Fan or Fanatic: Paterno admirers toe the line
I’m a sports fan, not a sports fanatic. There’s a difference.
Fans don their favorite team’s colors week after week and relish in the inevitable emotional roller coaster ride that characterizes a season. Fanatics, on the other hand, experience emotional extremes that distort their worldview and compel them to think and act in ways that often defy social norms.
Fans innocuously paint their faces and wear foam fingers. Fanatics subversively throw punches and set cars on fire.
Fans opine around the water cooler. Fanatics call in sick after their team misses a game-tying field goal that could have ultimately landed them in the Super Bowl (sorry Ravens die-hards).
Fans would agree that college football lost a great coach this past weekend. Fanatics would claim the sport lost a great man.
Again, there’s a difference.
Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday. As word of his death (for real this time) spread, the news feeds of popular social networks were littered with heartfelt reflections on the life of the winningest coach in major college football history.
“He inspired so many,” wrote one Facebook user. “He made the world a better place,” posted another. And countless others chimed in with, “He was a great man.”
But was he?
Paterno’s 61-year career at Penn State ended abruptly in November 2011 amid allegations that he didn’t do enough to stop a sexual abuse scandal surrounding a former assistant coach, who now faces more than 50 counts of sexually abusing young boys. Paterno’s inaction stands in stark contrast to the high moral standards he preached to his players, and for which he was most widely revered.
Reminds me of the way many people continued to lionize Tiger Woods even after they learned of his multiple extramarital affairs, which, by his own admission, violated the very values that supposedly governed his life.
I understand that people make mistakes. However, it’s one thing to repeatedly cheat on your spouse. It’s quite another to turn a blind eye to the continued sexual abuse of young children. And that’s exactly what Paterno did. Obviously, even borderline fanatics will allow the allure of a legend to cloud the reality of a situation.
A generous philanthropist? No doubt. A role model in many ways? Perhaps. But a great man? More like a great man who made a grave mistake that no one should be a fan of.
Stacey Getz , APR is our director of strategic communications. Read her bio here.
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