Final thoughts on the scandal...

I'm just going to spill out my thoughts on the Penn State scandal so here it is:

-First of all we obviously must pray for the victims and not just say that we are going to. I've been guilty of this the past week but we all really need to just do it.

-This situation has hurt alot of people in the Penn State community including myself.  People should be upset over the fact that this was covered up and more children were victimized and not that a school's image and football program was tarnished.

- I think Joe Paterno could have easily done more to prevent future victimization of children. "I wish I had done more..." He admitted it.  You can explain to the victims that JoePa did everything he could to help them. You can explain to them that he couldn't help them because he was worried about future lawsuits the university might face.

-If it was your child, would you be happy with Joe doing the absolute minimum he could do to help?

-Better yet if you were in Joe Paterno's situtation, wouldn't you have done more to help the kids?

-I do NOT believe that Joe Paterno should be the focal point of this scandal. Obviously no person is more guilty than Sandusky.

- The red head is more to blame than Joe.

- So many things in life are more important than the legacy of a damn football coach. Even if he got fired unjustly, why riot about it? He is just a football coach!!! If he coached you or had a DIRECT impact in your life than he is more than that i guess. BUT I do not want to hear that he meant so much more to you etc etc. At the end of the day he is just a football coach and at the end of the day people were rioting because their beloved football coach got fired. PERIOD.

- That being said more people did NOT riot and the university should not be judged based on a few thousand  incompetent morons.

- GET ON WITH YOUR LIVES PEOPLE!!! There are more important things in life than the reputation of a school, its sports program, and especially the legacy of a coach. I'm hurt and we are all going to hurt for awhile but get some sleep at night and do not think about this 24/7. What's done is done and it's time to move on.

-I do not believe Joe Paterno was used as a scapegoat. The board of trustees wanted to clean house and wanted to rid themselves of anyone with ties to this scandal.  (Not sure what they are doing with the red head).

-RIGHT OR WRONG do you really blame the board of trustees for wanting to clean house? God forbid they want to show the world that they are above a sports program.

-The board fired him because "It was in the best interest of the University"... I believe it and you should as well.

- Penn Staters should be proud of the board of trustees. They were looking out for the University more than Paterno was.

-Paterno said that he wanted to make it easy on the board of trustees so he would resign at the end of the season. If he really wanted to make it easy on them, he should have resigned Wednesday morning. So many things could have been avoided if he had done that. He did not have to say he was resigning because he was guilty, all he had to say was he had to resign to take care of all the legal issues, etc. He really would have helped the university a bunch if he did that. I bet there would not have been a riot if he went out on his own terms and with some dignity.

- Penn State should be proud in GENERAL of who they are and what their school stands for. Penn State administrators had the grapes to make a decision based on what was right for the university. Not many schools do that. In fact, I cant think of any school that ever did that. They showed athletics and a legacy of a coach was not as important as doing whats best for the university!! Be proud of that do not be ashamed of that!!

- The media did create a circus and did not treat the situation honestly but the media is not to blame for this situation. I feel like this is the biggest cop-out to absolve Joe Paterno. This would not have happened if he went to the police or took it into his own hands like a man. That being said what do you expect out of the media? They want the biggest story and trust me I know it's wrong but it's to be expected.

-P.S...I always hated the media and still do.

- People should not base their morals and views about life on this situation. I can not describe how many people ALL OF A SUDDEN have started getting deep into morals.  It's common for people to go through that phase about whats right and wrong etc etc. If all of sudden it now happens then you have made Penn State too high of a priority in your life and you need to do some soul searching .

-Tom Corbett has said that there might be some changes in the law regarding child abuse. It may now become that you must report child abuse to the authorities. If that were the case now would you still hold JoePa to the same standard? Should doing the minimum of what's required overshadow what's right? Just a thought...

My final thought...

The integrity and pride of being a Penn Stater MEANS MORE TODAY THAN IT DID A FEW WEEKS AGO. Being a Penn Stater is awesome. Being a Penn Stater means that you are part of an institution and family that puts what is right and what is best for its members in front of ANYTHING ELSE. I said many times this week that a few bad apples on a tree does not make the whole tree bad and now the bad apples are gone!

Now I know this can be a bit of a harsh read but I am a Penn Student as well even though I attend a branch campus. My co-blogger James Dotson attends University Park and bleeds blue and white. He surely will disagree with me on everything so make sure you check back for his rebuttal. I respect him and his opinion just as much as anyone else but I am sure that we both can say with certainly that We Are! Penn State and proud of it