Watching ‘Paterno’
The other day my wife asked me if I was planning to watch the HBO movie “Paterno?” I normally don’t like watching anything that has to do with someone deliberately hurting children but when the cable network that gave me Rome, Deadwood and Game Of Thrones decides to do a movie about the Penn State scandal I’m in.
I have to be honest about something right up front, I’ve never understood nor been a fan of people who display blind loyalty to the school they once attended. These individuals define themselves by being a graduate of a university and seem to bleed whatever the school colors are. If their team wins the big game they are over the moon with joy and when they lose? Well just stay clear of them for a couple of days.
Like a lot of young adults I went to college to learn, make some friends I’d probably never see again and get a degree that, while it may not always be needed, is required in the real world. I attended college but was never defined by it. Of course I did go to two years of community college followed by a state school so perhaps if I went to a Harvard caliber institution I’d feel differently and remind everyone I met that I went there. You know casually work it into everyday conversations like, “Were you just asking where Niagara Falls is? That’s easy; it’s exactly 467 miles southwest of Harvard where I graduated. Did you know I went there? Yep it’s true. That’s why I go everywhere wearing a Harvard sweatshirt.”
So putting my small school prejudices aside I watched “Paterno” which focused on the Penn State scandal and I hated it. The acting and direction was fine, Al Pacino delivered a solid performance as always. I guess what bothered me was the truth. Usually films annoy you because they get something wrong, this one upset me because it got the facts right; namely that Joe Paterno was a god on the Penn State campus and that Christ like adulation and all the money he generated directly lead to a culture where little boys could be raped and nobody seemed to care.
I think what really hit me the wrong way was the public’s response to Paterno getting fired as head football coach. Within minutes of that news being made public a large crowed marched over to Paterno’s house to cheer him on. Understand this was after they knew children had allegedly been raped and Paterno was aware of sexual misconduct but didn’t call police. He did next to nothing, yet they screamed his name like he was a rock star. I assumed what they showed in the movie had to be exaggerated so I found the actual footage of the rally that night on YouTube and it happened exactly as portrayed. Adults opening crying because a football coach lost his job. Jesus what about the children that assistant coach raped? Was anyone going to cry for them?
This column isn’t my way of bashing Penn State, USC, Duke or any school for having successful sports programs. Good for them. Go team! Although you’ll never convince me any coach deserves to make $3 million a year while a biology teacher makes $50,000 but that’s a topic for another day. What bothers me is the power these programs are given and the climate that power creates. A decade before we ever heard the name Jerry Sandusky people in charge knew they had a problem with him but the football team was wildly successful so nobody wanted to stop the money machine. If a few innocent kids got touched inappropriately it was collateral damage and nothing more.
I used to work with a young lady who graduated from Penn State. She once told me of Paterno, “So what if he heard something from a coach about something going on, he never touched a kid himself. He’s a good man they railroaded.” I kept my mouth shut but wondered if she’d feel that way if she knew one of the young boys whose lives were destroyed?
Like I said at the beginning maybe I’m different. While I certainly have nice memories from college and I’m very proud of the schools I attended I always viewed my education like a rowboat sitting on a lake that I had to cross. I need to get from here to there and can’t make the swim so this boat (my education) is my means to an end. This cult like devotion some show to their schools is completely lost on me.
It’s interesting, in the wake of this movie on HBO a group of 300 former Penn State players issued a statement praising Paterno and calling the movie libelous yet one thing is indisputable if you review the grand jury testimony. JoePa, as they affectionately called him, was told a child was violated in the shower by Sandusky and his response was to tell his athletic director what he heard. That was the beginning and end of Paterno’s interest or involvement in the matter. Had he simply called the police his statue, which they ultimately tore down, would still be up at that college campus today and Al Pacino would have found something else to do with his precious time.