Not Everything Is Fine At Syracuse

William Perlman/The Star-Ledger

It's bad enough when victims of abuse, bullying and
other personal crimes are afraid to come forward,
because of shame or fear, but the problem gets even
more painful when there is doubt involved. We have
just been through a couple of weeks were some very
big names have been shamed, whether through they own
doing or lack of doing, and now comes another.

Syracuse University has been dragged into the muck
much like Penn State was this week, and in the interim
there have been other schools and institutions that
have been exposed. Even the Citadel recently admitted
that they may have handled a previous issue of sexual
misconduct improperly, and there are countless others
that don't even make national headlines when something
like the Penn St story isn't floating around. Just
last week I read a story that I had never heard of
before until Jeff Passan of Yahoo sports did a piece on
it, and it involved the Boston Red Sox. According to
Passan it was only news in Massachusetts and Florida
where the child abuse occurred, hardly a national stage.

Syracuse much like Penn State is not located in a big
city, and the Basketball coach much like Penn State's
Football coach is almost God like, in that they have
been there for what seems like forever, have squeaky
clean reputations, and are winners on and off the field.
That may be where the similarities regarding the recent
news ends though. Boeheim unlike Paterno has come out
very loud and very vehemently denying all charges.
Boeheim even went as far to say "I am not Joe Peterno..."
in a statement, when going on to say that if he knew,
he would have said something, and that this is a pack
of "...a thousand lies". I admire Boeheim for this,
especially if he's telling the truth, and I believe he
is. I've been waiting for Paterno to do the same, but
every case is different and I believe there is alot more
muck involved in the Sandusky case than there is in the
Bernie Fine case, and yet, I like you sometimes don't
know what to believe. I saw the "Outside the Lines"
video interviewing both the accuser and the his step
brother who claims that there was some abuse with him
as well, but he stopped it much sooner. I also give
Jim Boheim credit for something else in his statement,
he said that right now he doesn't have any reason not to
support Bernie Fine, if he had reason to not support him,
he wouldn't support him, he also goes on to say that if
he saw something he would have reported it. He has been
strong and adamant in his statements, and unless he is
being duped as well, which is very well possible, then
someone is being very wronged here, victim or accused,
very wronged.

Watch the video, see for yourself. I'm no expert, but as
I stated earlier in my radio show: "these guys are either
real good liars, crazy, or they're telling the truth",
I just don't know, but this is getting ugly and I hope it
doesn't keep real victims from coming forward or real
abusers from being caught.




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Mad Stork Sports with Nick Rizzo - Live

The Penn State Saga won't die, and only picks up
more steam every day. There are lots of other
things going on in the world of sports as well,
so join me for a fun filled hour of banter on
Mad Stork Sports with Nick Rizzo live
tonight and every Wednesday on Scatterradio.
Call in and be a part of the show. You can also




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Hey Penn State What About The Victims ?

Now that lives have been ruined, people have been
fired, others placed in protective custody, and
finger pointing has reached a feverish level,
how about we concentrate on those poor souls
that have felt the most pain in all of this.

Andrea Anushko Phd is my guest writer for the
following piece and she has some Penn State
ties in the family so growing up in Pennsylvania
she knows all to well the "We are, Penn State"
sentiment. I think we can agree with Dr. Anushko
when she asks, what about the victims?

The following are her thoughts on this mess:

There is no shortage of opinions about Jerry Sandusky,
Joe Paterno, and the PSU board of trustees; however,
what has been missing from the media circus is a focus
on the support victims need and what parents, educators,
coaches, and children can do when child abuse is suspected.

Only now are media outlets starting to focus on the victims;
however articles, broadcasts, tweets and you tube videos
addressing what one can do if they are a victim of sexual
abuse, or witness something they feel is inappropriate are
lacking. There has been no information offered to parents
about how to talk to their children about inappropriate
touching or abuse. There have been few messages that as
adults and a university, we can be trusted.

Where are the hotline numbers? The resources for parents?
The resources for kids who have questions?

In all of the finger pointing, blame assigning, and morality
high-horsing few have stepped back to say what can I do to
prevent sexual abuse? What can I do to support victims who
experienced sexual abuse?

Here’s a new idea. While we wait for the facts about the
role of Paterno, McQueary and others, let’s use this media
spotlight on PSU to raise awareness and demand better
resources, better laws, and more responsibility from ALL
adults.

