People in the US who follow the news have certainly heard about the ongoing scandal involving Pennsylvania State University (called "Penn State" for short). For those who for whatever reason have not, briefly it involves allegations of child abuse by Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, and allegations of a cover-up of those actions by university officials including the well-loved (and very successful) Head Football Coach, Joe Paterno (who has died since this scandal first broke). It's a bit like the priest child sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church where, similarly, it's alleged that bishops knew about the actions of priests and ignored the problem or merely transferred the priests. The similarity lies both in the abuse and in the charges of inaction or improper action on the part of higher-ups.
I happen to be an alumnus of Penn State. Even though I may feel a limited connection with Penn State—for one thing, I have degrees from two other schools so my alma mater loyalties are sort of divided up—still, I have to feel affected by this whole mess. Who would want the name of their alma mater to be synonymous with scandal, shame, and disgrace?
I think that, if I were still in the job market, I might even consider lying on my resume about what college I had attended. Meanwhile I find myself sort of wishing that the whole thing would blow over but it will not; the news involving Penn State just goes on and on, with the latest being sanctions--monetary and otherwise--against the school and its football program by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). I am sure that many football fans as well as those sympathetic to Penn State consider the sanctions excessive or undeserved.
One result of all this I might not mind: At Penn State, as at many American colleges, there is too much emphasis on football, and having winning sports teams sometimes seems like a higher priority than education of the students. Maybe in the new environment, as forced on Penn State by the NCAA, emphases and priorities will return to what they ought to be and football will revert to being a secondary purpose of the school.
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Are We Bloodthirsty Like the Romans?
Everybody is familiar with the image of the ancient Romans' entertainments in the Coliseum: gladiators fighting to the death, wild animals fighting one another, Christians being thrown to the lions (this last, it turns out, is completely a myth). So we regard the Romans as bloodthirsty and pat ourselves on the back for being more civilized than that.
But are we? I'd argue that modern Western peoples are probably just as bloodthirsty as the Romans were. The first example that might come to my mind is boxing, which is simply about one man hitting, punching, and beating up another one (I know, boxing's defenders will say that they look for, and admire, grace, strategy, this and that); and the crowd evidently loves it if/when blood flows. Not to mention that boxers' brains quite infamously get permanently damaged. (Mohammed Ali has Parkinson's disease; as Wikipedia says, "Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984,. . . a disease to which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible than average" [Wikipedia, s.v. Muhammad Ali].)
Then there's football. It's starting to be realized that professional football players can receive concussions, and some high-school football players not only have received concussions but even fatal injuries in the course of a football game. Just in very recent news there was a story of a high-school athlete who received brain injuries and another who became paralyzed from the neck down and died 11 years later—while still a young man.
(If I were a parent I would not want my kid to play football on any school team. I know, the argument on the other side is, "But they want to play." Well, it's notorious that teen-agers don't understand risk, and that is why they have a high rate of auto accidents.)
Last I want to mention car racing. Again I think the crowds of spectators hope to witness a crash. That might not be wishing to literally see blood but it's certainly bloodthirstiness in a less literal sense.
Update, January 24, 2012
Other sports, even skiing or skateboarding, can produce injuries. When or where these are made spectator sports (shown on TV or youtube), I wonder if people are hoping to see a wipeout.
Update, February 1, 2012
I don't really follow sports, but I just saw a news item that said that John Wesley Reed, a "cage fighter" (I confess I don't even know the terminology of some of the new sports) collapsed after a fight on TV and was taken away in an ambulance. According to the online article,
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein
But are we? I'd argue that modern Western peoples are probably just as bloodthirsty as the Romans were. The first example that might come to my mind is boxing, which is simply about one man hitting, punching, and beating up another one (I know, boxing's defenders will say that they look for, and admire, grace, strategy, this and that); and the crowd evidently loves it if/when blood flows. Not to mention that boxers' brains quite infamously get permanently damaged. (Mohammed Ali has Parkinson's disease; as Wikipedia says, "Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984,. . . a disease to which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible than average" [Wikipedia, s.v. Muhammad Ali].)
Then there's football. It's starting to be realized that professional football players can receive concussions, and some high-school football players not only have received concussions but even fatal injuries in the course of a football game. Just in very recent news there was a story of a high-school athlete who received brain injuries and another who became paralyzed from the neck down and died 11 years later—while still a young man.
(If I were a parent I would not want my kid to play football on any school team. I know, the argument on the other side is, "But they want to play." Well, it's notorious that teen-agers don't understand risk, and that is why they have a high rate of auto accidents.)
