Down With Joe

I don’t know why we argue so
About an NCAA choice
To punish Penn State yes or no
For giving decency a voice
By shutting football down this fall
For boys once in Sandusky’s thrall.

The kids on scholarship to play
Would suffer hardship, some contend.
That’s immaterial, I say;
Their futures won’t perforce upend.
If someplace else they work out well,
Their hope‘s alive—the NFL.

The university will suffer loss
Of needed income, others claim.
Is there no price, though, on such dross
As horrifying acts  that maim
An adolescent youngster’s soul
So badly that it won’t be whole?

How many others feel betrayed
By someone whom for years we’ve prized?
Coach JoePa, cast in bronze, who strayed
While standing idle, ill-advised.
He valued more his team’s renown.
Pray students tear his statue down.