"...The Naked Truth About Penn State..."

Another Saturday arrives.

The faithful gather to fervently support their team and their school.

And the faithful who will gather today at Beaver Stadium have their work cut out for them.

Here's a thing about the thing, though.

Rallying and rah-rahing might hit the bulls-eye of standing up and being counted.

But it will miss the point, entirely.

The issue at the heart of darkness here isn't school spirit.

It's truth to power.

Back in a minute.

University Park, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Legendary coach Joe Paterno was hoping that Saturday's game could be a final victory lap, but he won't be on the sidelines for Penn State's last home football game of the season after being fired amid a shocking child sex abuse scandal.

Beyond his absence, some wonder whether the scandal will affect the game in other ways. Will there be a return to the riots that rocked the college campus the night Paterno was fired?

"I hope and believe we will see the best of our students tomorrow," acting President Rodney Erickson said Friday. "They understand Penn State is really in the spotlight. We should convey the best of Penn State values because much of the world is looking at us tomorrow."

Another person who will not be on sidelines for the noon start of the game against Nebraska is Mike McQueary, the assistant coach who has drawn consternation for his role in the scandal.

McQueary alerted Paterno in 2002 that he'd seen a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, sexually assault a boy.

On Friday, McQueary became the latest casualty in the scandal that began with last week's arrest of Sandusky.

The arrest set off a chain of events, including the ouster of the university's president and of longtime coach Paterno, a move that sparked on-campus riots after it was announced Wednesday.

In recent months, McQueary told a grand jury that when he was a graduate assistant, he saw Sandusky, now 67, sexually assault a young boy at the campus' football complex. He said he reported the incident to Paterno, who alerted Athletic Director Timothy Curley, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said earlier this week.

Neither Paterno, 84, nor McQueary is criminally charged.

Kelly has said that the alleged failure of Curley and Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business, to tell authorities about the abuse claim "likely allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many, many years."

The scandal has stirred an uproar and a flurry of action over how Penn State athletic and administrative officials handled the matter.

Erickson said Friday that he'll appoint an ethics officer to report directly to him. He added that he wants to encourage openness and dialogue among the school's 96,000 students so that they do not hesitate to report such allegations.

"Never again should anyone at Penn State -- regardless of their position -- feel scared to do the right thing," he said.

With a record of 8-1, Penn State is ranked atop the Big Ten and is ranked No. 12 in the country, potentially in position to play in a premier Bowl Championship Series contest. The team faces the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium.


There are three key phrases in that news summary.

First, the tragically obvious mishandling of the reporting of the brutalization.

In recent months, McQueary told a grand jury that when he was a graduate assistant, he saw Sandusky, now 67, sexually assault a young boy at the campus' football complex. He said he reported the incident to Paterno, who alerted Athletic Director Timothy Curley, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said earlier this week.

Huddle up, guys.

McQueary to Paterno to Curley.

Ready, break.

And there, apparently for the most callous of causes, the play stopped.

The most callous of causes, in this case, being defined as not wanting to rock the boat, pee in the Cheerios, pick your metaphor and, as a result, damage the huge money making machine that is Big Ten college football.

Which single link in that chain is to blame for not making sure that Sandusky was busted on the spot?

All of them.

But that's where truth to power thickens our plot.

The ability to speak honestly, bluntly and passionately to those who are above us in rank, authority, status, et al, regardless of consequences.

Which brings us to the second of the three key phrases in that summary.

"Never again should anyone at Penn State -- regardless of their position -- feel scared to do the right thing," he said.

In the classic children's story, "The Emperor's New Clothes", all the citizens of the village were afraid to tell their "master" that the luxurious wardrobe that had been fashioned for him by the clever, scamming tailor was, in fact and literally, nothing.

Afraid because telling powerful people what powerful people don't want to hear is historically not a fast track to future success.

Or staying alive.

The moron patrol that took to the streets to protest the firing of Joe Paterno is, like any moron patrol worth its salt, blissfully blind to the fact that Paterno's failure was turning his own blind eye to an egregious circumstance and "passing the buck" in a superficial and token gesture of responsibility.

And anyone, and everyone, else in the chain of command was/is guilty of abdicating their own responsibility to tell truth to power.

The power, in this case, being that aforementioned huge money making machine that is Big Ten college football.

Decent, reasonable people would be appalled and offended if they were asked to put a dollar value on the emotional well being of a child.

But there's no getting around the fact that the athletic and administrative departments of Penn State did, in fact, put just such a dollar value on that well being.

The exact dollar figures can be obtained by looking at their Big Ten profit statements dating back to the day that Jerry Sandusky was first reported for raping a child.

In the spirit of total fairness, Penn State, as an institution is no more responsible for this heinous act than, say, the United States Marine Corps is responsible for the killing of John F. Kennedy simply because the Corps is where Lee Harvey Oswald learned to fire his rifle.

But if Oswald had been shooting at paper targets of JFK in target practice and the Corps looked the other way, they would damn sure have had, at least, some culpability.

Telling truth to power is tough.

And make no mistake, Big Ten football programs are power.

As evidenced by the third key phrase in the news summary.

After paragraph upon paragraph relating the horrific details of the offense and the people involved and/or responsible for it, the story couldn't help itself when it came to wrapping it all up...

With a record of 8-1, Penn State is ranked atop the Big Ten and is ranked No. 12 in the country, potentially in position to play in a premier Bowl Championship Series contest. The team faces the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium.

In the light of what happened to God knows how many little boys, no one should care at all about that information.

But a lot of people do.

Here's a little truth to power.

Shame on you, if, today, you do care.