"Witch Hunt" has merit, frowns upon big picture

At 81 years of age, the last task on Joe Paterno's plate is learning to send a text message.

However, Paterno's daily priority list also does not include many of the vital tasks thrust upon big-time college coaches today and even the venerable Nittany Lions mentor a decade or more ago.

He rarely recruits in person, leaning heavily on Tom Bradley and Larry Johnson for face-to-face visits and relying on phone conversations and his image to lure major prospects to Happy Valley. He isn't heavily involved in game-plan implementation, leaving the game prep to Bradley, et al defensively and Galen Hall and son Jay on the offensive side of the ball.

Most importantly, Paterno doesn't spend hours maintaining institutional control of his once clean-shaven, blemish-free program, which has stitched itself with band aids and masking tape to the end result of a beaten, tattered Lion.

The roar is no more. At least to the level that reverberated through the opposition's locker room, out to the chorus of 100,000-plus screaming Nits and into the echoes of the Mount Nittany backdrop.

Penn State has problems. No matter what side of ESPN's Outside the Lines piece you fall on, admitting a lack of discipline is the first step to progress. Kids will in fact be kids, but the question remains, who are these kids?

Are they the Pennsylvania bred coal region crew who grew up surrounded by corn stalks and Sunday church visits? Or are they city kids with sketchy backgrounds who play football as a lucrative job with many perks, not as a passion born in Pee Wee scrimmages?

Paterno disputes the notion that he and has staff have taken chances on troubled youths in a quick-fix solution to the dark days at the early part of this decade. He rolls his eyes at the number of arrests, scuffs at the suspensions, and yells "witch hunt" at the entire finger-pointing process.

While much of Paterno's demeanor speaks "Grumpy Old Men" his words have some merit. 2008 college athletics is far different than 1998 and 1988. Kids face far greater, and far more dangerous temptations. Programs all over the country are dealing with arrests and underage drinking citations. In fact, just today, several Georgia football players were cited with crimes related to alcohol consumption with one player already suspended for similar offenses.

Yet, the national media will not cry. Georgia is the #1 ranked team in the preseason coaches' poll and the Bulldogs have been in the BCS picture for the better part of a decade.

That's a cruel double standard. If a big-time program (i.e. PSU and Florida State) is not winning, there must be a reason. Witch hunt is a good phrase for the media's attempt at digging for such reasons. However, that same double standard benefited Paterno during the program's dominance in the late 1970s-mid 1990s, when every player from Todd Blackledge to Bobby Engram surely drank a beer before turning 21.

Some may have even been involved in skirmishes never reported by the Centre Daily Times.

In no way does it excuse the charges brought upon Paterno's recent teams. Attempted murder. Rape. Disorderly conduct. Aggravated assault. Knowing you are going someplace to "beat people up."

These aren't slaps on the wrist, but rather black eyes that Penn State President Graham Spanier is well aware of. The big picture has caught Spanier's eye, and it isn't pretty for the 81-year-old icon who has generated a library filled of funds for the university and its athletic programs.

Joe Paterno doesn't know how to send or receive text messages. Otherwise he would have received an important message from his loyal and loving fans, those who have cheered him on the field and praised his philanthropy off the gridiron for more than four decades.

Get out now. Before the band aids and masking tape break. And all that's left is a dead Lion.