Would somebody please tell Jerry Sandusky to shut the heck up? Sandusky is the former Penn State assistant football coach who’s been charged with molesting eight boys. Sandusky met the boys through Second Mile, a charity he set up to help so-called “at risk” kids.
Journalistic ethics prevent me from writing that those boys didn’t know how “at risk” they were with Sandusky around.
Sandusky is accused of molesting the boys. He hasn’t been convicted of anything, so journalists still have to use phrases like “alleged molestation” and “alleged child abuse.”
Sandusky is entitled to something called “the presumption of innocence,” and somebody should tell him that.
We still don’t know conclusively if Sandusky is a child molester. But we do know he just might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer.
On Tuesday, several news sources reported Sandusky’s official response to the allegations against him. According to the news reports, Sandusky said that he merely “horsed around” with the boys.
In the shower.
“I have horsed around with kids I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”
If Sandusky thinks there’s anything about his admission that screams “I’m innocent of child molestation charges,” then he’s sadly mistaken. So is his lawyer, Algonquin J. Calhoun.
OK, so Sandusky’s lawyer is actually named Joe Amendola. But Sandusky made his statement with Amendola’s approval, which, at the very least, should make Amendola the recipient of some kind of award named after the incompetent boob of a lawyer from the old “Amos ‘n Andy” television series.
Sandusky made his bizarre comments during an interview with sports reporter Bob Costas on the NBC show “Rock Center.”
One of the questions Costas asked Sandusky is whether or not the former assistant coach was sexually attracted to young boys.
Of course, Sandusky answered “no” to Costas’ patently stupid question. What did Costas expect him to say?
“Oh, yes indeedy. Sho ’nuff”?
The question wasn’t necessary. Sandusky had already damaged himself by admitting that he showered with and “horsed around” with young boys.
Now normal adult males might indeed “horse around” with young boys. I used to horse around with my two oldest grandsons, at least until they got bigger than I am.
But I never “horsed around,” even with my own grandsons, in the shower. Normal adult men don’t “horse around” with young boys in the shower.
Sandusky has revealed, at the very least, something very disturbing about himself with his comments. What kind of normal, well-adjusted adult male thinks it’s OK to “horse around” with young boys in the shower? Who thought it was a good idea for Sandusky to go public with this admission?
“He’s obviously not in touch with reality,” Marci Hamilton said about Sandusky’s explanation. Hamilton is a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. Her comments are from a story in the Nov. 15 edition of USA Today about Sandusky’s admission that he “horsed around” with young boys in the shower.
Gee, Marci, ya think?
In the same story, Amendola, still hoping, obviously, to cop that “Algonquin J. Calhoun Incompetence in Jurisprudence Award,” chimed in on Sandusky’s explanation.
“Jerry is a big, overgrown kid,” Amendola said. “He’s a jock. The bottom line is, jocks do that. They kid around, horse around.”
Oh really? Please, Joe, tell us of another adult male “jock” who’s admitted to you, or anyone else, that he “horses around” with young boys in the shower.
Joe, if you really want to help your client, try this: Don’t help him.
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
