"The Mafia has higher moral standards." B. Bissinger

Buzz Bissinger (great name!)  has a scathing rant on Joe Paterno and the Penn State scandal.  It's a must-read if you can take it.  It goes into details and the details are absolutely horrifying.  It's also a rant about the bogus world of big-time college sports.  Looks like another fine institution turning out to be a hollow shell of corruption.  I mean, I guess we knew it was a sham, but it turns out to be a hollower and corrupter sham than we thought.  Still, for sure we know it's all built on the lie of the "amateur, student athlete."  That is a big-time myth, and an avalanche of hypocrisies flow from that fundamental lie.


By the way, if they decide to make a movie about all of this, I suggest David Lynch.  It is all so "Blue Velvet," or "Twin Peaks"- like.  Sleepy University town.  Big Man on campus.  Cheerleaders, Football stars, trim green lawns, footballs flying around on a sunny fall afternoon.  And deep, dark, horrid secrets.  Dark doings in the showers.  


And silence.  The web of silence cuts across all levels of society.  No one wants to know, no one wants to look, no one wants to "rock the boat."  There's just too much money and football glory, and mythology of the "big man," and no one wants to see the darkness underneath the covers.  Classic American story...


Bissinger's close:  "And so, frankly, should major college football and basketball as it exists now, rotten beyond repair, as has been pointed out a thousand times. Totally disconnected from the academic experience, they are insulated kingdoms with their own rules and reigns of terror because of the money they make, trading in illegal recruiting and illegal gifts and illegal favors, and now, thanks to Penn State, alleged sexual abuse of children by a former coach who must have assumed he would always be protected. Just like a Mafia soldier. Except that the even the Mafia has higher moral standards."