[Vision2020] After Sandusky, what have we learned?

[Art Deco]

After Sandusky, what have we learned?
By *Roxanne Jones,* Special to CNN
updated 5:23 PM EDT, Sat June 23, 2012

*Editor's note: Roxanne Jones is a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and
a former vice president at ESPN. She is a national lecturer on sports,
entertainment and women's topics and a recipient of the 2010 Woman of the
Year award from Women in Sports and Events. She is the author of "Say It
Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black
Athlete"<http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/roxanne-jones/say-it-loud-9780345515896.aspx>(Random
House) and is CEO of Push Media Strategies and is working on her
second book.*

*(CNN)* -- My prized Penn State sweatshirt sits stuffed in the back of my
closet.

The oversized "We Are Penn State" license plate that once perched above the
door of my ESPN office, has been put away, along with photos of me as a
proud, smiling cheerleader for the Nittany Lions.

And weeks ago when my son received his very first college acceptance letter
from my alma mater, Penn State -- a moment I thought would be one of the
pinnacles in my life -- we both tossed the letter aside and prayed that
he'd get accepted into a "better school." (Our prayers were answered.)

I have Jerry Sandusky to thank for this change of
heart.<http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-reaction/index.html>

Reaction to the Sandusky verdict

Friday night, Sandusky — the former Penn State assistant football coach --
was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a
15-year period. The jury took just two days to untangle this horrendous
story and make a decision. And though some felt Sandusky would walk, I
could not imagine how 12 jurors could listen to the courageous,
heartbreaking testimony of all of those victims and believe that it was all
a conspiracy, that those young men had all lied about the abuse charges
just so they could file civil suits against an innocent Sandusky, as his
defense lawyer claimed.
 [image: Roxanne Jones]
Roxanne Jones

Seeing this unimaginable story unfold for months has altered my perspective
on sports forever. I've worked as a sports journalist for more than 15
years, but through all the steroid stories, the accounts of domestic abuse,
the gambling and corruption cases, I never lost my joy for sports --
football coming first in my world order.

Then Jerry Sandusky happened and I felt sick.

Joe Paterno died and I felt heartbroken and betrayed.

Clearly, none of my emotions can ever compare to the pain and loss of
innocence of Sandusky's victims and their families. But this story has
taken away my unabashed enthusiasm as a sports fan. Maybe it's because I'm
the mother of an athlete. Or that I attended Penn State and knew many of
the people involved in the story. And, like so many others, I can now look
back and realize that something was a little creepy about the vibe around
the Second Mile program and coach Sandusky.

Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse
charges<http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1>

Penn State's standout linebacker LaVar Arrington played for Sandusky.
Arrington, who was mentioned many times in the trial by Victim Number
4, recalled
in a column<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/hard-hits/post/i-wish-id-paid-more-attention-to-one-young-mans-pain/2012/06/12/gJQAkgviXV_blog.html>for
Washingtonpost.com that he knew Victim Number 4 well, and that the
young man always seemed "mad and distant."

"My preconceived notion was that he was part of Sandusky's Second Mile
foundation, so he must live in a troubled home, and I chalked it up to
that," Arrington wrote. "I would just tell him to smile every once in a
while or laugh, that it would make him feel better. ... It's mind-blowing
to realize that a kid I took an active interest in during my time at school
was suffering right in front of me and I had no idea that the pain
allegedly came from someone in my own football program," said Arrington.

LaVar is one of the most decent athletes I have had the pleasure of working
with. And I share some of his guilt. I've seen the world of sports up close
and have always known about stories like Sandusky. Mostly, those stories
are treated as one-time events by wayward coaches, or viewed as one sports
program gone wrong. We in the media never stay on these investigative
stories for long. And reporters have a very difficult time pitching abuse
stories to an editor.

*Though most sports journalists will never admit this, the main goal in
sports reporting is to celebrate and illuminate the games. Constantly
uncovering ugly issues in sports does not make a sports reporter a
superstar at the office. Sports media are just too close to the games
financially and socially to fully examine the depths of sports culture.*

Since Sandusky, each time I go to a game -- college, pro or high school - I
can't help but wonder if any of those young men have ever been abused by a
coach. At least one study
indicates<http://member.preventchildabuse.org/site/DocServer/sexual_abuse_of_boys.pdf?docID=127>that
one out of every six boys is sexually abused by the age of 14, a
shocking statistic. Recently, I watched with happiness as LeBron and D-Wade
won their first NBA Championship together. But I couldn't help but wonder
if they, or their teammates, had ever been preyed upon by a coach when they
were young boys.

Sandusky's son fits pattern of other alleged
victims<http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-letters/index.html>

And the loving bear hugs that my son's high school coach always gives
players after a big win had me looking twice at him and the boys to see if
I could detect any signs of unwanted behavior. And he knows why I'm looking
twice. I'm not the only parent on high alert. Everything is suspect now.

Am I being overly sensitive? A bit too dramatic? Don't think so. This story
has made me realize an important truth:

Sports are the perfect playground for pedophiles.

We will never be able to fully protect children from evil predators like
Jerry Sandusky. But we don't have to be helpless.

Post-Sandusky, what have we learned? Will anything change after the
headlines recede? What can we do to educate and protect our sons and
daughters from the Sanduskys lurking among them?

*It's time to pull back the curtains on the predatory culture in sports,
for journalists to pay more attention to these types of stories. It's time
for parents and schools, starting at least at a middle-school level, to
talk to kids about inappropriate behavior and how predators operate. This
doesn't have to be a sex education class, but certainly schools could begin
incorporating into a curriculum instruction in how to recognize and report
inappropriate words or touches by coaches and/or teachers.*

In corporate America, nearly every Human Resources department has mandatory
"Harassment Workshops" for employees. Even as adults these conversations
are never comfortable.

By beginning to educate children about sexual abuse we can hopefully open
up such conversations to help arm our kids as they grown into adults. We
can make it easier for the next assistant coach like Mike McQueary, who
testified that he witnessed a child being raped by Sandusky, to immediately
take action and call the police instead of second-guessing himself and
doing nothing to protect the child. We've learned that adults need to be
educated as much as children about how to recognize and expose pedophiles.

A child who is abused needs to understand immediately that something is
wrong and that her or she must tell somebody. If we don't teach them, they
have no chance at all against pedophiles.

Telling our kids to stay away from sports or great college programs like
Penn State isn't really the answer. This is not just a Penn State problem.
It's a sports problem. I know that just as I also know that my love of
sports will return.

But this time around, I'll be an older and much wiser cheerleader for the
games I love.

-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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