Last I want to mention car racing. Again I think the crowds of spectators hope to witness a crash. That might not be wishing to literally see blood but it's certainly bloodthirstiness in a less literal sense.
Update, January 24, 2012
Other sports, even skiing or skateboarding, can produce injuries. When or where these are made spectator sports (shown on TV or youtube), I wonder if people are hoping to see a wipeout.
Update, February 1, 2012
I don't really follow sports, but I just saw a news item that said that John Wesley Reed, a "cage fighter" (I confess I don't even know the terminology of some of the new sports) collapsed after a fight on TV and was taken away in an ambulance. According to the online article,
Nobody in in the mixed martial arts scene was prepared to acknowledge that he might have suffered serious trauma, instead blaming his condition on "fatigue and dehydration."
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Penn State Scandal
Those who follow the news in the US surely have heard the ongoing news story concerning Penn State. A subordinate football coach named Sandusky is accused of sexually molesting at least eight boys; and, seemingly more important, Penn State's legendary head football coach, Joe Paterno, allegedly was told of this and did not make any report to law-enforcement authorities.
So—to paraphrase a sex-abuse lawyer in Minneapolis who commented on this case—it's a matter of a hierarchical structure trying to protect itself by silence, reminiscent of the sex-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. The news of the abuse gets reported up and/or down the hierarchy but not to the authorities; and the members of the hierarchy conspire among themselves to maintain silence. (To some, the silence may be the most reprehensible part.)
Were this is to be solely a matter of sports news, simply involving football coaches, it would not be within my purview. However, Penn State is my alma mater—it's one of several schools from which I have a degree—so I do have some thoughts about the affair.
I know that at Penn State football is a big deal. And Joe Paterno, because he has been a very successful coach, is viewed as a hero at Penn State. He's pretty much idolized. He has been at Penn State for 62 years, I believe, so he was there even way back when I was a very young Penn State undergrad—and that's how I originally knew the name.
So even though he is not the one accused of doing the molesting, he seems to be the bigger object of attention. He is a bigger fish, so to speak, and he seems to be guilty of silence which, according to the lawyer quoted above, could be criminal.
So he is under a cloud but he still receives a great deal of support. It's pretty certain he won't be criminally prosecuted, and it also seems that, rather than having to resign immediately, he may be allowed to coach "four more games" as he has requested to do.
I have no predisposition either to be in this man's corner nor the opposite. However, when even the president of Penn State may be pressured to resign, I'd say that Joe Paterno is definitely being given very special treatment.
Update, November 10, 2011
The news today was that Paterno was fired yesterday. Students at Penn State rioted in protest. Given that, as I said, Paterno was virtually idolized, that's not so surprising. On the other hand, the sentiments being expressed on Twitter or Facebook mainly seem to condemn Paterno and others at Penn State as complicitous in the sex abuse, and I'd agree with that view.
Update, November 16, 2011
The Penn State matter continues in the news. To my mind news stories so often go on and on, because, I think, the news media like to milk a story for all it's worth.
With two words, "Penn State," the story is a cover story on People magazine. As an alumnus I have to say that I'm starting to be sad and even a bit distressed that those two words, "Penn State," seem to have become synonymous with "sex abuse scandal" and "coverup." I am glad that I am past my working career so that I do not have to submit resumes with "Penn State" on them as my educational background. The very name of the school has acquired those connotations and it's going to be a long time before Penn State can hold its head high again.
Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein
So—to paraphrase a sex-abuse lawyer in Minneapolis who commented on this case—it's a matter of a hierarchical structure trying to protect itself by silence, reminiscent of the sex-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. The news of the abuse gets reported up and/or down the hierarchy but not to the authorities; and the members of the hierarchy conspire among themselves to maintain silence. (To some, the silence may be the most reprehensible part.)
Were this is to be solely a matter of sports news, simply involving football coaches, it would not be within my purview. However, Penn State is my alma mater—it's one of several schools from which I have a degree—so I do have some thoughts about the affair.
I know that at Penn State football is a big deal. And Joe Paterno, because he has been a very successful coach, is viewed as a hero at Penn State. He's pretty much idolized. He has been at Penn State for 62 years, I believe, so he was there even way back when I was a very young Penn State undergrad—and that's how I originally knew the name.
So even though he is not the one accused of doing the molesting, he seems to be the bigger object of attention. He is a bigger fish, so to speak, and he seems to be guilty of silence which, according to the lawyer quoted above, could be criminal.
So he is under a cloud but he still receives a great deal of support. It's pretty certain he won't be criminally prosecuted, and it also seems that, rather than having to resign immediately, he may be allowed to coach "four more games" as he has requested to do.
