I know I haven’t blogged forever. It’s kind of fallen off my radar, I guess. But after this last week or so…I feel like I need to write to get some things off my chest.
This disgusting situation at Penn State has really touched a nerve with me. I’m sure most of you have read at least some of the sordid details. If not, just have a look at any major web site to get caught up…if you can stomach it.
As you all know, I love sports. It’s one of my biggest passions. But after all this, both the “scandal” and the reaction, I really don’t know what to think about sports anymore…and our society’s obsession with them.
Are our priorities so far out of whack that people can seriously debate whether a “legendary sports hero” is being treated fairly or unfairly in the wake of the serial abuse of 10s (if not 100s, I fear) of children…of which he was no doubt a central facilitator (by omission)? Are we really talking about playing a football game on Saturday…when almost all of the coaches on the sideline had substantial relationships and histories with a child rapist and one of them caught him in the act and did nothing to stop it?
How messed up are we? PSU students rally and riot in support of a facilitator of child abuse and mourn an old man’s sports legacy. Seriously…who cares? It’s all a game and none of it makes the slightest bit of difference. As a committed sports fan…that’s hard for me to say, but it really doesn’t matter. Legacies? Wins and losses? None of it matters.
The only thing that matters is the children who have been irreparably harmed by this. My heart aches for them.
As for sports…they must remain what they have always been, merely a distraction from our real lives and a good source of exercise when we actually participate, rather than watch. It’s high time for a little perspective.
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