The Penn State Nittany Lions football team, heading onto Beaver Stadium for the first time without Joe Paterno since 1966.
END OF THE WEEK:
You know what this is. You know what you're about to see. So, let's get started.
Death of the Week: Boxer Joe Frazier
The man was one of the greatest of his generation, a man whose relentless fighting technique and left hook that could knock out Goliath helped him immensely in accomplish his 32-4-1 record and multiple heavyweight championship victories in his career. He is also best remembered for his three fights against Muhammad Ali in what is still remembered today as one of the most legendary trilogies in sports history, three fights which put the two side-by-side in boxing lore forever. He will be missed.
Story of the Week (meaning both the Actual Story of the Week and the Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week):
The Penn State Scandal
A once respected defensive coordinator officially charged with molesting over a handful of young men. A cover-up that lasted for nearly a decade between some of the school's top officials. A head football coach who for years has been celebrated for his numerous accomplishments fired in disgrace (with others, including the school president and the redheaded assistant coach who saw the egregious acts take place, following him on the pathway down). A senseless riot among students that took place because of the firing, and the immediate public relations nightmare that followed. If this isn't the biggest scandal to come out of sports in the past thirty years, then this sure as hell better be considered a part of the discussion.
This Week in OCCUPY: It just seems like we just keep getting a new "first" every week in what is now America's second biggest protest of the week, usually one worse than the last. This week was probably the saddest "first" of them all when on Tuesday, a man was found dead over at an Occupy New Orleans tent, the first recorded death at the protests. Detectives identified the dead body as a 53 year old man, and from the reports coming in, it appears that the man was lying in the tent in Duncan Plaza across city hall for over two days without any visible sign of trauma. As if that weren't enough, on Friday over at Occupy Salt Lake City, another man (this time in his 40s) was found dead in a tent as well, most likely by a combination of carbon monoxide and a drug overdose. Meanwhile, near the site Occupy Oakland officially the Britta Perry of the movement), a man was shot to the death just before 5 p.m. Thursday evening (although unlike the first two deaths the suspected gunman was in no way related to the protests), while in Occupy Vermont, a 35 year old Iraq War killed himself in an act of suicide. These four sad stories, more than any other negative news coming out of the protests (including the terrible hygiene, the risk of catching diseases during flu season, and the high risk of rape), has led to massive (and understandable) pressure led by city officials across the U.S. to shut down the "Occupy" encampments.
But if you thought the news coming out of 'Occupy' was entirely bad, well I have some good news: they all weren't. For example, there's a chart put together by Politico's Dylan Byers that lists how Occupy Wall Street has increased the discussion amongst Americans (well, the media mostly) about income inequality in this country, so while the protests have done nothing of sorts to actually create any legislative action, it at least made more people talk about one of the protests more fundamental issues. Over at Denver, a dog, yes, a dog, was named the leader of the movement in order to meet Mayor Michael Hancock's demands of electing something to deal with city and state officials. So, congrats to Shelby (the border collie), for proving that if you're at the right place at the right side and have a leadership as powerful as your adorableness, you can achieve anything!
And there's this video of police at Berkley whacking protesters with batons during a protest against the privatization of schools and a showing of solidarity with the movement...hey, wait a second! That's not a good thing at all! Why would people do that? Oh well, at least the cause was for something not related to the firing of a coach who protected a child rapist.
The movement is about to reach it's second month. After what happened this week, at least things couldn't possibly get any worse...can it?
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Verdict of the Week: Dr. Conrad Murray Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Michael Jackson
There really isn't much to say about this. He was much deserved in both the guilty verdict of being too negligent as a doctor to lead to Michael Jackson's 2009 death, and in his rather miniscule sentence (what with his entire career being ruined and all). I just wonder if what he did was still all worth it, now that he's the most hated doctor in America since Jack Kevorkian.
Transformation of the Week: Chris Birch
who was allegedly a "straight" rugby player until he had a stroke, at which point he just magically transformed himself into a gay hairdresser.Part of me wants to say that this was all a hoax, that either he's just playing everyone or was a closeted homosexual this home time and used this incident as his golden Willy-Wonka ticket to finally coming out with his stroke as the blame...but where's the fun in that?