I have no predisposition either to be in this man's corner nor the opposite. However, when even the president of Penn State may be pressured to resign, I'd say that Joe Paterno is definitely being given very special treatment.
Update, November 10, 2011
The news today was that Paterno was fired yesterday. Students at Penn State rioted in protest. Given that, as I said, Paterno was virtually idolized, that's not so surprising. On the other hand, the sentiments being expressed on Twitter or Facebook mainly seem to condemn Paterno and others at Penn State as complicitous in the sex abuse, and I'd agree with that view.
Update, November 16, 2011
The Penn State matter continues in the news. To my mind news stories so often go on and on, because, I think, the news media like to milk a story for all it's worth.
With two words, "Penn State," the story is a cover story on People magazine. As an alumnus I have to say that I'm starting to be sad and even a bit distressed that those two words, "Penn State," seem to have become synonymous with "sex abuse scandal" and "coverup." I am glad that I am past my working career so that I do not have to submit resumes with "Penn State" on them as my educational background. The very name of the school has acquired those connotations and it's going to be a long time before Penn State can hold its head high again.
Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Four-Year-Old Football Fan
In spite of how hard I try to keep my head in the sand where sports are concerned, I am attuned to what's going on in general, so I often can't remain totally unawares of even sports news. So I know that, for people here in Chicago, there is a big football game coming up between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers.
Our local TV news reported from the Illinois town of Antioch, which is near the Wisconsin border. Evidently because of Antioch's proximity to Wisconsin, some of its denizens are Packers fans—and some are Bears fans. Friends and relatives are divided.
The news segment focused on a four-year-old girl, a Packers fan. The reporter asked her what she thought of the Bears. She said "Boo, Bears!" Clearly this little girl has to have gotten her views from somewhere, and probably not from intelligently following the sports scene. Children this young pretty much have the views and perspectives that are instilled in them by their parents.
It seems wrong to me to instill what, for a lack of a better term I have to call a kind of partisanship (although in this case in sports and not in politics) in a child who is too young to really know very much about the whole thing. Maybe it's part of the kind of pushing of children by their parents that you see in the very young "beauty pageant queens" (made famous or infamous when one such, JonBenet Ramsey, was found murdered a few years ago). I wonder what other precocious yet strong views her parents have instilled in her. Similar parental teaching has turned children into little racists and other kinds of bigots.
In this child's simplistic view of things, what can her view of Bears fans be but that Bears fans are bad people? Maybe right up there with potential child molesters.
In connection with one thing that's going on here--that is, loyalty to or identification with sports teams--look at my May 11, 2010 posting titled "Patriotism, Identity, and Self-Worth."
Update, August 2, 2011
I was reading an update on the case of Brian Stow, who was beaten outside a Dodgers-Giants game in San Francisco and has been in a coma ever since (for four months). A man named Sanchez is charged in the beating. I wonder whether Sanchez started (started his strong sports-team feelings, that is) like the four-year-old whom I posted about above.
Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein
Our local TV news reported from the Illinois town of Antioch, which is near the Wisconsin border. Evidently because of Antioch's proximity to Wisconsin, some of its denizens are Packers fans—and some are Bears fans. Friends and relatives are divided.
The news segment focused on a four-year-old girl, a Packers fan. The reporter asked her what she thought of the Bears. She said "Boo, Bears!" Clearly this little girl has to have gotten her views from somewhere, and probably not from intelligently following the sports scene. Children this young pretty much have the views and perspectives that are instilled in them by their parents.
It seems wrong to me to instill what, for a lack of a better term I have to call a kind of partisanship (although in this case in sports and not in politics) in a child who is too young to really know very much about the whole thing. Maybe it's part of the kind of pushing of children by their parents that you see in the very young "beauty pageant queens" (made famous or infamous when one such, JonBenet Ramsey, was found murdered a few years ago). I wonder what other precocious yet strong views her parents have instilled in her. Similar parental teaching has turned children into little racists and other kinds of bigots.
In this child's simplistic view of things, what can her view of Bears fans be but that Bears fans are bad people? Maybe right up there with potential child molesters.
In connection with one thing that's going on here--that is, loyalty to or identification with sports teams--look at my May 11, 2010 posting titled "Patriotism, Identity, and Self-Worth."
Update, August 2, 2011
I was reading an update on the case of Brian Stow, who was beaten outside a Dodgers-Giants game in San Francisco and has been in a coma ever since (for four months). A man named Sanchez is charged in the beating. I wonder whether Sanchez started (started his strong sports-team feelings, that is) like the four-year-old whom I posted about above.
Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
