According to his attorney Joe Amendola, "He (Jerry Sandusky) was just behaving like a jock" As expected, this horrifying story is getting worse and worse. Sandusky throws a bone to the media to claim that he showered with young boys and touched their legs, horsed around but nothing else.
Is this supposed to persuade us to think that this is acceptable and defensible behavior? Is this an excuse that will help explain the naked coach hanging with boys? Everyone is supposed to believe Sandusky according to Sandusky: The reported sexual act that Coach Mike McQueary witnessed was obviously a figment of his imagination; Sandusky claims that McQueary misinterpreted towel snapping as sexual; the reports of all of the brave young men are fabricated and at least misinterpreted. But Sandusky wants all of us to believe him because of his profound credibility.
I have been around jocks and college and professional athletics most of my life and nowhere in the "jock handbook" does it remotely give tacit approval for coaches to shower with/sexually abuse children. Lord help the coach who would have behaved this way under my watch.
No question, this firestorm had been on the back burner of the Penn State Administration for years. It was the moral and legal equivalent of the proverbial skeleton in the closet that some people live with, wondering when life as they know it will implode, and it did. The reality is that between 2002, when Sandusky was observed and heard having sexual relations with a youngster by McQueary in the campus shower, and until at least 2007.
Sandusky allegedly continued to sexually abuse boys, many boys. That is at least five years that could have made a monumental difference in their lives. Penn State Athletics and Administration could have done the right thing. How many continued to be abused?
This could have been stopped at the campus shower but it wasn't. Sandusky thought he was home free, riding on the laurels of his good reputation when this morally bankrupt individual was permitted to be a part of the Penn State Athletic Program in good standing. A janitor claims he saw Sandusky having sex with a child in the Penn State locker room as far back as 2000. No one took this seriously. Again, the reality is he allegedly continued having sex with young boys on campus because he could.
Of course there is plenty of blame and questions of credibility to go around. McQueary has just contradicted his testimony to the Grand Jury. He wrote to a friend, a not so close friend according to his e-mail,
"I did stop it, not physically ... but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room ... I did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police .... no one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds ... trust me. I am getting hammered for handling this the right way ... or what I thought at the time was right ... I had to make tough, impacting quick decisions."
McQueary, on his administrative leave, still thinks he handled this correctly or perhaps the only way he could handle it. It doesn't get much worse than sexual abuse of a child. While he thinks telling Coach Paterno and his father, and now an allegation of a report to the police, this raises a question of our moral and legal responsibility to protect children. He is now claiming that he involved the police, in direct contradiction of his testimony.
McQueary may have forgotten some details, critical details. If so, he needs to correct his testimony, and the time for this was yesterday. Many think his conflicting testimony will harm prosecution of Sandusky. The real harm could be to McQueary, lying to the Grand Jury. We cannot forget that there are eight young men who have testified and another ten have recently have come forward with allegations against Sandusky.
Joe Paterno is not talking and has hired a high profile attorney. Sandusky claims that Paterno never held a conversation with him about the allegations. Is Penn State still trying to let the chips fall on this horrific tragedy?
McQuary is the focus du jour. It's time for those involved in the negligence and cover up of the disgusting facts to come forward. What and when did Joe Paterno know about the Sandusky allegations? What about Penn State police, athletic director, the president, and vice president of business and finance? At this turn of events, Mr. McQueary who is currently on administrative leave, is being hung out there alone; it's time for the rest of the sordid story.