The scandal at Penn State and the alleged cover-up that ensued is a terrible tragedy with countless victims. Of course, what happened to those young boys is horrible – words don't exist to describe the atrocity they allegedly endured because of Jerry Sandusky. Others with varying degrees of guilt have been and will continue to be caught up in the tidal wave of repercussions that will sweep across State College.

Yes, I think Joe Paterno should lose his job. Whether he acted according to the letter of the law by reporting what had been told to him to his superior is academic. If he did not go the extra mile to ensure the safety of young boys from a malicious predator, the university cannot continue to pay his salary nor can it allow him to represent it.

Honestly, that seems almost too simple a topic to write about.

But in watching the scene outside Paterno's house on Tuesday night, I was struck by another phenomenon. Watch this video:

What did you think?

To be honest, I found this incredibly unsettling.

From Paterno's smile at the support he receives from the crowd to the impromptu pep rally that he leads at the end, it all feels like the wrong message to send. It was kind and appropriate of him to ask for a prayer for the victims, but the whole scene comes off as defiant. And regardless of the pressure now on him to resign, rallying the students seems to stand in the face of the atrocities that occurred on that campus.

That got me to thinking about the crowd – the group of students that was willing to show up at Paterno's home to show their support of their “leader.”

How many times do we need to see the truth about our heroes before we stop blindly supporting them?

Joe Paterno is just the latest in a long line of role model celebrities that were seemingly above reproach. Yet, many cling desperately to the belief that our fandom or our worship is equal to actual first-hand knowledge of a personality.

I remember sitting in my room watching the NBA playoffs in 1994 when the network broke in to show O.J. Simpson fleeing police in his white Ford Bronco. At 16 years old, I knew (I just KNEW) that O.J. couldn't be involved with murder. Surely it was a big misunderstanding! Surely the running back/Delta commercial guy didn't kill his wife. There was NO WAY that Nordberg could have had anything to do with this!

The televised trial that followed sure opened my eyes.

But O.J. wasn't the only example. That was when my eyes were opened, but maybe for you it was Jim Tressel, Tiger Woods, or Jayson Williams. Maybe it was the allegations against Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger or Brett Favre. Or any of the countless other examples.

The point isn't that all of those people are guilty, but that so many rush to blindly defend their favorite player or coach because they don't WANT to believe that they could be capable of doing that of which they were accused.

I am now at a point where there is no single public person that I think is incapable of any heinous act.

Is that sad? Yes. Is it cynical? Sure. And I hope it doesn't lead me to assume guilt over innocence in every situation.

But we have seen too many irreproachable figures brought down by their own actions to think that we know them because we like the way they play, coach, act, speak on television, or even vote in Congress. We need to remember that it is hard enough to truly know someone we interact with every day, let alone a person we only see on television or hear on the radio.

I hope the fans chanting outside Paterno's house recognize that barring any amazing revelation, their hero screwed up by not doing more to help the victims. While I understand their desire to show support for a hero, I hope they are prepared for that hero to turn out to be less than they imagined.

Can we still have heroes?

Yes! Absolutely! Heroes are born out of great games, great series or great seasons. We should absolutely respect our athletes for their immense dedication to their craft. We should look up to them for their incredible ability to run fast, jump high, throw far or even rise to the occasion in pressure situations. But we should also remember to limit what we know to be true to the field of play or maybe the interview room following the game.

In Paterno's case, we all admired his coaching ability, longevity, and even the way he apparently stood against the rampant cheating in college football. And while those qualities are all worthy of our praise, they should not lead us to stand against fact and moral obligation with unconditional support.

Update: I just saw this second video of Paterno and am even more disturbed. I'm sorry, but Paterno seems not to understand the severity of this at all. This is very tough to watch. The school needs to act immediately to make this stop. The university is being embarrassed again and again.

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