JoePa and the Dangers of Protecting a Legacy

I think about the tragic events that have been revealed at Penn State, and I can't help but get even more upset about what happened. As a staunch lover of all things football, and as one of the most loyal and fervent fans of my teams (anyone that knows me can attest to my love of the Packers and the Irish as something that defines me as a person), this story has truly brought perspective to the front and center. I believe that the people involved in this mess completely lost perspective and put a football program above human dignity.

Here's a little timeline on the scandal:

• Sandusky was a coach from 1969 through 1999, but he continued to have access to the program and its facilities (most notably, the shower) until recently (September 2010). He began raping boys under the guise of his 'Second Mile' program for underprivileged children in the mid 90's. Many of these rapes were reported to authorities.
  
• In 1998, 'Victim 6' came home from a trip to the showers with his hair wet. His mother reported this to Penn State University Police. After he was interviewed by the department of public welfare, and admitted to showering with the boy, and hugging him, in the nude, in the shower, Sandusky is released with no criminal charges by the district attorney.
  
• In 1999, a Janitor walked in on Sandusky performing oral sex on a boy in the showers and did nothing to stop him. The Janitor told others on the staff, and was told who to report it to, but he never reported it.
• In March of 2002, Mike McQueary walks in on Sandusky, who is forcing sodomy on a ten year old boy. Instead of stopping the rape, he changes his shoes, and tells his dad. They decide to simply report it to JoePa the next morning. Over the course of that month, JoePa reports the story to his AD and the AD reports back to the grad assistant that Sandusky's keys were taken away and his actions were reported to the Second Mile.
• 3 YEARS LATER!!!! A boy known as 'Victim 1' meets Sandusky through the Second Mile program.
• 2 YEARS LATER!!!! Victim 1 starts highschool and Sandusky is banned from the school district when Victim 1's mom reports sexual assault.
• 6 MONTHS LATER!!!! Another boy reports years of sexual assault from Sandusky and the Pennsylvania attorney general finally decides to start an investigation... swift justice my ass.
• 1 YEAR LATER. Sandusky retires from the Second Mile and states that he wants to spend more time with his family... still nobody has any idea what he's been up to (except for his MANY victims and their families).
• 1 YEAR LATER!!!! Sandusky is finally arrested on 40 COUNTS!!!!

Okay, so I had to add some all-caps rage emphasis on some of those bullets, but I think it is important to note that this man was allowed to continue doing what he was doing for a minimum of 12 years before anybody arrested him, and nobody truly made an honest attempt to stop him from doing what he was doing.

With all of this laid out, I can only come to the conclusion that, on a grand scale, Penn State, its leadership, and the surrounding community completely lost the moral imperative to protect children and punish criminals in the name of saving face for their football program. I can only imagine that people that were close to this situation realized that Sandusky had coached under JoePa for 30 years, and won national championships with him, and they knew that JoePa had a legacy of excellence and integrity in the program that he built, and if this were to get out, it could ruin that legacy. This is why the District Attorney looked the other way instead of charging Sandusky with sexual assault in 1998. This is why the Janitors on staff in the locker room simply kept the story to themselves instead of going to the authorities. This is why McQueary told his dad instead of saving that child from the RAPE that was occuring. This is why they waited until the next day to tell JoePa, and why JoePa told the AD instead of the police, and why nobody ever went to the police. This is why it took nearly a DECADE for Sandusky to be charged and for the story to finally come out. I can't think of another possible reason for this negligence. JoePa will be forever tarnished by this, and rightfully so. This isn't the shepherd being punished for the actions of his sheep.... this is a man being held accountable for his inaction that led to horrible crimes against children by a violent sexual predator. This is a man being punished for being too proud of his own legacy to make the tough choice of turning in his old assistant coach immediately upon hearing of his horrible actions. JoePa deserved to be fired. Sure, they could have done it in person, but I honestly don't care... he was fired with cause.

This story brings with it a lesson in perspective for a super-fan like me. The things that I love most about Notre Dame and the Green Bay Packers are their rich legacies and traditions. I love that my teams espouse the highest virtues of the sport of football. That said, my love of my teams would NEVER supersede my morals. I could get over a minor scandal or two if the people involved were held responsible for their actions and if the leadership of the program were forthright (see the Kim Dunbar 'scandal' at ND for an example of how to take responsibility for the actions of your sheep)... what I could not accept is something like what happened at Penn State. I would be completely embarrassed to be a Penn State fan right now. The riots in support of JoePa are despicable and basically indicate the exact perspective problem that I'm describing. These rioting fools are putting JoePa's legacy above doing the right thing and absolving him instead of applying perspective and realizing that he made a career/legacy killing mistake.

