There was an episode of the short-lived sitcom Sports Night -- which followed a fictitious cable sports network -- where the show's leading characters had to debate how to cover a news story involving one of its reporters.
Without hashing out the entire plot, the climax of the episode came when Danny, one of the anchors of the SportsCenter knockoff, shot down the rationale behind proceeding with the biggest interview in network history simply because it was the wrong thing to do.
His line: "Don't use that last part. I believed you up until that last part."
Well, yesterday Joe Paterno addressed Tony Johnson's Friday morning DUI arrest in much the way he's addressed everything during his 52 year coaching career: By emphasizing the development of young men over wins and losses.
He stressed that while he was disappointed in Johnson's actions, he believes Tony is a good kid. He said he'd probably have to suspend him a game or two to send a message to Johnson's teammates that drinking and staying out late midweek were unacceptable.
Paterno went farther, pointing out how much the Johnson family, including Larry Johnson Sr., his defensive line coach, and Larry Johnson Jr., Tony's older brother and last year's Heisman trophy finalist, have done for Penn State and the State College community as a whole.
But then Paterno made a misstep with his rhetoric.
He said, "obviously it will get blown out of proportion because he is a football player, but he didn't do anything to anybody."And that's where I say to Paterno, don't use the last part.
Because until the last part, it's believable.Just so everything is clear, the charge against Tony Johnson is driving while intoxicated. His blood alcohol level was allegedly 0.136 percent, exceeding both the current .08 legal limit and the old standard of 0.1.
That was the crime. Whether anyone was injured or not is irrelevant. The reason why our society has deemed drunk driving such a serious offense is the potential to do harm -- and destroy human life -- that it presents.
That's why organizations like MADD have developed such political clout in the last two decades. That's why the legal limit for declaring a person intoxicated has fallen while penalties for drunk driving have risen.
Paterno said there were some legal issues to be looked at, and for all we know Johnson didn't commit the other traffic violations he's been charged with.
He even hinted that police in this town might be targeting football players. Regardless of whether any of these conspiracies exist, that doesn't change the fact that Tony is accused of being drunk behind the wheel.
That's what the blood test preformed after his arrest said. Tell us all you want about how good of a kid he is and how good his family is, but let's not make this out to be a guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Paterno argued that the media unfairly went after E.Z. Smith and Jeremy Kapinos following their legal troubles. This week, Smith made a plea agreement to join the Youthful Offenders Program, a sensible move for anyone caught drinking underage.
Kapinos previously made a similar deal. So yes, Paterno can dismiss cases like that as youthful indiscretions because, well, who hasn't had a drink underage? Just don't try to write off Johnson's trouble as part of the same batch.
Frankly, Paterno sounded more perturbed that Johnson was out drinking because of the way Johnson's actions would affect his ability to perform on the field than Johnson's alleged endangering of lives.
I'm not saying I know about running a football team or developing young men better than Joe Paterno. I'm not saying Joe Paterno can no longer properly discipline his players (although I would sit Johnson down for the season, if only for the stupidity of his actions and the embarrassment it caused his father).
"They are kids and I am trying to handle them in a way I think is appropriate," Paterno said yesterday. "I am going to do what I think is appropriate and not what anybody else thinks is appropriate."Fine. But don't use that line. Not about drunk driving.
