Although you may not view Howard Stern as the unerring voice of truth and reason, on Monday morning he was dead-on:
“Penn State students who miss their ‘JoePa’ need to have their heads examined.”
Amen.
Penn State has set a new standard for athletic corruption, the most egregious example yet of the double standards involved in big-time college sports. Every last person on that campus who had even passing knowledge of the situation should be quartered.
But as these scandals continue to mount, it’s easy to lose sight of something important: This stuff does not personify team sports.
By definition, everything that makes the national news is an aberration. If somebody goes to work, does a good job and drives home safely, that’s not news. If he goes to work with an Uzi and mows down his colleagues, that’s news.
Just as most people don’t flip out and kill people, most coaches are the absolute antithesis of what we’re hearing about Jerry Sandusky.
Nearly every high school and college coach I’ve ever encountered, both personally and professionally, is coaching because he or she loves the kids — and not in the Jerry Sandusky sense.
They love taking raw freshmen and molding them into confident senior leaders, all the while teaching lessons that will serve them well later in life — everything from time management to coping with adversity to working with others who aren’t like you to learning that sometimes you have to sacrifice your individual goals for the common good.
Although I’ve never met a coach who didn’t want to win every game, the degree to which they love their players is not dictated strictly by wins and losses.
Take a look at this year’s football program at Revere High School.
Revere has enjoyed magical seasons in the recent past, but this wasn’t one of them. Final record: 0-10.
A complete disaster? A waste of everyone’s time? Not on your life.
Head coach Phil Heyn says his kids practiced just as hard during Week 10 as Week 1. But he is even more proud of what they did off the field.
Revere players were involved in youth-mentoring programs, litter cleanups, reading programs, yardwork for senior citizens, fundraisers for the Haven of Rest and Toys for Tots and a slew of other activities.
For every DMarques Jones, the St. Vincent-St. Mary player charged with raping and killing a 3-year-old, there are thousands of kids like Brandon Peterson, a Revere football co-captain with a 3.75 grade-point average.
Here, for the sake of balance, is a story about Peterson you’ll never hear on any newscast.
A man from North Canton — a man Peterson had never met — took his two boys to Revere’s game against Aurora. Revere got pounded, 52-21.
As the dejected Minutemen shuffled through the gate on their way back to the locker room, one of the man’s sons stuck out his hand.
The rest of the story comes directly from a note the father (businessman Mike Eastman) mailed to the football player in care of the coach.
“Despite your obvious disappointment, you noticed my 6-year-old’s outstretched hand. … Not only did you give him ‘five,’ but you looked him directly in his eyes and said, ‘Thanks for coming.’
“It was such a small gesture that you probably don’t even remember it. But I promise you my son does. As you walked away, he looked at me and said, ‘That’s my favorite player, Dad.’
“It is said that in times of adversity a man’s true character is revealed. Continue to be the kind of person that can look into the eyes of a child and thank him for coming after a tough loss, and make his night like you did, and you will succeed in things much more important than football. …
“Thank you, Brandon, and hang in there — nothing worth having ever comes easy.”
Which do you think Brandon Peterson will remember longer: the score of that game or the contents of that note?
A lot of student-athletes get excellent character-building lessons at home. A lot of them don’t. And when they don’t, their last best chance is often a coach.
Coaches don’t coach for the money. When you add up all the hours a typical high school or small-college coach invests throughout the year, most of them make about 50 cents an hour.
So when you think of coaches, don’t think of Jerry Sandusky. Think of guys like Phil Heyn, whose kids discover plenty to value even during an 0-10 season.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.