This is not a sports thread.

This is not a sports topic.

You're right in many ways. That's why I don't like to treat a sport like a religion.

You know, I think that any of us would be in shock and severe distress if this news was about our Alma Mater, too.

I think this is far bigger than the football team, or the football coach, and sadly for a fine educational institution it will cast a wide shadow over your University.

I'm sorry to say that, but I think it will prove to be the case, ultimately.

I cannot stop thinking of all the young boys who could maybe have been spared such horrible anguish if an adult had acted as we all hope adults will, and had done the right thing. That has to be more important than how it will look for JoePa's legacy.

I actually had a "friend" choose to de-friend me because she thought my upset about this whole situation was way overboard for her. I am so disgusted--as anyone should be!

This is the part that sickens me the most. How could you witness this happening to a child and leave? How?

IF these allegations are true, I would bet that Coach Sandusky has been up to no good for decades, and that there are many more innocents who have suffered, but have not yet been heard from.

This whole scenario stinks-how the hell could Sandusky have enough of a comfort level to bring boys to the university to abuse them? Did he have that much power that he thought that no one would believe these kids, or that no one would dare turn him in? And if someone did turn him in, he could count on the backing of higher ups? OR did he want to get caught?

As to whether it is going on at other universities, it was not the football players that were abused, it was 10 year old boys who were part of a charitable organization that he was heavily involved with.

He is the very lowest of pond scum.

The part that worries me a lot is, if I got the story right, these boys were in his home. Have we learned nothing from Michael Jackson? There is no reason under the sun for your child to have a sleep over, or private get-together with a grown up at his house without you being there. None. This man deserves to be strung up, as do all of the people who knew, or suspected that there was something wrong. But the parents who would send their son off with some stranger just because he's famous need to accept a certain amount of blame for this.

It was a 2 year investigation? I'll bet you a dollar there are a LOT of boys out there from before that, and maybe some will come forward.

And to be clear, priests and football coaches are on the same level of disgusting these days? One more reason to pay football coaches a living wage and that's all! If they're going to be a religion, they can get paid priestly salaries. Vow of poverty, anyone?

Obviously, this is all my friends are talking about right now. This is an incredibly hard time to be a Penn Stater and to even associate oneself with this university. Right now my facebook feed is blowing up with discussion of this with many different opinions. This article is one I wanted to share, there may be more, but as this situation unfolds I just deeply hope that justice is done. I will keep posting articles as I find ones worth reading.

These kids were from troubled homes; there were probably issues with substance abuse, poverty, and G-d knows what else. Only in one instance did a parent get involved. My suspicion is that Sandusky targeted kids whose parents weren't that engaged, and may have been happy to have them out of their hair, to victimize. In fact, he "groomed" the kids for years prior to the alleged assaults.

I'm not trying to excuse what happened, but not every parent is emotionally or physically present enough to blow the whistle on that behavior. Predators know what they're doing when they target certain kids.



Apparently, he's a former football player and now an employee with PSU.

Yup. He may also have "befriended" some of the parents as part of the grooming process. Unfortunately many sexual predators will go after the vulnerable kids for a number of reasons.

I can't wrap my mind around this either.

To make matters worse since many are from dysfunctional homes they may not all get the help they need; especially those children who don't come forward.

Interesting article which does bring up the "chain of command" for reporting such horrible crimes. However, any institution- from church, to workplace to universities- which has this type of procedure no doubt relies on the good faith that the person whose role it is to contact authorities actually follows through and does just that.

Therefore, I fully disagree with the author of that article that Joe Paterno did all that he was expected to do. He may have initially followed protocol, if such a system was in place at Penn State. However, he became just as guilty as the other filthy pond scum when he did not pursue the matter when it was evident that a crime report had not been filed. He was aware a crime had happened, and he was futher aware that there had been ZERO follow up on it from a criminal investigation standpoint. At that time to hell with any institutional policies, you call authorities immediately.

I predict he resigns within the week.

Exactly. I'd be flipping out, getting the child out of the situation as quickly as possible, and before telling anyone else, I'd find a phone and dial 911.

Even if I was freaked out at the time and simply ran to tell someone else within the university community, I'd be pretty pissed if nothing was done about it, and I'd sure as hell confirm that the news eventually made its way to the police.