When you retire, you want to go out “on top.” Leaving any sport with a statistic as great as most wins ever would leave an everlasting stamp and accolade for anyone. It would take a very rare and horrible happening to overlook that. It seems like Joe Paterno has found that rare and horrible happening.
The career of the coach with the most wins in college football may have his career overshadowed by a scandal that was not directly his fault. Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged and arrested on counts related to sexual abuse of young boys. Paterno was dragged into this scandal because he did not “do enough.”
There have been reports that graduate assistant Mike McQueary informed Paterno about that acts of Sandusky. Paterno supposedly escalated the issue to school officials but is now in question for not going higher. Even though Paterno was not directly in violation, it caused dismay and forced Penn State’s board of trustees to let Paterno go. All for something he did not cause.
It seems Paterno is being punished all because he did not tell the police. This issue resembles the “stop snitching” news segment, which aired on CBS 60 minutes in the fall of 2007. Rapper Cam’ Ron basically shunned “snitching.” When asked if a serial killer lived next door to him what would he do, he replied, “he would move” instead of alerting authority officials.
In this day, it seems like alerting authority officials is against some “secret code” and Paterno fell victim. This may serve as a lesson to speak out and let people know what is going on when someone is doing serious wrongdoings. It’s all about using your judgment. Now Paterno’s great career will be overshadowed by a “dark cloud” all because of someone else’s acts.