RANDOM THOUGHTS:
It's a rare tripleheader of posting action here at The mj15 Blog! First this afternoon I began by posting the newest "End of the Month" for October. Then, later in the evening, came my week 10 NFL picks (and with twenty minutes to spare before kickoff of the Thursday night game, no less!). And now, with less than twenty minutes to go before the start of Friday, I'm now able to end it with the newest installment of "Random Thoughts"! So exciting!
Anywho... the following were on my mind between Monday, November 7th and Thursday, November 10th:
- First, Penn State fired Joe Paterno, leading to those riots soon after. Then, the NBA owners and NBAPA announced that they hadn't yet reached a deal to end the lockout despite a pivotal day-long negotiation process. And finally, there was the news down in Venezuela that Twins catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped for ransom before being rescued alive. This has been one of the worst days in sports that I've seen in a long time.
- Speaking of the Jerry Sandusky Penn State scandal and Joe Pa's firing, her are my more specific thoughts on the matter:
1) Without a doubt, the University did a right thing in firing Paterno. Yes, I know that Paterno was a great man and a great coach who helped shape the school into what it is more than any other man in history. And, yes, Paterno in 2002 did at least tell others in the University of the news that he heard about Sandusky raping kids. But the fact of the matter is this: that outside of telling certain people of the news, from 2002-2011 did nothing else, meaning he didn't do enough and essentially covered up Sandusky's rape allegations along with a few others (including the AD and the school president that got fired along with Paterno last night) in favor of the football program. No matter how you put it, that's still an inexcusable thing for a human being to do.
By allowing Paterno to stay on the team for the rest of the season, the university would be sending a message that essentially, the lives ruined by the six young children that were raped is less important than the happiness of some old guy who's already got every major college football coaching record anyways (he just passed Eddie Robinson for most wins all-time a mere two weeks ago). So firing him and everyone else that knew about what Sandusky did was not only the right call, it was smart in terms of the school's best interest.Also, there's the whole matter of Paterno's title. He's the head football coach, meaning that all of this happened under his watch. If a ship falls (the ship in this case being Penn State's reputation), then the ship's captain must sink along with it.
2) Paterno was not the "scapegoat" in this situation. "Scapegoat" implies that Paterno is the only one out of many other deserving candidates to put blame on this situation. Not true. After all, many others were punished for their involvement in the Sandusky rape charges. It's why Graham Spanier got fired along with Paterno, and it's why people like Mike McQueary and Tim Curely will definitely be fired in a matter of a few days. And then, of course, there's Sandusky, who got charged with these heinous crimes and is going to jail if he is found guilty. The real difference between these other men and Joe Paterno is simply that Paterno is a bigger name than the rest of them combined, which is why his part of the story got more coverage than the other's at this point.
3) Congratulations, Penn State students. Last night, your rioting single-handily managed to beat "Boycotting NBC for the cancellation of 'Outsourced'" as the single dumbest protest of the last decade. Look, I understand, sort of. You respected Joe Pa. You loved Joe Pa. The very reason that many of you got into the school was probably because of Joe Pa. But the fact of the matter is this, and I'm typing it in bold letters to highlight the situation's ludicrous nature: YOU RIOTED OVER A GUY WHO PROTECTED A CHILD MOLESTER!!!
It's as simple as that, and the fact that you threw over cars and smashed windows because your school understandably (at least to the rest of the country) fired a man who did such a thing for nearly a decade is as idiotic as idiotic can get. Not only that, but what you did last night basically tarnished the reputation of the school for the next five-ten years at least, possibly more. For a while, when people are going to think of Penn State, people aren't going to think of it as a fine institution. They're going to think back to last night and think of it as that school in Central Pennsylvania whose students rioted because they cared more about about as something as trivial as a coach playing one more measly football game over the livelihood of these half a dozen boys whose lives have been ruined because of what Jerry Sandusky allegedly did.
In other words, when people are going to refer to Penn State as names like "Pedophile State University," jsut know that you have no one else to blame but yourselves.
4) While it was inexcusable for what Paterno did, I can't help but feel a little bad for the guy. After all, outside of this one thing, he was still a good man. That one thing that he did nine years ago, however, turned out to be a really terrible thing that he helped cover-up, and now he's paying for it big time.
- Is it really appropriate for a network to promote a game (like Sunday's Bills-Cowboys match-up) as a "Super Bowl rematch" if that Super Bowl took place nearly twenty years ago? I'm looking at you, Trey Wingo!
- And here I was thinking that our "Teen Mom"- loving country was awful! At least our age of consent is before a girl starts having her period! (http://gawker.com/5858537/10+year+old-gives-birth-to-baby-boy)
- Congratulations to T-Mobile! Thanks to their "46 Wonderland" commercials, they have now officially claimed the prestigious title of "Company With The Earliest Holiday Ads" for this year. I hope it was worth!
- It's been nearly fifteen days or so since it happened, yet I still can't get that game 6 World Series game out of my mind. It's one of the few games in my mind which seems to get better over time. I don't know if it's because of St. Louis coming back twice to win, or the fact that it was a pretty high scoring ballgame, but the appreciation for it has definitely soared, like watching a good episode of "The Simpsons" over and over again. In fact, among all of the postseason games (not counting 1 game tiebreakers, although they have been awesome) that I've seen in my (relatively short) lifetime as it happened, here is how I would rank them:
1) Yankees/D-Backs: 2001 World Series Game 7
2) This game
3) White Sox/Astros: 2005 World Series: Games 2-3 (tie, and for obvious personal reasons)
4) Braves/Astros: 2005 NLDS Game 4
5) Reds/Phillies: 2010 NLDS Game 1
6) Red Sox/Yankees: 2003 ALCS Game 7
7) Giants/Angels: 2002 World Series Game 6
8) Yankees/Red Sox: 2004 ALCS Games 4-5 (tie)
9) Rays/Red Sox: 2008 ALCS Game 6
10) Giants/Marlins: 2003 NLDS Game 4
More random thoughts to come on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!
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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