For those of you in attendance at the game tomorrow, in
addition to your “blue out”, how about instead of
“F the Board” you chant “Protect our Children” or
“We support the victims?” How about painting the number
for the National Child Abuse Hotline on your chest?
Show all kids, including the 8 year olds who will be
watching tomorrow, that PSU supports victims, not blames
victims. Show your local and state officials that better
information about what to do if child abuse is suspected
needs to be distributed to all adults, and that better
laws need to be in place to protect reporters of suspected
child abuse.

You are Penn State. You are not only football but academic
excellence. Gather your resources. Find your psychologists,
researchers, and social workers. Ask for information to be
distributed to parents on signs of sexual abuse and how to
talk to their children about abuse before it happens.
Talk to your teacher prep majors and ask them about
communicating the importance of telling an adult if an
interaction doesn’t feel right. Gather you poli-sci and
pre-law majors and review local and state laws. Find out
what else can be done to protect our children and keep sexual
predators off of the streets. Contact university administration
and let them know campus personnel need clear information on
what to do if they witness or suspect abuse. Campus Newspapers,
local newspapers and media outlets help provide quality
information to adults and children about sexual abuse.

The eyes of the entire country will be on you tomorrow
PSU - use that media coverage to show that for the victims
and for all children this is about adults not tolerating
child abuse. Use that coverage to distribute resources and
supports for parents and children – knowledge is the best way
to prevent future tragedies.

Madstork Sports wants you to post information for parents,
children and educators about sexual abuse. List local hotlines
and websites, national resources, or community centers where
adults and children can get information and help. Let’s demand
justice for victims and provide resources to families and
communities to address previous abuse and prevent future abuse.

National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-252-2873
New York City Child Abuse Hotline -
General Public: 1-800-342-3720. In NYC, call 311
New York City Prevention Information & Parent Helpline at 1-800-342-7472




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Mad Stork Sports with Nick Rizzo Replay 11-11-11

The focus of the show is something that will
probably be a focus of many shows for a long
time to come, and may only be surpassed, if
at all by all the talk the OJ drama created
at it's height. Check it out and voice your
view on this.




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Paterno, Sandusky & Gricar = Much Cloak & Dagger

CDT/Nabil K. Mark

As I have stated earlier, and continue to state here
this is not going to be about the defense of Joe
Paterno. This isn't going to be about feeling sorry
for an old guy who spent his entire life winning
football games and helping build Penn St. University
from the ground up, nope. This is about making sure
that we are not to quick to judge in this case.
I also don't want too get into a long winded never
ending article about why blaming Joe Paterno is a
bit premature here, yet does is not amaze you that
Jerry Sandusky has received less venom than Joe
Paterno has in the last few days? That this
despicable excuse for a human being is getting less
brunt than some of the other members of this scandal.

I will make these few points, and be happy to take
any comments or questions you may have about this.

1998 Paterno, and McQuery not involved, but DA,
Parent of an abused child, and Police are. Sandusky
is not prosecuted even though Police bring evidence
to then DA Ray Gricar of Sandusky admitting to childs
Parent, and apologizing for it while Police are hiding
in another room. Doesn't this seem off to you?

Campus Chief of Police knew of another incident or
incidents, and has since been arrested for not reporting
it to the Police. Why? Who was he protecting?

McQuery told Paterno of what he saw, and as a matter of
fact their Grand Jury testimony verifies the same
accounts by the two of them, therefore confirming that
Paterno relayed exactly what he was told. Paterno told
AD Tim Curly. Isn't that what he was supposed to do?

Curly told no one? Why? Who was he protecting?

McQuery's father stated recently that he's been living
with this for the past ten years. Really? Then why not
take action yourself and perhaps drop an anonymous letter
or phone call to the media or authorities?

McQuery didn't stop what he saw. OK, I get it, stunned,
blown away, scared, but he told Paterno. Isn't that what
he was supposed to do?

Blame Paterno? Does anyone really know what transpired
in closed door meetings with Paterno, Curly, etc.?
Perhaps Joe was lied to, and told the Police were
investigating. How do you know? Not making excuses,
Joe says he wants to talk, then maybe you should let
him talk.

Am I the only one that finds it a little more than
fishy that the original DA who didn't prosecute wound
up vanishing without a trace? No Cell Phone, No Car,
No Money, trashed work laptop without a hard drive,
and finally a recovered hard drive somewhere else
without one shred of retrievable data on it.

Another oddity is: Why now with the news? Why not
sooner? News comes after Paterno breaks record for
most wins in College football history? Who's pulling
the strings?

Here comes my version of the cloak and dagger, and
yes, I won't blame you one bit if you think I've
lost my mind, but this has NOTHING to do with Paterno.