Video of the Week: "Liam Neeson- Life's Too Short"
So, the show premieres in 2012, eh? Damn! If only Liam Neeson's fierce intensity could help shorten the premiere of the show, too!
Person of the Week: Former Penn State Head Football Coach Joe Paterno
There's an old adage that goes "It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a minute to ruin it." Over the past seven days, no other person has shown to be the clearest example of this than Joe Paterno (and really, Penn State University as a whole). Just a week ago, he was a man universally praised for being a great head football coach for the university, the all-time winningest head football coach in fact (he passed Eddie Robinson's record with 409 wins two weeks ago), a leader of young men, and a person whose efforts over the years have greatly shaped and influenced Penn State for the better (more than any other man in its history). And now, with the blink of a judgmental eye, he's faced to live at his home now, having just been fired in disgrace for the awful act of failing to stand up to some of society's most vulnerable, and living with the fact that he will no longer be coaching a football team for the first time since 1966.
As mentioned, Joe Paterno's fall from grace occurred in a relatively short span of time (less than a week, in fact). It began last weekend, when a grand jury indicted Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator under Paterno who helped the Nittany Lions win two national championships as an assistant, of sexually molesting eight young boys during the 1990s and 2000s. A couple of days later, the full 23-page grand jury report was released to the public for all to see, featuring all of the graphic details of the molestations and how Sandusky was able to keep this all a secret up until now. Among the most notable things mentioned in the report was the passage described how in 2002, Mike McQueary (who later became the school's wide receivers coach up until this week, when he was placed on administrative leave) saw Sandusky molestating a teenage boy in the shower and then later told Paterno about the horrifying account. Rather than simply going straight to the police, Paterno only reported what he heard to the school's athletic director, Tim Curley, and Gary Schultz, who oversought the university's police, and the only thing those two did was notify it to school president Graham Spanier. So, in essence, for nine years after reporting what he had heard to the school's AD, Paterno did nothing else and essentially took part in a massive cover-up to protect Sandusky from seeing harm.
It was with this disappointing news of Paterno's inaction that led to a justifiable movement to fire the coach for what he had done. On Wednesday, that movement lead to it's tumultuous climax. It began in the afternoon when Paterno released a statement saying how he realized in hindsight was he did was wrong, and announced his decision to retire as head coach following the end of this season. But, just like in February when Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said that he will remain leader for the rest of his term (not the same circumstance, of course, but still somewhat similar), the story did not come to an end. Around 10 p.m. local time at Happy Valley, in an act of self interest (a.k.a. protecting the reputation of the school), the university made the big news that it was going to cut Paterno's time at the school much sooner, firing him effective immediately (along with Spanier), and replacing him with interim head coach Tom Bradley. Those of you who paid attention to the story thereafter know what happened next (Paterno's Nixon moment, the student riots, the backlash to the student riots, the game Saturday against Nebraska, etc).
And that was it, the sad, sudden end to the career of one of the most respected individuals in his profession. While you can't help but feel somewhat bad for the guy, let's be honest: it's not like he didn't deserve it. After all, he kept something terrible under wraps for nearly a decade until those boys that were violated were brave enough to stand up for themselves and indict the guy who had done it. Anyone who would do such a thing should be punished, whether it's being charged with perjury (as is the case with Curley), or, in the case of Paterno, being let go so that he can no longer be the wrecked face of the school. In a few years, this story will fade and we will most likely remember Paterno for what he did before we knew about the Sandusky cover-up. But for the time being, I'm afraid that the first thing we will think of Paterno are the events of this past week involving him, and it's damaging repercussions.
-Runner-up: Texas Governor Rick Perry
for basically ruining any remaining chance he has of a Republican presidential nomination this week with this gaffe he had during the CNBC debate on Wednesday (boy, that was a pretty busy date, wasn't it?). With this and Herman Cain's sexual assault allegations, it's like these candidates are just begging for Newt Gingrich to rise in the polls for no good reason whatsoever.
And that's the week it was! Sorry if this week's post was more sober in its tone. I guess that's what happens when the top story of the week involves the raping of over a half-dozen young men. Let's hope that next week will bring us a lot more joy than this one. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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