Too many bow to golden calf of sports

Published: Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 7:24 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 7:24 a.m.

What happens when people turn sports into a religion?

Recently we were given the answer. Just think Joe Paterno and Penn State. Did you see the recent Associated Press photo of a mother holding up her little child so she could kiss the statue of Paterno?

Every pundit is saying, how could we have known, or what signs should we look for, so it won’t happen again? This isn’t breaking news, but you could bet a dollar to a doughnut that it is happening right now in some college town. And you would win.

Even as you read these lines, some pervert is preying on youngsters in some sports program. And just like Penn State, the guilty party is known — yet nobody dares to inform authorities. Why? The school’s precious holy sports program of baseball, football or whatever would suffer damage.

You see, it wasn’t molesting young boys that caused the you-know-what to hit the fan. No, it was the unbelievable cover-up by Paterno and the others. (More may be discovered in the future.) It wasn’t bad enough that Jerry Sandusky is guilty of a crime that years ago would have gotten him lynched, and deservedly so (bring back the good ol’ days). No, all Penn State could think of was protecting “Joe’s football program”!

Tell the truth? The culprits all cried, “Impossible!” “No way!” My goodness, what would happen to our reputation? What would happen to our sports program?

For you see, the football program had become Penn State’s new god. They had somehow, someway swapped the real God for the golden calf of football. And these guys still wonder what went wrong. That is how shallow their souls are. That is how corrupted they are.

Listen, there is no pastime more wholesome or rewarding than sports. That is, as long as it remains only that. When it becomes a be-all and end-all, then it and its followers are corrupted into a poisoned and putrid faith and religion.

To show an example of this, in a recent Times-News Blue Ridge View, out of 656 people polled, 31 percent thought the NCAA penalties against Penn State were excessive.

Think of that — 200 people are running loose in the Hooterville area who think the penalty for molesting children should have been less. My question to them is, what should have been the penalty? What if it had been one of their children? Are these people crazy? Or just corrupted spiritually by sports-mania?

The Penn State bums knew the media would crucify the college, so they remained silent. It was that silence of Paterno and his ilk that kept alive the heinous crimes committed by Sandusky. Their silence allowed more young boys to get molested.

Joe Paterno and the rest of the scum weighed the facts and figured, what objective would be served by allowing the scandal to break wide open? No one was actually being hurt, after all.

What they purposely left out of their evil conundrum was that, had they told what they knew, both justice and the fate of young boys would have been served well. All these people had to do was simply tell the truth. No one had the guts. No one had the decency. The evil and hell continued.

Oh sure, Paterno reported it and then forgot all about it, knowing nothing was going to be done. No one was going to be found out. Joe had assuaged his guilt. After all, he had done what he could. He had done what he should.

No, sir! No, sir! Joe had the power to come clean. He was Penn State’s icon. One word from Joe would have shook the country. It would have stopped the molestation.

Ironically, telling the truth would have also saved the program. But no one, not Joe, not the rest, had the courage. And now the football program has been crippled. I say let us pray for its end.

Dearly beloved, the ultimate crime of swapping gods is not only with Penn State. It is with all of America. Penn State is merely a mirror of America’s soul. As long as Americans spend more time worshipping sports and sports celebrities, be they football, baseball, basketball and even NASCAR, the result will be emptiness. Spiritual emptiness. As long as we worship sports rather than the one true God, America will be heading in the wrong direction.

One day we will finally realize, as the Paterno gang realizes, that we have gone down the wrong road.

They removed Paterno’s statue.

What will his loyal fans do now that they no longer have a golden calf to bow to? Don’t worry — they will discover a new sports deity to give their allegiance. Worshippers of false gods always do.


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