If you were watching the Penn State vs Nebraska football game yesterday, you witnessed the scene before the kickoff:

That was a pre-game prayer for both teams led by Ron Brown, an assistant coach at Nebraska.

Lord, we know we don’t have control of all of the events that took place this week, but we do know that you have figured in it all. And we give you the glory that you’re going to protect this stadium, and this town, and these universities for us, and these students. And you would give great sense to all of them.. There are a lot of little boys around the country, today, who are watching this game. And they’re trying to figure out what the definition of manhood is all about. Father, this is it right here. I pray that this game will be a training ground of what manhood looks like… May the truth be known, may justice be known. May you protect the victims…

Yeah, that was helpful…

God, I know those little boys getting anally raped and blown by an old man was part of your Master Plan, but can you please make sure they learn what being a Man is like by watching our teams beat the shit out of each other?

The Moment of Silence that went along with the prayer wasn’t only useless — it sent the wrong message. The last thing Penn State should want right now is more silence. They need a Moment of Complete Bedlam.

Why bother with the prayer in the first place? What purpose did it serve other than to let a bunch of people who feel helpless pretend like they’re doing something that’s making a difference?

Because that’s all this was. A chance for the teams to take the pressure and spotlight off of themselves, instead of rallying around the cause of trying to stop this sort of child abuse from ever happening again.

(Side note: What would’ve happened if any of those athletes were openly non-Christian and didn’t take part in the prayer out of principle? Would that have been portrayed as a rebuke against the victims?)

Here’s what Ron Brown could’ve said to the teams — and the crowd of over 100,000 — that would’ve made a real difference — instead of the worthless tripe that came out instead:

We’ve been through a lot this past week, but it’s nothing compared to what Jerry Sandusky’s victims have been through. We can never let something like this happen again. If any of you ever sees abuse taking place — on the field, off the field, after you graduate — it doesn’t matter who the abuser is, go to the police immediately. If you’re ever the victim of such abuse, please tell someone you trust what happened. It doesn’t matter what you think about the person who did it to you, and no one will ever think less of you for turning them in. If you had nothing to do with the situation but you still want to help, well, we need more people like you. Please encourage your fans, friends, and family members to make a donation to a child abuse prevention organization. That will do more for these children that our god ever can.

That would’ve taken real courage to say, so I’m not surprised we didn’t hear anything even remotely resembling that before the game.



