I know we’ve been talking about the Penn State scandal a lot lately, but the story has so many layers. Today I watched Jon Ritchie on outside the lines with Bob Levy on ESPN and it was powerful interview. Ritchie spoke about his relationship with Sandusky and how he had fooled even him. Ritchie stated in the interview that he didn’t know what was right in the world anymore because Sandusky had fooled him for so long. Ritchie insight gives a more clear understanding of what could’ve been McQueary motivations.
Most of the coverage today has focused on the graduate assistant Mike McQueary and his status as a coach. As of now he’s on administrative leave. When you first read the grand jury report you wonder why the hell didn’t McQueary go to the police, but after hearing Ritchie on ESPN today I realized the position that McQueary was in. He was a graduate assistant the lowest of the low on the totem poll of coaches and he sees the guy who damn near as powerful as Paterno in the shower with a boy doing unspeakable things. McQueary was in complete shock I mean Sandusky was the good guy, the guy that founded Second Mile to help the underprivileged youth Sandusky wasn’t supposed to do this. This was for the creeper who hung out in playgrounds, not defensive coach of the great Penn State, not him. While we all hope that we would’ve have done something more if we saw something like this, you don’t know you just don’t know. The vilification of McQueary seems a little off base as Ritichie said in his interview today Sandusky was a very respected guy, a hero in the eyes of coaches and players, someone McQueary had known when he was player. To see Sandusky doing this causes paralyzing fear, this was the great Sandusky. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and I hope McQueary would’ve went to the police if he had known the extent of Sandusky’s crimes. There are a lot of people who failed these children, and no one should be excused of that, but the story is so much deeper so much more complicated. Sandusky had conned everyone even the adults. Please read the grand jury report http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf and listen to the OTL podcast with Jon Ritchie. To gain more perspective of the situation.
