The Richmond Register

Sports

July 26, 2012

OPINION: Let’s not forget what is really important in life

By Nathan Hutchinson Register Sports Editor

RICHMOND — It’s hard for me to put into words exactly how I feel about some of the recent reaction I’ve heard concerning the penalties handed down to Penn State by the NCAA earlier this week.

At times, it’s difficult to hold back my anger.

There are moments that I want to scream ugly words at my car radio as I listen to the ignorant people who are frequent callers to sports talk radio shows.

At other times, I want throw the nearest heavy object through my television when some talking head on a major cable network tries to defend the indefensible.

It makes me sick.

And more importantly, it makes me sad because so many people continue to be so clueless and so dense.

This whole situation            ultimately has nothing to do with football.

It does have everything to do with humanity, decency, priorities, honor, trust, dignity and       culture.  

It is clear now that former coach Joe Paterno and many in the administration at Penn State allowed a child sex predator to roam their campus for decades — and they did almost nothing to stop him simply because they feared negative publicity.

They allowed the worst kind of crimes to go unpunished and unreported so the university could stay out of trouble and maintain its pristine image.

It’s still hard to comprehend.

It’s stunning that so many so-called educated people could show such little respect for    children.

Ultimately, I hope many of them join Jerry Sandusky in prison.

In the end, the NCAA sanctions handed down to Penn State on Monday were harsh, but they were very deserved.

And I’m not sure they went far enough.

This may sound more than a little odd coming from the sports editor of a newspaper, but sports aren’t the most important things in life.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sports, just like millions of people all across this country and around the world.

But, there comes a point when some people let their passion for athletics cloud their judgment.

We have no trouble rooting for a player who has been in jail three times — as long as he can catch a football and, of course, he plays for our team.

We can overlook almost anything, if the player is wearing the right color uniform or goes to the right school.

A lot of folks have their priorities all messed up.

Trust me, I’ve covered college sports long enough to know just what gets swept under the rug of secrecy on a regular basis.

We have to have some perspective, folks.

As soon as the penalties were handed down by the NCAA, the national conversation became, “How will Penn State recover from these sanctions?”

I could care less.

If they never recover, so what?

It’s just football.

The lives of those young boys who became Sandusky’s victims are a million times more valuable than the wins that have been removed from the record books.

That’s life.

That’s reality.

That’s what’s really important.

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