Why Didn't Mike McQueary Do More?

Well, there's a lot of reasons. And it doesn't necessarily exonerate him. But let's remember how powerful the Paterno Cosa Nostra was in Happy Valley.

I would liken McQueary's shocking encounter, to you or I coming upon a live Bengal tiger in the lockeroom showers. Except this tiger could also cost you your job, not just eat you.

Your sense of what you just saw, would probably melt your circuits in a way that renders logical thinking almost impossible.

Furthermore, would you know if Sandusky had a weapon on him, or near him? What if you swing and miss, and he gets the upper hand on you and then harms the child?

Howard Bryant, writing for ESPN.com, recalls a Boston Red Sox sexual abuse scandal that I surely never heard about. One that reminds you how absolute power corrupts absolutely, especially when it comes to dark, hideous acts, that the powerful never want to confront.

Sports might not be as important as law enforcement or religion, but the betrayal of trust is just as deep. For three decades, the Boston Red Sox employed a sexual predator who solicited sex from the young boys he would hire to work the clubhouse during spring training. It would become common knowledge that Donald Fitzpatrick was dangerous around children. One of his victims alleged that Red Sox players such as Jim Rice and Sammy Stewart would warn the clubhouse kids to avoid Fitzpatrick. When one of the kids confronted Red Sox management in 1971 with the charge that Fitzpatrick had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with them -- some as young as 4 years old -- in the Red Sox clubhouse and at the Holiday Inn where the team was housed during spring training, the Red Sox followed the Penn State template and more. Not only did the team fail to alert authorities or disassociate from Fitzpatrick but the Red Sox fired the victims who came forward. 

Only in 1991, when another victim, a young aide Fitzpatrick was suspected of recruiting, held up a sign during a nationally televised Red Sox-Angels game that read "Don Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted me" did the Red Sox act, paying out a $100,000 settlement. After more than 30 years, in 2003, the Red Sox settled a $3.15 million lawsuit with the seven Florida victims. In 2002, Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty in Florida to four counts of sexual battery on a child.

Look, hindsight of 9 years, and with all we know now, makes it easy to say "I would have cold cocked that old man!" But in the moment, who knows.