Paterno out as Penn State football coach

I'm exhausted. I'm Penn State-scandaled out. You're probably sick of hearing about it, too.

I don't feel like blogging about it, but I feel I almost have to. I've not paid near the amount of attention that I'd normally pay to the Cubs managerial search, or the Bears getting ready for the Lions, or the NBA labor dispute reaching a critical hour, or the Blackhawks getting ready to play Columbus. That's partly due to the fact that nobody is talking about much of anything but the Penn State scandal, and partly because much as I try, I can't stop myself from following every incredible development.

Last night, of course, the shocking developments hit a fever pitch when head football coach Joe Paterno was very justly fired. He'd wanted to finish out the season and go out with "dignity" and on his own terms. Playing a part in the cover-up of alleged child rape, by your own former assistant (Jerry Sandusky) and on your own campus, means Paterno absolutely shouldn't have those rights.

Twenty years from now, I won't remember Joe Paterno as the winningest coach in major college football history. I sure won't remember him as the loveable ol' legend that he's been portrayed as on every Penn State broadcast I've watched the past several years. I will remember Paterno as a guy who thought himself and his football program too important to take the necessary steps toward stopping a child predator from allegedly assaulting a number of victims.

Seriously, I don't understand how people can be worried about this tainting the legacy of Paterno. Of course his legacy is tainted! This is his legacy! We don't know exactly how much Paterno knew of the one alleged incident that was reported to him, or of what else he knew about Sandusky. Even if Paterno only knew the murky details he claims to have known and nothing else at all, he didn't do nearly enough.

One of the many defenses I've heard from the pro-Paterno crowd is that, well, old Joe just hadn't been all there for the last several years. He didn't know any better. If that's the case, then why in the name of everything holy was he still the head football coach? It sure isn't Sandusky's alleged victims' fault that someone who was possibly mentally incompetent and still employed in such a position of power.