Looking at the numbers

AP Photo

Here’s where I normally write a few paragraphs on my hope for a good outcome at the weekly Michigan game.  It’s usually laden with jabs at rivals, a little statistical insight on opponents and confidence that our head coach will lead the team to overcome.

Nothing against Wolverine head coach Brady Hoke or the fine young men on his team but I just don’t have it in me this week.  I’ve spent the past several days trying to understand how an institution like Penn State University can be hijacked so completely that its most senior officials ignored criminal acts against children for ten years in order to preserve its reputation. 

The word reputation in this case is nothing more than a codename for money.  As I mentioned to the Freep’s Drew Sharp today, it came down to one question, “What will you ignore for $51 million a year?”  That’s the revenue Penn State football generated last year and what their senior officials were protecting.  That’s 51 million reasons why people like Joe Paterno could literally call the shots on campus for the last 30 years or so. 

That’s why this is not just about Penn State.  It is about looking at every program at every institution and asking some hard questions and figuring out where the line is drawn.  It also goes beyond football, way beyond.  It’s looking at the whole moral azimuth of our communities throughout the country, all of our institutions whether it’s a college or a church group.

While some are right to use this tragedy as a way to raise awareness, it does no good when people choose to do wrong for $51 million in incentives.  And now we’re supposed to fix it with ads and checks, or with symbolic statements during pregame and halftime?  

I guess it’s a start.

AP Photo

I feel some relief seeing pictures of students and faculty with posters and blue ribbons standing up for the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s alleged crimes but it’s symbolism and nothing more.  Sure it will add to the coffers of some anti-abuse charities and that’s not a bad thing but we’re missing something fundamental here.  

How does a game become so important to some, so lucrative that it stretches beyond the laws of the land and the laws of humanity?  How have we let our moral azimuth get so askew that the fanaticism over a game causes us to protest on behalf of its iconic figures, when they are responsible for allowing children to be sexually abused?

Tony Dungy, America’s coach and role model dad, suggested we use this as an opportunity to talk to our kids.  It doesn’t go far enough because we must take the herculean step and evaluate this entire system because every scandal that has touched the NCAA in recent times has somehow involved money.  Take it out of the equation and end the rule sports programs have on our institutions of higher learning, and apparently the criminal justice system. 

We can find a way to have and enjoy sports in our communities without letting the revenue it generates consume our better judgment.  For God’s sake we shouldn’t even be talking about “revenue” in college sports---make it non-profit after covering operating costs.  Take away the money aspect of it and there is no longer incentive for corruption and criminal behavior.  

These games we play are supposed to be about fun, teaching sportsmanship, work ethic, and so many other valuable lessons to our kids.  The problem is when you look at the biggest college programs in the country they are constantly under some kind of investigation for breaking rules.  It’s ironic that by and large they are the most significant revenue generators in the NCAA and this is the real message sports sends the kids in our society.     

Don’t get it twisted.

Jerry Sandusky (center) photo by AP

I don’t blame college sports for Jerry Sandusky’s alleged criminal behavior but a select group of men protecting a big-money college sports program are at the very center of how he was allowed to continue preying on children.  These were people who could have done something about it but came up with 51 million reasons to take an approach of indifference and not rock the boat.  

51 million reasons to ignore the sick slapping sound of Jerry Sandusky anally raping a ten year-old boy pinned up against the shower wall at the sports complex on Penn State, if McQueary tells it right. 

51 million reasons to ignore a janitor’s claim that he saw Jerry Sandusky forcing oral sex on an 11 year-old.

There are plenty of reasons I could find to cheer for the Wolverines this weekend but the math is simple for me and it’s the one reason I can’t be a raving college football fan right now.  I'll likely listen to the game just to get some perspective more than anything.      

For Drew’s column – click here