Paterno Fired

          Joe Paterno was fired late last night.

          I don’t report news on the “Ink,” I react to it. I don’t have much to add to what I wrote yesterday except that it seems sad that actions of a scum like Jerry Sandusky have ended Paterno’s career. Sandusky allegedly molested at least one child on the Penn State campus, and Paterno was told about it by an assistant, Mike McQueary. I know Paterno was fired for not reporting Sandusky, but my point is that the actions of another “man” (I use the term only in biological terms with Sandusky) put this in motion.

          My impression is that Paterno was an older guy even at the time of the incident from a time when issues like child molestation weren’t dealt with openly, and he did what he genuinely felt he was responsible for doing. Then he washed his hands of it, and that’s not good enough today. I’m not excusing his lack of follow up with reporting the issue to authorities beyond officials at Penn State, I’m just trying to understand it.

          I’m also not quite sure how McQueary apparently keeps his job. Reports keep reiterating that he was a grad assistant at the time of the incident, which I think gives the subtle indication that he was a kid. He was in his mid to late 20s when he witnessed Sandusky molesting a child. As I said yesterday, I can’t condemn the guy because I can’t fathom truly being in that situation. My questioning of him remaining at Penn State is only in comparison to the university removing Paterno.

          It’s a complicated issue despite what idiots like Jay Bilas have said, and Paterno’s firing may generate more questions than answers. He was fired for not reporting a crime that another adult told him about and that he did tell his bosses about. In the world of college athletics, and anywhere else, that is one hell of a precedent.

          If it really does become a precedent, it will be the only good thing to come from this horrible time for PSU.