By J.T. Onyett

I don’t get fired up about a lot, ok that’s a lie, but what happened to Joe Paterno today was a travesty and an example of how our media is, in large, inept.

Never will you find me protecting a child molester and before I rant about the raw deal JoePa got handed, I will say that I am 100 percent against what Sandusky has allegedly done and I believe Paterno should have done more. That word “allegedly” is strong, and comes into play big time here. Let’s not forget Sandusky, along with the AD and Vice President, have not been found guilty of anything in a court of law. So why are we persecuting the only man not on trial here?

Paterno has been an institution in his own right for the last 46 years as the head coach at Penn State, a head coach that insists the young student athletes that come to his university to play football are students first, gentlemen second and athletes third. This is the same head coach that had his players clean the stadium after games because he wasn’t happy with decisions they were making. He has been a class act for almost half a century in a time where many top collegiate programs have been accused of cheating scandals, paying their players and other transgressions.

Ten years ago, Joe had a lapse in judgment and did not push hard enough for what he knew was right. This grandfatherly figure let children down when he didn’t go to the police with what he heard from one of his grad assistants. He did, however, follow protocol and report this to his superiors—superiors he had worked with for quite some time and had become trusted friends of his.  The New York native is an old school guy and trusted these men would investigate. None of us really know what happened next, none of us know if Joe went to his boss everyday and asked what was going on with this or if he ignored it. That’s the point—none of us know.

What we do know is that he told the Grand Jury what he knew and what he did once he found out about these accusations. What we also know is that Sandusky is being accused of molestation, the AD and Vice President accused of lying and the cover up and a grad assistant allegedly saw these occurrences take place and wasn’t  man enough to do something about it. So why is Paterno guilty and out of a job? It’s because the media became upset when they couldn’t get the answers the felt they deserved; both two years ago when they started asking questions and this week, when Penn State cancelled Paterno’s press conference.

If you’re a parent and you don’t feel that you can trust Joe Paterno then send your kids somewhere else. Go ahead and send them to “the U” where they can get paid, not go to class and live the life on South Beach with the future leaders  of this country ( I’m new to this blog, but I assume you can all sense sarcasm). Wouldn’t you rather send your son to an institution where he can win games AND graduate, not to mention learning how to become a man from a self-built Italian American who is living the American dream? That’s up to you, but don’t allow the media to make one man’s indiscretions and Paterno’s weakness ten years ago run one of the most influential leaders college athletics has ever seen out of town.

Truth is, I don’t care about Penn State or anything that happens outside of California (mainly joking) but a good man fell to the media today. And to the members of the media, I simply say Scoreboard:

JoePa- 409   Media Assholes-1