Freeh report exposes an unhealthy culture of reverence for big-time college sports

Among the most shocking revelations in the 162-page Freeh report is that there isn’t a shocking revelation to be found. By now even the most skeptical had to realize that Jerry Sandusky had done the horrible deeds he was found guilty of doing, that the late Joe Paterno had known about them and that university and community officials had looked the other way.

If you were a doubter till the bitter end, this is that bitter end. Read the report compiled by former FBI director Louis Freeh and his law firm. If you can make it to the final page and still not see the culpability of the major characters in this dreadful drama, then you’re willfully blind.

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The Post’s Jenna Johnson details the findings of the Louis Freeh investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University.

The Freeh report (pdf)

Released on July 12, the Freeh report contains the reported findings on an independent investigation on the actions of Penn State surrounding the child abuse committed by the school’s former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky

The only line in the entire document that brought so much as a glimmer of a smile was this one, which cited one of the causes for the scandal as “a culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus.”

A culture of reverence. That’s what existed in Happy Valley, all right, and not only there. Behind every great football program there is a culture of reverence, and behind many not-so-great ones, too. (At some schools, of course, you need to substitute “basketball” for “football,” but it’s the same difference.) And with this culture comes corruption. You think a culture of reverence didn’t contribute to the recent contretemps at Ohio State, Southern Cal and Miami, just to name a few?

College football is in crisis, at least among thinking fans who have observed the corners cut, the cheating, the players not graduated, the unfairness of the postseason, and have questioned their loyalty to a sport with so many problems and so few solutions in sight. And then came Sandusky, and the revelations of what happened at Penn State. And Saturday afternoons for some went from uncomfortable to untenable.

Yet the combination of pedophilia and big-time athletics should surprise no one with an understanding of the sickness (and if you don’t know the warning signs, educate yourself, right now). Pedophiles need bait, and tickets and autographs, and backstage access to some of the best athletes are tremendous lures. One of the saddest aspects of the Penn State scandal is the length to which the university was willing to go to ignore the rape of children not only by an employee of the school, but on school property, and on school-funded trips. Astounding.

And it’s one reason the Freeh report shouldn’t be the last word on the topic.

After Mike McQueary witnessed the assault in the showers in February 2001, officials — who knew about the 1998 allegations that were investigated, don’t forget — seem at first prepared to act but suddenly backed off. They agreed instead to have a stern talking-to with Sandusky. Athletic Director Timothy Curley suggests telling Sandusky that they are “uncomfortable” with this information, that they will inform Second Mile, the charity that Sandusky had founded, and that Sandusky wasn’t allowed in athletic facilities with children. In other words, don’t do this on our property again. University President Graham Spanier’s response? “The approach you outline is humane and a reasonable way to proceed.”