College Football | No hope for satisfactory closure to Sandusky scandal

While it remains a great university, Penn State's image has been forever tarnished by a sex scandal, the details of which continue to worsen.

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

It’s a lose-lose … all around.

The righteous want retribution. The victims want to move on. The enablers and the supporters of those enablers do, too.

None of them ever, really, truly, will get what they want, being forever ensnarled in a nightmare that will live on in their hearts and minds long after the name Jerry Sandusky ceases to pop up in the nation’s conscience from time to time, reminders typically fueled by ill-advised attempts to clear, if not once again glorify, the name of another man … or, even sadder, as it has this week, money matters.

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Once and for all.

Not for nothing, but that pound of flesh the high-and-mighty majority out there seeks as a means of justice for a decades-long injustice allowed to occur either due to arrogance, ignorance or some combo of the two that remains hard to digest doesn’t exist anymore.

Joe Paterno passed on. More than four years ago now.

His name, his legacy, his school tarnished, at least to some degree, for all eternity, no matter how many defiant, head-buried-in-the-sand denials are uttered on his behalf, no matter how many lawsuit-fueled, save-the-brand checks Penn State University writes on its own behalf.

Indeed, there will be no “aha, gotcha” grand finale to this tale, where the boss gets led out of the courtroom, having been ruled guilty of turning a blind eye to his underling’s heinous, lives-ruining acts and sentenced to serve much-deserved time, as looks of satisfaction and horror abound, the screen fades to black and the credits role.

Case closed. Next episode, please …

Unfortunately, life often doesn’t imitate art. Besides, even the geniuses who have made “Law & Order” a staple for more than 25 years now never envisioned the insidious, coach-on-young-boys sex scandal that permeated a seemingly otherwise nirvana-like morphing of higher education and intercollegiate athletics under one Kumbaya umbrella, so it’s highly unlikely they’d be able to conjure up a perfect ending anyway.

No one ever would … because one doesn’t exist. In any shape or form.

As those who want to know what happened clamor on about how things should have been handled and those who don’t cling on to a past that more and more appears to be a figment of the imagination rather than anything borne out of fact, the hits and hurts just keep on coming.

Even in his grave, rightly or wrongly, Paterno is not immune.

Truth is, there is no excuse for what went on at Penn State. Point a finger in any direction and you are bound to locate a culprit to a grossly perverted cover-up. From Paterno to administrators to assistant coaches, all were complicit in putting the school’s football program above, well, humanity and, specifically, the well-being of children either out of fear or stupidity.

Their lack of action, perhaps, not falling under the category of crime. But, no doubt, it was criminal. By all, even the scant few who dared to utter concern but went no further.

Despicable, yes. But, frankly, human also … and wanting them to pay for our ideals isn’t going to fix anything. Of course, neither is excusing them as if nothing happened.

Meanwhile, the distorted and demented monster masquerading as a person rots away in a jail cell, actually shielded from reality. A nut job, safe and secure in his state of illusion.

Yep, definitely a lose-lose.

Not for nothing, but that pound of flesh the high-and-mighty majority out there seeks as a means of justice for a decades-long injustice allowed to occur either due to arrogance, ignorance or some combo of the two that remains hard to digest doesn’t exist anymore. Joe Paterno passed on. More than four years ago now. His name, his legacy, his school tarnished, at least to some degree, for all eternity, no matter how many defiant, head-buried-in-the-sand denials are uttered on his behalf, no matter how many lawsuit-fueled, save-the-brand checks Penn State University writes on its own behalf. Indeed, there will be no “aha, gotcha” grand finale to this tale, where the boss gets led out of the courtroom, having been ruled guilty of turning a blind eye to his underling’s heinous, lives-ruining acts and sentenced to serve much-deserved time, as looks of satisfaction and horror abound, the screen fades to black and the credits role. Case closed. Next episode, please …