Reflections on USA vs. Brazil

Today reminded me why I love sports.

Today I saw a team that had every reason to roll over and quit steadfastly and unanimously refuse to do so. And I saw them rewarded with an unimaginable triumph on the world’s greatest stage.

Today I saw a bench player step up to provide an inch-perfect delivery on the game’s transcendent play. I saw the star player receiving said pass erase myriad recent frustrations with a conversion in the most dire of circumstances. I saw a star-crossed athlete make the play of the game, then have it cruelly taken away, only to clinch victory by making virtually the same play again.

Today I saw a team wear patches of the United States of America over their hearts and channel the unflinching fire and determination that have marked this country since its earliest days.

Today I saw twenty thousand impartial observers rise in unison to support a team who deserved better than it was getting on the field.

Today I shared an indelible moment with my three year old daughter, yelling and jumping and dancing with her after a miraculous 122nd-minute goal – and again nine penalty kicks later, the last of which she watched with wide eyes and an eager grin after I prefaced it with, “If she makes this goal, we win.”

Today I recognized that only sports can reduce us to the pure, unbridled joy that is so frequently and innocently embraced by our children.

Today I participated in something magical, sublime, and unscripted, even though I was half a world away and had absolutely no rational expectation that I could possibly influence the outcome.

Today I saw a team exhibit the best of the competitive human spirit, and do so, in some miniscule part, on my behalf.

Today I saw sports perfectly embody the metaphor for life that it so often promises to be.

Today was a great day.

How good is Aaron Rodgers?

I will note that I am a die-hard Packer fan, but I don't think that my fan bias has anything to do with this analysis. I want to take Aaron Rodgers' superbowl performance and put it into perspective as well as discuss why I think that he may be the best QB that Green Bay has ever had... and he has the ability to become an all-time great if he can stay healthy for a long career.

First, let's take a look at his Superbowl performance. He was simply brilliant in this game... of course, I've had the pleasure of watching him play at this level on a somewhat consistent basis. On the day, Rodgers was 24-39 for 304 yards and 3 TDs with no INTs... against the best defense in the league. This doesn't tell the whole story though. Anybody that watched the game saw that there were more yards and points to be had if not for some costly drops. There were 5 drops in the game on perfect throws that didn't require any kind of heroics for a catch:

• On the first drive of the day, Jordy Nelson let a perfectly thrown ball go straight through his hands. This was on a 3rd and 7 and Pittsburgh brought a good blitz. Rodgers made an unbelievable throw that would have gone for a minimum of 35 yards and set up a first and goal.
• On the first drive of the second half, with the Packers up 21-10 on 3rd and 6 from their own 24, Rodgers threw another PERFECT pass directly into the hands of James Jones... this was a 76 yard TD if Jones hauls it in. He had beaten the coverage and there was nobody over the top... This pass would have completely changed the complexion of the game... instead the Packers had to punt and the Steelers scored to make it a close game.
• On the second drive of the second half, score 21-17, 2nd and 7... Rodgers throws yet another dart directly into the hands of Jordy Nelson... The would-be 12 yard first down completion was negated and the Steelers got a sack on 3rd and 7. This would have bought valuable field position and allowed Rodgers a fresh set of downs...
  
• On the fourth series of the second half, score 21-17, 3rd and 10 from their own 13, Rodgers threw ANOTHER perfect pass to Brett Swain (our 6th string WR). This was a bad call, but they said that he dropped it instead of what looked like a catch and fumble... Anyways, had he simply hung on to the ball, it would have been a 1st down and it would have moved the Packers into much better field position.
• On the next series, the Packers got the ball back on the fumble recovery and Jordy Nelson dropped what would have been a 40 yard TD. Fortunately, this was rectified on the next play as Nelson caught a 38 yarder that set up the Packers last TD of the game... this is the only drop that didn't KILL a drive.

