In Defense of JoePa

Joe Paterno.

A man.  A coach.  A living legend.

Single-handedly this man had coached the Penn State Nittany Lions for the past 45 years.  He's broken almost every college coaching record that ever existed.  He was slated to go down in history as one of the most beloved coaches of all time.  Penn State was JoePa.  Joe Pa was Penn State.

On Wednesday Joe Paterno's reign as head coach came to an end with a swift call from the Penn State Board of Trustees.  He was three games short of finishing his 46th season.  This national icon and local hero has been swept up into allegations of child abuse and sexual assault.  Not his own though.

The allegations are against Paterno's old defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.  To date, eight boys have come forward with allegations against Sandusky who claim that he sexually molested them between 1994 and 2009.  How is Paterno involved?

In 2005 a coaching assistant approached Paterno with information that he had caught Sandusky in the Penn State locker room molesting a 12 year-old boy.  Paterno alerted his superior, Penn State's Athletic Director, and did not report the incident to authorities.

Legally, Paterno's lawyers say, he fulfilled his obligation.  Ethically, he clearly did not.  While most everyone would agree that a rational person would have contacted authorities immediately, I tend to give JoePa the benefit of the doubt.

Joe Paterno is responsible for one thing and one thing only, making sure his football team is a unit.  They practice together, step onto the field together, and (usually) win together.  To find out that a member of your team - worse, a coaching assistant - has committed one of the most vile acts known to man - I cannot even begin to think of the things running through Paterno's head.  In my opinion, he did the right thing by turning the issue over to his superior.  He didn't betray his team, he didn't betray his obligation, and most importantly he certainly did not betray the victim.

By turning the issue over, Paterno demonstrated his interest in bringing a just end to the issue.  Any inaction beyond that was the fault of the Athletic Director, not of Paterno.  This is a controversial issue and I know that many will think that I am insensitive to the victims of Sandusky's crimes.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  I think that Sandusky should be locked up for life.  He committed the most heinous crime that a person could commit - he literally preyed on defenseless children - worse, if allegations are true, he made a hobby out of it.

I defend Paterno because some part of me is determined to see him in a positive light.  I grew up watching him and admiring his tireless work ethic.  Thinking of JoePa as a villain hurts.  I don't want to, and I think that he deserves the benefit of the doubt - especially after all that he has done for Penn State, and it's dedicated family.

Paterno's statement, released hours after receiving news of being let go by the Board of Trustees:

I am disappointed with the Board of Trustees' decision, but I have to accept it.

A tragedy occurred, and we all have to have patience to let the legal process proceed. I appreciate the outpouring of support but want to emphasize that everyone should remain calm and please respect the university, its property and all that we value.

I have been incredibly blessed to spend my entire career working with people I love. I am grateful beyond words to all of the coaches, players and staff who have been a part of this program. And to all of our fans and supporters, my family and I will be forever in your debt.

How can anybody hate this man?

The Danger of Smartphones

Looking up and down the streets of downtown Los Angeles, it’s hard to go a single moment without seeing someone with a smart phone in hand.  This technology has seemingly been fixed to the palm of our hands with some sort of super glue.  While advances in communication devices have undoubtedly changed the speed of consumer interaction for the better, I fear that smart phones such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android devices have replaced canines as man’s best friend.  While an increasingly shrinking world has given us innumerable advances, new technology has taken away something that cannot be suitably recreated or replaced: the essential nuances and qualities of simple face-to-face interaction.

The modern smart phone has given people the ability to keep in constant contact with their family members, their employers and their closest friends, regardless of the vast distances between the two, but is that such a good thing?  While constant contact means quicker transmission of communication and event planning, the idea of always being “linked in” is somewhat chilling.  Often times I find that the most serene moment of my day is in the waning minutes of the night between when I turn off my cell phone and when I go to sleep.  There is something very peaceful about not being able to be reached.

An increase in the amount of smart phone usage coupled with an expanding social media market reflects an increase personal fear about being out of the loop – or left behind.  Public insecurity, as I like to call it, is fueled not by the desire to know more, but to not know less.  Certainly the increased time spent on these devices does indeed augment the number of people that we can be in conversations with at any given time, but I question the value and legitimacy of any conversation that takes an hour when a face-to-face interaction could have settled any dispute in a matter of minutes.

For many, these new-fangled devices offer an ever-present portal to the world of social media, for which I am beginning to develop a bad taste in my mouth towards.  Social media has the potential to be an overwhelmingly useful tool when it comes to keeping in touch with long lost friends, but I fear that websites like Facebook and Twitter have become social replacements as opposed to social supplements.  So often I notice that people sitting side by side in a dorm room will be sitting lazily on their chairs or beds perusing their friends’ Facebook pages, when they easily could be talking to one another.

Looking forward, I see a dichotomy taking form.  There are many people who are embracing social media, who marvel in the vast potential that such networking websites offer.  And yet there remain the conservatives, people like me who prefer traditional forms of communication and miss the more personal elements of regular face-to-face conversation.  Within this dichotomy lie two inevitable ends.  Either social media and smart phones will inevitably change the way that the world operates forever, or a counterculture will develop that lashes back against the scarily fast-developing new technologies.  I hope for the latter.

Along with this trend of ongoing social media and smart phone usage seems and increase in complacency and stagnation.  Too often I see my friends locked indoors, their eyes glued to their computer screens – when the weather is beautiful outside.  While I by no means claim to be a woodsman, or to have a gymnast’s body, the sight of people indoors on a sunny day irks me.  Moreover, I become genuinely confused as to just what it is that draws people ever closer to their computers and devices than the allure of nature.  Perhaps everyone else sees something that I don’t, but I think that if this trend continues, we can expect to live in a world very similar to that in the Pixar film, Wall-E.