You should be mad at Joe Paterno. I wouldn’t be surprised if, when the whole Penn State child sexual abuse scandal is over, it is possible that he is at the center of a great-big cover-up. But Paterno shouldn’t be our scapegoat. And neither should the whole coaching staff. We can’t march these people out into the desert and hope that a) it resolves the issue or b) prevents anything from happening in the future. It won’t change the past and it won’t erase the pain or the violence.

Besides, that doesn’t bring everyone to justice.

What about the non-coaching staff that were informed? Who in the university ignored what they were told? Who at the university didn’t involve the police? Who was involved in covering up this crime? Those people need to be punished, too. And I don’t think getting canned is enough.

The reason the NCAA (tries) to punish a university when a bad apple violates rules or laws is because the football programs have come to run the school, not the other way around. The university must be held responsible for the player that sells rings for tattoos and free cars because the entire system relies on every person being a person of integrity. When that code is violated, and the school owns up to it, they are punished lightly. But when that code is violated, and the school covers it up, they are always punished heavily.

We can’t scapegoat Joe Paterno because there are other coaches and Penn State faculty and administrative members that need to be punished. Boosters and board members need to be punished for creating a culture that has made a God of Paterno and the football program. The whole university will have to suffer for this cover up.

The alternative is to send an old man out to die for our sins. That makes me think that we would all be involved in a new cover-up.

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