For Penn State, no end in sight for the shame, fallout

God help me, jumping to conclusions in the land of the free, but I'm going to assume Jerry Sandusky is a pederast, a child molester.

Sandusky, I believe, forfeited his last shred of presumed innocence regarding his alleged assaults Monday night during his bizarre, creepy and apparently impromptu phone interview with NBC's Bob Costas when he took 17 seconds to deny he's sexually attracted to young boys.

The former Penn State assistant football coach began his reply by repeating Costas' direct question, as if it somehow weren't clear to him, as if he were somehow parsing in his mind the meaning of "sexually attracted."

Then Sandusky, whose abhorrence is described in revolting detail in a 23-page grand jury report - and who had already admitted to Costas damning shower hi-jinx with prepubescent boys - stammered, delineating how he "loves to be around young people" but refuting sexual attraction.

OK, fine. Accusation (finally) denied.

Now, pretend somebody just asked you that question. Tell me how quickly, especially if you were facing prison, especially if you were on national television, you'd fire back with a vehement, frantic "no."

You would do it instantaneously, if not faster. But Sandusky, an accused predator facing 40 counts of abuse, he's got to, you know, think about it?

Why Sandusky was legally advised to speak in the first place, and then his incriminating tip-toe around the edge of the central issue, just add to the swirl of this macabre nightmare.

It's like we're seeing the whole Sandusky/Penn State tragedy through a sweeping fog of incredulity, a veil shrouding all reason and preconceived knowledge and myth.

And so, because we're on a presumptive roll, here's another one already being confirmed with every unpeeling of this rotten onion:

People, very important ones far, far beyond those named by the grand jury, in politics, in remote State College, Pa., and the insular college coaching network, knew ... and knew ... and knew for a very long time that Sandusky was involved in what he was involved in.

Ex-coach Joe Paterno, whose imperiousness was revealed by his failed pre-emptive strike to keep his job the rest of this season, upon his dismissal conceded he wished he'd "done more." Done more about what, exactly?

Well, we know now: the cover-up of his former defensive coordinator's perversions that, left to nods, whispers and empty requests to not assault his victims on campus, preyed for years.

But Paterno and the other ousted Penn State officials represent just the point of the disgrace that's readily apparent. Watch as the culpability in this case is painstakingly revealed to be even more staggering in its depth, reach and silent complicity.

That's my assumption.

As for how long the festering will afflict the victims, the enablers, a town, a state, an institution and a culture, what's 17 seconds times forever?

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518 or tom.robinson@pilotonline.com

hamptonroads.com/robinson; Twitter @RobinsonVP