ESPN brought Matt Millen on Sportscenter shortly after the New York Times reported that Joe Paterno was being forced out as head football coach at Penn State. Chris McKendry set him up with the news, let him go, and then Millen did what few other people have ever done on live television: he behaved like a human being thinking and acting in real time.
VIDEO: Penn State Scandal Gets Matt Millen Emotional On ESPN
Millen is unmoored here, careening from raw emotion to surprisingly lucid observation then back to to hazy thoughts about society, the press, and the general state of mankind. it may look familiar to you if you have been following Twitter or Facebook the past few days, and know anyone with a real connection to the university or surrounding community. Like their reactions, Millen’s thoughts are those of a very flawed human being processing the news that one mentor was losing his job because he may have indirectly covered up a pedophile’s crimes, and that another is alleged to have been the pedophile himself.
It is a mess to watch, but unlike 99% of what you’ll see on ESPN, it is true and spoken completely without prep or artifice. Millen is uncomfortable, contradictory, but in the end presents as genuine and intimate opinion on a Nittany Lion’s reaction to the scandal. It is what everyone at Penn State is doing out loud at the moment, and not necessarily in the neat order of a post or column. To see Matt Millen present that process unvarnished and raw on live television--even for just an instant--required some degree of courage, even if you disagree with some of his points on the subject.
In that respect, Millen’s tearful honesty was refreshing. He represented his school better than any of its administrators have thus far in this scandal, and in the wake of the primary crimes involved, this has been the second most shocking thing about the matter. Matt Millen has been your most compelling spokesperson in a time of trouble. This statement alone should let you know Penn State still doesn’t know they’re sitting at DEFCON 1 with the clock ticking on impact. (H/T: Crossing Broad.)
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