Cut ye

not slack for the dead

Speak ye not ill of the dead, goes the old injunction. But what do you do when the dead have done something that merits at least a bit of ill speech?

It’s been interesting to see how the media have handled the death of Joe Paterno. Many writers have tried to strike some sort of balance between respect and censure. Add to it the fact that Paterno was a towering figure in his realm and that just makes it more difficult.

But here’s a suggestion: How about the truth?

Paterno, it is true, did a lot of great things. Up until just a few months ago (although at this point the Sandusky scandal seems like it’s gone on for years), the Penn State football program was pretty much the gold standard. His players graduated, the program wasn’t tainted by misbehavior and Joe Pa had done things like donate a library to the school. All wonderful.

And then, to mix metaphors, it hit the fan and all those good things spiraled down the toilet.

Even before his death, it seemed like Paterno was being handled with kid gloves. All the stories about him had this hushed, reverential tone, even when they were about the seamiest subjects. Nobody wanted to be the one caught urinating on Mount Rushmore.

But the reverence has obscured some hard truths. Chief among those is this: Paterno is that didn’t do what he should have.

People have cut Paterno slack in part because of his age. Even the coach who actually witnessed Sandusky raping a boy apparently wasn’t explicit when he told Paterno about it, partially out of respect for his age. There’s also been some implication that maybe Paterno’s handling of the matter may have been affected by the timidity and cluelessness that can come with advancing years and by illness.

Which rather poses the question: If he was that fragile, how could he run a multi-million-dollar sports program? If he was that clueless and fragile, why was he still in charge?

It was relatively easy to do the good things he did; after all, they were the things someone in his position ought to do. But the fact is, when Paterno was in a really difficult position, when called upon to do something that took some real courage and character, he failed.

Pardon my cynicism, but I think Paterno probably knew he’s messed up. The guy ruled his world and part of that is that he probably knew everything that was going on. In the first place, if he didn’t, he should have. And in the second place, he’s known Sandusky for a long time. And he’s probably heard rumors for a long time too.

And you can be assured there were plenty of rumors. Can anybody really believe that Sandusky hadn’t been caught before? He was doing what he did in the locker room. When that assistant coach caught him, chances are it wasn’t the first time Sandusky had been interrupted. This was just the first time it got out.

Years ago, a prominent Fargo-Moorhead figure, a family man, turned out to be leading a double life that landed him in some hot water. Because some of that hot water was legal in nature, I covered the story. In the course of doing that, I found out that in the circles he ran in, the man’s sexuality was probably the worst-kept secret in town. And it involved consenting adults.

Knowing the way the world works, it simply defies belief that nobody, especially those at the highest levels of Penn State, knew what Sandusky was doing. In that world, there are people whose main business is to know things like that. Paterno would have been one of those people.

That’s especially true when it comes to the kinds of things Sandusky was doing. Let’s be clear about something here: We’re not talking about some booster giving a high-school jock a little spiff for signing a letter of intent. We’re not talking about fudging grades. We’re not talking about throwing games. We’re talking about the forcible rape of children. Many children over many years. We’re talking about a man who did something most people are hard-wired not to do. And word hadn’t gotten out? Please.

For all the good it did, the Penn State football program had a corporate culture that was rotten at its core. It was a beautiful mansion whose foundation had rotted away. It’s horrifying that the rot was this bad, but had Sandusky not been found out, something else eventually would’ve happened. When your world revolves around moving a bit of leather up and down 100 yards of turf, it becomes easy to forget that there are more important things, up to and including not raping boys (at least in this case).

At some level, Paterno had to know all this. He was far from solely responsible and he probably wasn’t even the worst offender. There’s more than enough blame to go around. It will be a long time, if ever, before all of the people who enabled Sandusky’s monstrosities are called to account. Sandusky ultimately will lead a justifiably horrible life, but those around him who knew will have to live with themselves. I hope they think about what they did first thing every morning.

Paterno is beyond the reach of that now. The worst thing that will happen to him is that whenever his name is uttered, the Sandusky scandal will be the second thing people think about, if not the first.

That’s too bad in some ways, but think of it like this: What would you rather have? A sullied reputation, or a life destroyed by a piece of garbage like Jerry Sandusky? There are specific, real victims here. And they’re not Joe Paterno or the rest of the people who helped make them victims. Save your sympathy for them.