that he encouraged them to be. He failed to be the person that he held himself up to be. To me, that’s incredibly sad. 

The only way to even come close to making things right is to burn it all down and start from scratch. Get rid of all the administrators even remotely connected to these incidents. Get rid of the entire football staff, especially Paterno and Mike McQueary, who as a grad assistant in 2002 witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a ten year old boy and yet stayed with the program to this day after nothing was done to Sandusky. How a person could know about or witness such a heinous act, see the institution do nothing about it and not only not take the matter to the authorities, but continue to work for that institution is beyond my mental capacity. I almost have more contempt for McQueary than I have for Paterno and Curley and the other members of the administration who did nothing.

The whole place needs to be scrubbed clean before all else. In fact, canceling the remainder of the season shouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. No one should be cheering on a program that stood by while young boys were being abused. No one should cheer for Joe Paterno. No one should celebrate what will likely be his final game in Happy Valley this Saturday. It’s just not right. 

It’s just a game. What is a game compared to the lives ruined by the actions of Sandusky, Penn State and Paterno?