So, if you add that up, (and I'll even negate the effect of the last drop since they ended up scoring on that drive anyways), Rodgers could have been 28-39 for 438 Yards and 4 TDs (at least, since he would have had more attempts after extending 3 of the drives). That would have equated to a QB Rating of 142.9... absolutely ridiculous! But wait, there's more. This is something that I've noticed about Rodgers since he took over the Packers... he simply makes great throws seem routine. Of his (should be) 28 completions of the game, there were only 2 that required a receiver to adjust his stride or dive for the ball. One was a 1 yard completion to Crabtree (3rd string TE) on the last drive of the game, and the other was a 3rd and 7 completion to James Jones in which he had to go to the ground for the ball... of course, a low throw was required on this ball, but he could have given it a little more air... it wasn't a difficult catch. That makes 26 of 39 passes which were absolutely on the money. Further, his incompletions included 4 throw-aways in which he intentionally threw it in an uncatchable area to avoid taking sacks and 4 of what I'll call 'near-misses'. These included one that was broken up on a great effort by a linebacker, one that could have been a TD on the last drive and was on Nelson's finger tips... some were calling this a drop, but I'll call it a near-miss as it would have been an GREAT catch. Another one got to Jennings a bit too early on a back-shoulder throw... it was early because Rodgers had to get rid of it early to avoid getting sacked, and another one missed Swain by about 6 inches. This leaves 3 throws that were off target... out of 39! Another thing that I've grown accustomed to is that Rodgers rarely makes poor decisions with the ball... it is definitely the exception and not the rule with him... in this game, he made exactly 0 poor decisions with the ball. OK, now that I've provided my analysis of what was one of the most impressive performances in Superbowl history, I will get to why I believe Rodgers is better than Favre was and only needs longevity to be considered an All-time great.
The Superbowl really just featured exactly what I've seen in Rodgers since he took over. He is incredibly accurate, smart with the football, quick on his feet, and he has an unbelievable release. Unlike Favre, Rodgers rarely makes poor decisions with the ball. Nearly every game, Favre will make at LEAST one or two throws that go directly to the defense. The defender may not come up with the catch (as they are usually fastballs), but Favre was a gunslinger. It was what made him great, and what gave him the record for most INTs ever. Even at the top of his game, Favre would make terrible decisions with the ball at least a couple of times every game. When Rodgers makes a bad decision, it is a shock... when Favre did, it was basically expected... we just hoped that the defense wouldn't make the play. Rodgers also has better accuracy than I've seen in anybody. It is unbelievable how good he is at hitting guys in stride... So often, he puts the ball so perfectly on the money that it looks like the player actually accelerates into the ball and is shot out of a cannon. I think his accuracy is a big reason for the tremendous amount of yardage that is gained after catches. If you look at his TD's to Nelson and Jennings in the first half, or his 31 yard dart to Jennings on the final drive of the game, you will see what I mean... I've simply grown accustomed to seeing him make those throws on a regular basis. Again, when a WR has to adjust, it is the exception, not the rule. Rodgers has a tremendous arm... Favre probably has a SLIGHT edge in arm-strength, but it is close. He also has the quickest release I've seen since Dan Marino. All told, he's the total package. As long as he remains healthy, he will be an elite QB. If he plays this way for 10 more years, he will be a sure-fire hall of famer... considering how easy he makes it look, I think the only thing that would stop him is injury.

Harbough Mania???

My Question to this topic is why? Sure he has done well at Stanford.
He has taken a team that was absolutely awful and made them relevant.
That is absolutely a huge accomplishment and I have no doubts he is a
good coach (even if I do despise his arrogance and lack of class) But
he has only done it for a whopping 4 years and his record is 29–21 (.
580). He was at San Diego for 3 years before stanford and was a
quarterback coach with the Raiders before that. What about that says
that he should reportedly be offered 8 million from the dolphins
(making him the highest paid coach in the NFL) and then 6 million from
the 49ers. Throwing the amount of money that they are talking about
at this guys is completely crazy. He hasn't even been a coordinator
in the NFL let alone a head coach.
If you look back at all of the coaches that have made the jump
from college to the NFL, you have to go back to Jimmy Johnson to find
one that was successful. And we're talking about guys that were way
more successful at the college ranks. Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier
both tried their hand at the NFL after extensive success at the
college level where they had won national championships and they both
failed. Harbough has been had one great season at college for one
year, which by no means screams prolonged success. I think that all
of the hype is blown way out of proportion on this guy.
I am hoping that the niners come to their senses and realize
that it isn't worth the price you will have to pay when history
repeatedly tells us that the NFL is a completely different animal than
college. College success doesn't necessarily translate to Pro
success. The guys in the pros aren't the young brainiacs that he has
gotten to deal with at Stanford and I feel the hype is way bigger than
what they guy will deliver.
Please Niners, DON'T DO IT!!!