Kuch’s Corner: Fuck Penn State

With the not so recent news that the former assistant coach of Penn State football, Jerry Sandusky, literally setup a charity for at risk-kids in order to harvest prime little boys for his deranged sexcapades, while another humpty dumpty lookin’ motherfucker named Bernie Fine who coached the Syracuse University Basketball team, allegedly raped ball-boys, it seems being a goofy-looking-fat-fucker with a penchant for sodomizing children is a prerequisite to coaching college sports.

Bernie in Jabba garb. 

It’s a curious thing how many people were covering this shit up like it wasn’t much of a big deal at all. As in, when they were told, “I just saw Jerry corn-holing some kid in the shower” their immediate reaction wasn’t: “I’ve already called the cops, we’ve got 10 minutes to tire-iron his knees.” Instead the Penn State administration pretty much endorsed pedophilia as long as it wasn’t on God’s green pasture of Beaver Stadium, banning Sandusky from taking kids on campus as his only punishment. There was no lynch mob, and no protests. In fact before the school held a candlelight vigil for Sandusky’s victims, they found the time to first riot against Joe Paterno’s dismissal as head coach because he knew about the whole thing and helped covered it up.

Let me be the first in the media to openly extend a hearty “fuck you” to Joe Paterno, who’s winning record by the way, I could give less of a fuck about. He’s not immune to vitriol just because he won a bunch of fucking football games. I’m from Canada where all that “Big Ten legend” or “NCAA division 1 football” nonsense means shit to me. All I see is some old prick that used to be cool with hanging out with a guy that raped kids unapologetically.

Then there’s this “We Are Penn State” shit all of the students who love Paterno were chanting like they were Aryan kids in Nuremberg in 1935. Are you fucking serious? School-spirit? After some pedophile was knowingly harbored by your beloved coach and all of his weasel friends? Look, I erratically love the Ottawa Senators (which is reason alone not to like me), but I would sell them up the fucking river as fast as Joe Paterno flushed his dignity and legendary career down the shitter by aiding and abating Sandusky, if I caught one of them sodomizing a child or covering up for the one who was. As for Bernie Fine, and the entire Syracuse University administration, fuck you too.

Maybe it’s because Sandusky and Fine (or any of the administration) aren’t black and as easily imprisoned in America for treating kids like toys made in a rape-factory. I mean, people freaked the fuck out when Michael Vick was caught dog fighting and sent him to jail all inside of a year. In comparison, several kids get raped over a few decades by an old white-troll coaching football and only now are we hearing anything about it or that any law enforcement has taken measures against him.

But in the midst of all these Neanderthals mouth breathing about their lost coach “Joe Pa,” there are at least some characters in sports who take a stand against supremely sordid shit like pederasty. When I first found out about the Penn State and Syracuse scandals, I knew Theo Fleury would be the only dude cavalier enough to tell it like it is, and victim of sex abuse himself, and be the guy I needed to speak with.

Fleury has more intelligent, socially aware things to say than any other ex-pro, of any sport, ever. He also scored fucking 1088 goals in 1084 games, won Olympic Gold and the Calgary Flames’ only Stanley Cup and he’s only five-foot-six. When it comes to child sex abuse he’s been one of the only crusading voices in sports along with his ex-teammate and co-victim of Graham James, Sheldon Kennedy.

 “All they’re trying to do is cover up their 51 million dollar football program or whatever. They don’t care about the kids,” Fleury said to me over the phone from Calgary. “Paterno is getting exactly what he deserves. But let’s not forget about these boys. They’re everywhere. It’s a global epidemic. One week it’s Penn State the next it’s Syracuse, now Scouts Canada.”

Theo Fleury, was, as I imagined, laying down some truth bombs, which is refreshing considering the proliferation of shitty media outlets tempering all of these scandals: “If you have the largest corporation in the world like the Catholic Church covering this stuff up, hiding pedophiles, you know for sure money can make anything go away… Wherever kids are vulnerable these types of guys are around.”

Theo was scathing in his appraisal of sex abusers in sports, or anywhere for that matter, but he also talked about his own experiences as a victim, and in a really fucked up anecdote, what that means to young athletes being abused.

“If I had come forward when I was younger I would’ve been black balled, NHL dream over. The hours I spent practising [hockey] would’ve been for nothing. People would’ve ruined me. I couldn’t go against him [Graham James].”

Whatever ends up happening, I hope at least the next time some asshole is thinking about naming his firstborn after a football coach, or erecting iron statues of them, they’re damn sure the guy doesn’t have a history of being or supporting the friendly neighbourhood diddler. 

@BMakuch