I think Sandusky hated Paterno. I think it was no accident that the rape witnessed by McQ took place right under the nose, as it were, of Paterno and his staff. I think that if the "big kid" Sandusky wanted to ingratiate himself and become one with some of the kids unfortunately in his care then there were others, and I bet they were as a rule far less compliant, that he wanted to exert power over, dominate. By doing so on PSU's campus, he was extending that domination to Paterno, to whom he was subordinate, especially by the end when he had been ruled out of the succession.
University campuses are thick with good and smart people who make great and often unheralded contributions to our worlds. They are also dense with power networks, egos and arrested development. I think the same is doubly true of departments like athletics that have the added complication of big money and therefore greater latitude. All kinds of commentators have noted the effects of these crimes on PSU. But they were in my view ALWAYS about PSU, an organization that systematically (in his view) undervalued Sandusky. Well, he showed them.
I think this may partly explain why so little attention was paid then (and now) to the victims, the boys subjected to terrible and forceful rape and molestation. They, appallingly, were not Penn State.
s
Your thoughts about Sandusky and a possible "I'll show you" attitude on his part reminded me of an excerpt from his book that's recently been quoted in the press:
I had always professed that someday I would reap the benefits of maturity, but my lifestyle just wouldn't let me. There were so many things I had done in my life - so many of them crazy and outlandish. But I have always had fun, and one this is for certain: My time on this earth has always been unique. At the times when I found myself searching for maturity, I usually came up with insanity. That's the way it is in the life of Gerald Arthur Sandusky.
Perhaps that one sentence sums up not only his life in general but also his blatant misuse/abuse of the Penn State facilities post-retirement. Using his own formula, if he was angry about being forced into retirement*, his ability to act like a mature adult in response to that might have resulted in, as he calls it, insanity.
The armchair psychologist in me says it's a passive/aggressive response to an authority figure who thwarted his goal of becoming head coach at his beloved alma mater.
Of course, if an agreement was made for his "retirement" (based on what happened in 1998) then he was the architect of his own professional demise - which might have resulted in even more self-hatred (I'm recalling his conversation with the mother of the victim who participated in the eavesdropping set-up: ""I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won't get it from you. I wish I were dead."
Sandusky's book was available on Google books (for free) a few days ago. I'm not sure if it's still there but one section I read about his father's charity group and the men that were involved left me wondering if he had been a victim of abuse as well. And then there's the title of the book...
His attorney describes his client as a grownup big kid (I was immediately reminded of Michael Jackson). Could something have happened to him that resulted in arrested development at a certain age? (more armchair psychoanalyzing here!)
Sandusky was obviously not mentally impaired in terms of academic ability. He graduated at the top of his high school class as well as the top of his graduate studies class (I have links on this somewhere). However, this degree of academic intelligence obviously didn't translate into emotional intelligence, as witnessed by the fact that he openly admitted to showering with young boys - an act that goes against every social more imaginable,
especially in a situation regarding an academic and a minor.
I've even gone as far as to wonder if the title of his book isn't his "insanity" side (as he refers to it) screaming out for (gulp) help.
(sorry for that long ramble)
*purely speculative, of course