I would not be in the least bit surprised if someone
of major pull is behind the scenes here. Research on
child molesters shows that abusers are likely to have
been abused once themselves. If this is true of Jerry
Sandusky, it is the only sympathy he will get from me,
because he was once a victim too, but I don't know
this for a fact. It's just that it seems too many
people have gone out of their way to let this guy
slide over and over, and I can't help but wonder if
they were influenced into doing so. Fear, money
intimidation, etc. If Sanusky's abuser is someone of
great power and influence in the state of Pennsylvania
who does not himself wish to be exposed, it may just
stand to reason that he believes that he will be, if
Sandusky is ever pushed to a point where he may expose
his abuser if he isn't protected. Conspiracy theory?
Sure, maybe. It's just that I don't understand how
this just kept so many people from talking, and one
from disappearing, I don't get it.

Penn St looked out for dollars and cents last night,
not for the victims, that could have, and should have
been done along time ago. These are the very same
dollars and sense that Paterno helped turn into a
ONE BILLION DOLLAR endowment for the University,
and though that should never make him immune to these
sorts of crimes, it should afford him the time to
explain himself. We often criticize people when they
hide behind lawyers, and yet when Paterno wanted to
speak at his normal Tuesday press conference and tell
people what they wanted to hear, but he was silenced
by the University. Paterno will get his story out,
and I assure you will want to hear it. It may not
be what you imagine or like, but at least he won't
silenced.

Make no mistake here, Paterno could have done more,
but just how much more may be subject to debate.
Paterno, Spanier, McQueary, Curly, etc. Guilty of
falling short yes, but definitely to varying degrees,
and since we don't know the FULL story, I think I'll
wait.

If nothing else, can we keep one thing in perspective
here? Jerry Sandusky did all of this, NOT Joe Paterno!

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Valley Not So Happy For Penn State's Joe Pa

Like many others across the country I've been
fighting myself to figure out how I really
feel about Joe Paterno's role in what took
place at Penn State during and after Jerry
Sandusky's time at the school. Believe it
or not, for those of us who aren't on a witch
hunt, this isn't an easy decision.

The DA stated the Paterno is not a target of
the investigation, and that he did exactly
what he was supposed to do legally, report it
right away. Paterno did nothing to cover this
up. He didn't sugarcoat it, or make excuses,
and Sandusky was reportedly no longer part of
the staff when the one specific reported act
at hand took place. Yet I can't help but ask
myself, what would I do if it were my kid who
was the victim here? I mean, Paterno had
nothing to do with it. He didn't turn a blind
eye to it or enable it, but why didn't Paterno
follow up on this? Should he have? Did he,
and we don't know about it? Was he discouraged?
How could he be? He's Joe Paterno, Joe Pa,
He is Penn State! Make no mistake about it,
this is no easy question to answer, because as
mad as you wanna be, and are at Peterno, he
wasn't the predator here. So whether you defend
him or damn him, I'm not sure either is wrong.

What's craziest about this is, that in a world
of college athletics, yes we have to bring that
up too, Penn State football is probably one of
a handful of programs that is "clean", if that
many LSU, Stanford, Oklahoma St, Alabama, Boise
State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arkansas, Clemson, and
Virginia Tech, those are your BCS Top 10, and I
assure you that you will be hard pressed to find
a school among them that has as clean a reputation
as Penn State does over the same period of time,
similar maybe, as good, hard to believe. Keep in
mind that just when you think that you got it all
figured out, you don't. As a sports fan I was dead
to rights sure that both Manny and A-Rod were clean,
they weren't. Remember how Nick Saban left LSU,
and then again the Miami Dolphins? This isn't a
finger pointing contest, just trying to put it in
some kind of perspective. I too am disappointed in
Paterno, a little mad maybe, but those calling for
his head should be more concerned with what Jerry
Sandusky did, and how to get justice for the victims,
than how can we get this head coach fired because he
was a half a step behind the curve. Yes it was a
huge curve, but it was a mistake, surely a big, big
error in judgement.

Joe Paterno was not in that boys pants. Joe Paterno
did not prey on little children. Joe Paterno did
not give this animal an extra five minutes to get out
of Dodge, and though he pisses me off for not being
more full on aggressive about this, I just can't hang
him for it, but maybe I can say that because it wasn't
my kid. I just don't know. You have a right to feel
more angry about this than I do, just don't let your
anger be and frustration be misguided. Jerry Sandusky
is the degenerate here, not Joe Paterno.





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