Time to wash our hands of Penn State

To paraphrase Denny Green, Joe Paterno was who we thought he was… assuming we thought he covered up for pedophiles.

Everything that’s wrong with bigtime college sports was on display for all to see this morning when Louis Freeh, the former FBI director, released his report on the investigation into how it is young boys could be abused for so long in the athletic facilities of Penn State, and have so many people look the other way.

The answer was shockingly simple: sports was more important to important people than protecting kids.

Here’s the full report. Here’s the full news conference:

Joe Paterno, the legendary coach of Penn State, was implicated in the cover-up, which has to now, not enraged many Penn State fans as much as the dastardly questioning of his integrity has. If Freeh to be believed, Paterno had none to speak of.

In State College, Pennsylvania this afternoon, they’re still in denial.

“They’re tarnishing his record,” Penn State sophomore Chris Bloom told the Associated Press today.

As if that matters.

At least Nike has more of a clue. It announced today it’s removing Paterno’s name from a child care center at its headquarters.