By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
College football has become one of the biggest idols in America. There are fans in every sport whose loyalty goes beyond reason. But in college football, there is a systematic willingness among fans to delude themselves concerning their favorite team, or rationalize wrong into not so wrong, like in no other sport. Another way of putting it is there is rampant hypocrisy among college football fans.
This epidemic has never been on display more so than in recent months at State College, Pa. That’s where Penn State University is and that’s where former Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky raped at least one, but probably several, little boys, and where several people in authority knew about it, could have stepped in decades ago and put a stop to it, but chose not to.
A quick glance at the blog comments that follow news website stories on the case reveal a proper, nationwide moral disdain for Sandusky’s behavior, and the behavior of the people who aided his actions with their silence. Specifically, people around the country have turned on Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who up until this scandal broke and it became clear he was involved in keeping Sandusky’s crimes under wraps, had an iconic image as the shining star that exemplified everything that is right about amateur athletics.
A deeper look at Penn State sports blogs reveals that many, if not most, Nittany Lion fans are not yet willing to believe Paterno did anything wrong.
Even this horrible case is not enough to convince most of the people posting on those sites that Paterno is to blame for anything. Rationalizations range from the evidence-contradicted belief that he knew nothing about it, to the desperate argument that poor ole Joe had already begun to lose his mental capacities in 1998 at age 72, and just didn’t understand what was going on, even though he continued to lead a highly successful football team for another 14 years.
For anyone interested, one site with plenty of examples of this can be found at http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=157&f=1395.
There are things about the State College culture that lend itself to this kind of delusion. It’s an isolated town, tucked away, three or four hours from several major cities in all directions, and therefore from major media scrutiny. It’s a small town where a big-time football program with that kind of success for that long can begin to wield a lot of power. Paterno was the head coach there for 46 years and was a true, living icon in that community. It probably is worse there than in most other places. But it’s almost as bad at every college with a major football program.
What makes college football an ironic target for this kind of idolatry is the wholesome, value-laden, love-of-my-university talk college fans love to blandish about.
The truth is, most fans care about the group of 18-to-22-year-olds who wear their favorite team’s shirt winning more than they care about member representatives of their beloved university behaving morally.
Examples can be cited at all the major universities. Let a Razorback rival get caught in a scandal and watch the accusers decked in cardinal and white come out in droves. Then watch as those same people rationalize why Bobby Petrino should have been allowed to keep his job.
The Petrino scandal pales in comparison to Paterno helping cover up child sex abuse, and indeed most Razorback fans, like most around the country, would not be so willing to support Petrino if his crimes were that bad, but at every institution we see fans who are willing to trade away some amount of personal conviction for the joy of winning.
One of the trends that remains a constant is the forgiving attitudes that consume football fans when a star player commits a crime.
These are the people who support throwing drug dealers under the jail, that is until the drug dealer ends up being the starting defensive end. Then football fans become the biggest bleeding hearts in the world.
In retrospect, Arkansas Razorbacks fans should be even more appreciative that Jeff Long fired Petrino after his infidelity scandal and subsequent attempted cover up. He could have kept Petrino with the excuse many fans were using–the same one many Penn State fans are using–that it’s not an NCAA rules infraction. He didn’t, and that’s a step in the right direction for college football. John L. Smith, the new Razorback football coach, may not win as much as Petrino was expected to this year, but hopefully the calls to fire Jeff Long, which are already being threatened, won’t be shouted.
Long did the right thing regardless of Razorback wins and losses. Hog fans should be happy that their representative did the right thing.
Besides, since many of them sacrifice their Sunday morning services to join 70,000 worshipers at the altar of athletic triumph on Saturday night, at least it will be for an honorable institution.
