Aurora/Penn State

It has been a very, very long time since I've written. I started off writing about sports and current events, then somehow moved onto writing about my life. Well, life got boring in a hurry, then it got better. And nobody wants to read about someone with a good life. So I stopped writing about it. Then, I stopped writing about anything.

Then, I received a random comment a few weeks ago asking if I was going to start writing again, and I had no intentions of doing so. However, I have some thoughts about two current events that are longer than the 140 characters Twitter allows me, and I decided to start this back up. No promises I'll write much more than this post though.

Okay, so two current events. If you pay any attention to the news at all, you know what I'm talking about. The Aurora shooting, and the Penn State punishments.

Aurora


This is a tragedy. A horrible day, a sad story thrown in with the increasing amount of mass shootings going on these days. This whackjob, who I will not name by name because he doesn't deserve it, walks into a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises and starts shooting. Kills 12. Hurt 70 more. Sad. Pathetic. I've already said he should be sentenced to the firing squad. Let them take shots at him, one by one. Hit him in the leg, cause him pain. Hit him in the arm, cause him more pain. People say, that's inhumane. Who cares?!?! Like this deserves any sympathy at all? Maybe he had a bad life. Maybe he had demons. You know what? Kill yourself then. Don't ruin other peoples lives because you're a psychopath.


This hit closer to home that it normally would have because my sister was visiting my cousins in Colorado that day and I know they had talked about seeing the movie at midnight. I wasn't aware of Aurora's location but apparently it was only about 20 minutes away from where they would've been seeing the movie. They didn't end up going that night but when I woke up the next morning and saw that on the news, my heart skipped a few beats. Two of the 12 victims easily could have been my sister and my cousin. 


I hear a lot of people saying that this could've been prevented if we had better gun control laws and/or someone noticed the signs. No, it could not have. First off, regardless of what gun control laws we have, people ALWAYS find ways around them. Even if we outright made the sale and purchase of guns completely illegal, this guy could've gotten his hands on a few. Just like cocaine, weed, LSD, heroin...dealers will find a way to sell this stuff and with the internet the way it is, people like this psycho will always be able to find a way to buy it. 


Noticing the signs? Come on, I would bet 40% of the world's population give off some signs of being unstable. I'm sure I do. That doesn't mean we are all going to shoot up a movie theater. Better security? Yup, cause we have enough cops to patrol every public place in America, every single day and night. Don't be stupid.


There was no way to prevent this. Bottom line, this guy was a smart guy. He was head of his class, on his way to a graduate degree in a very difficult subject and maybe just a little anti-social. So am I. You going to lock me away for being a threat to society? This type of violent behavior can come from anyone, anywhere, at anytime. There is no skeleton of how to spot someone who is about to snap, so stop pretending there is. 


I didn't like the way the media covered this. For the first day after it happened, all I heard about was the victim who was a sportswriter. Or she wanted to be one, at least. Really, media? That's the only victim we are supposed to care about? The guy who worked at Target wasn't important enough? 


Anyway, I hope this guy is put to death, in as inhumane way as possible. That is what he deserves.


Penn State


What has happened to you, my old love? Penn State was my favorite sports school since I knew was sports was. Unfortunately, they were hiding more than one secret....


So the punishments have been handed down to Penn State for covering up the Jerry Sandusky rapes. Four year bowl ban, $60 million fine and vacating all wins from 1998-2011.


What a joke. Way too many people think this is vindication and a harsh punishment and I don't think it's anywhere near enough. 


Vacating wins. Ugh. I've heard this punishment before and it's ridiculous. Unless Doc Brown is going to show up and bring us back to 1998 so they have no chance to ever play those games, guess what NCAA? THEY HAPPENED. You can tell me 100 times over that they won no games from 1998 to 2011 but hey, they did. I remember the season they came within one win of the national championship. It happened. Whether you say it did or not.


And vacating wins now moves Joe Paterno from first on the all-time list, to 12th, I believe. Oh wait, no it doesn't. Because every single college football fan knows JoePa won every single one of those games. And he is probably looking up and laughing from hell, thinking that this somehow changes anything.


This wasn't about Joe Paterno not being a great football coach. You can take the wins away from him on paper, but it doesn't do anything. Joe Paterno WAS a great football coach. An excellent one. One of the best to ever step foot on the sideline. He deserves to be #1 on that list. However, he was NOT a good person. The victims (who this is supposed to be about), do you think they feel better knowing Joe Paterno's name isn't on the top of the wins list anymore? As they watch him look the other way while they are sexual molested. 


And then the fine. $60 million is hefty, for sure. It's more than just a fine, as players will now decommit from Penn State and the progam will take years and years to recover. Great. That will make the victims feel better. Knowing the football team will struggle. Nevermind the student-athletes on the team, who did NOTHING wrong, and are now being punished.


Again, we run into the age-old problem at big schools. It's always about athletics. Sports always comes first. The punishments handed down by the NCAA hurt the SPORTS program. But what about the human beings? We don't care about them, just the sports. 


I have given my life to sports. I love them more than I can put into words. But they are not everything. And we as a society are blinded by sports. There is a reason I put the Aurora shooting above the Penn State story in this post. If you can't figure it out, then you as well, are blinded by sports.