A Heartfelt Cry to the Victims in the Penn State Scandal

AP Photo/Paul VathisJerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno stand together in 1999 in State College, Pa. Now Paterno stands accused of failing to meet his moral responsibility regarding an accusation of child sexual abuse against Sandusky.

This is not about Joe Paterno.

If these boys really were molested, groped and raped by a middle-aged ex-Penn State football coach, then whatever misjudgment Paterno made will be a single lit match compared to the bonfire these boys will walk in for years to come.

Many of them won't be able to trust. Won't be able to love. Won't be able to feel -- nor trust or love themselves.

Don't feel sorry for Paterno. He's had his life. Feel sorry for these boys, because they may never get one.

Imagine: One reported victim in the Penn State case, now 24, has been living with that kind of hole growing inside him since he made allegations against Sandusky in 1998 -- 13 years ago. Those allegations never led to charges. That's 13 years of not being believed, of knowing his alleged perpetrator was out there, volunteering at high schools and running his grisly camp "tours" of the shower room.

The horror of it makes you want to punch somebody. If anyone could talk to boys Sandusky might have abused who haven't come forward yet?

"Tell someone," I beg of you.  "Because people are going to believe you. I believe in you...and YOU SHOULD KNOW ITS NOT YOUR FAULT.

No, this isn't about 84-year-old Joe Paterno not taking more steps that might have stopped it. It's about everybody not taking more steps that might have stopped it. Not parents, not teachers, not uncles, not friends, not counselors.

Imagine: Victim One, according to the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News, was often taken out of class by Sandusky to be further molested. Just taken out of school by somebody who wasn't his parent, with no questions asked until his mother finally called the principal and asked her to check into it. Later that day, the principal called back in tears. "You need to come down here right now."

According to a 1998 study on child sexual abuse by Boston University Medical School, one in six boys in America will be abused by age 16. For girls, it's one in four by the age of 14. Those "If you see something, say something" billboards shouldn't just be about terrorism. They may apply to sex abuse, too. Doesn't matter if it's your uncle, your longtime assistant coach or your buddy. You HAVE to say something. And yet, precious few people have the guts to say anything at all.

"The fear is too strong,..... I can see it as you are feeling you don't know what to do. You might think, 'Oh my god, how bad is this going to look? What are we going to do now that we've let this guy operate right under our noses? We better keep quiet.' But it can't work like that anymore."

Does this hippie blame Paterno? Let's ask some questions shall we?:

"Does Paterno have grandchildren of his own?
[Yes, 17.]
How would he feel if it were one of his grandkids in that shower with the coach?

What would he have done? Somehow, the perpetrator felt welcome at that school.
[We need systems in place that make perpetrators feel unwelcome."]

What must those boys feel like, right now, as all this darkness gets played out in front of the camera lights?

Take it from me; a woman whom at the young age of 5; was sexually abuse by her own family member.....and this is my first time speaking publicly about it to my fans.... but not my own family. 

Do I feel ashamed? No. I feel empowered. Because that bitch won't hurt me nor any member of my family anymore. 

The road these boys are on now is endless and buckled and uphill. Some will hate their parents for not protecting them and hate themselves for hating them. They will hate the pervert for tricking them and hate themselves for being tricked. And just when they think this cruel and long legal process is over, it can start all over again.

If all these charges turn out to be true, though, soon he and Sandusky will both be going to prison -- a place where, with any luck, they will feel most unwelcome.

So, my word to you dear fans of iHeart Amile; listen to your loved ones. See any signs of some distraught inside that is too scared to come out. 

It took me almost 16 years to tell my family..... don't let it be forever with yours. 

My thoughts on Velasquez vs Dos Santos Bout

Cain Velasquez will defend his UFC Heavyweight Title against Junior Dos Santos on Fox this Saturday. I think there will be fireworks, but I don't consider either guy to be the elite striker a lot of others do. 






Cain took out Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but Brock has bad striking defense and Big Nog has taken so much abuse over the years that it's hard to think of him as elite anymore. 


Dos Santos had to go to decision with both Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, both of whom have bad cardio. I know Nelson has good cardio for a man his size, but come on.

I never seen him smile outside the ring.

I don't think there's any way that you could put Cain or Junior in the same striking category as Anderon Silva or Jon Jones. I don't mean that as an insult to either guy, I just keep hearing people talk about how great these guys are at striking. They're good for heavyweights, but they pale in comparison to good strikers in other divisions.

Having said all this, I do expect there to be a knockout stoppage of some sort, likely the ref jumping in to end the fight. I think Dos Santos is the better fighter, and that he'll get the victory. It's an interesting fight because Cain is a good wrestler and boxer while Dos Santos is a good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and boxer. The commonality there is boxing, and I think Dos Santos is a better boxer. Cain could take Dos Santos down, but then he might get submitted. I think this fight stays on the feet, and Dos Santos gets the win.

It won't surprise me if Cain gets the win, I think he's a very good fighter. The only way this fight would surprise me is if it goes to decision, then I would be stunned speechless. If this fight goes past two rounds, I will be very surprised.

The UFC chose this fight for a number of reasons. One, it's a title fight. Two, there are some fools out there who still dismiss the lighter divisions as being inferior to the heavyweight division, thus, a heavyweight title fight is seen as ideal in those peoples eyes. Three, this is an excellent way to introduce the UFC to new fans in as good a way as possible. This fight is essentially guaranteed to be exciting. This also ups the profile of both Cain and Junior.

All those reasons add up to the UFC making a good choice with this fight being the one to headline their first FOX show. I'll be watching, and I suspect millions more will be watching as well.

Saturday Nov. 12th on FOX 

Hey NBA!! What is there to talk about?

Patrick McDermott/Getty ImagesClues to the negotiations' next steps from Billy Hunter's Thursday speech.

Leaders of the NBA and the Players Association are back at it once more, less than a week after the best efforts of one of the world's most respected mediators failed spectacularly. 

The issue dividing them was real: Owners are unwilling to give players more than 50 percent of basketball-related income (BRI) -- a number that already makes many in Stern's camp queasy. Meanwhile, the players have found a certain kind of religion around the idea of 53 percent of BRI. 

NBPA executive director Billy Hunter described the process of Thursday's ill-fated talks in some detail, and the crux of things was the league's unwillingness to go one penny above 50. 

After chastising the players for having "blood issues" in these talks, the owners have found theirs, and it's 50 percent of BRI. Hunter says that the league told him on Thursday that if the players were unwilling to accept that number, there was no point in talking further. 

"They said if we're going to meet, you've got to agree to accept 50-50," Hunter said Thursday. "As long as that edict is out there, then when are we going to meet?" 

Hunter says that when the league laid down the "take it or leave it" offer, he was incredulous, shocked. "I said are you serious? And they said 'yeah, we're serious.'" 

Assuming the league's firm stance on 50-or-bust has not changed -- league sources indicate it is as firm as ever -- what point could there possibly be to today's meeting? 

There are clues in Hunter's words from Thursday. 

An opening 
No one who was in the room when Hunter spoke last Thursday would accuse him of being weak. He was boisterous and loud. (In my recording of the press conference, Derek Fisher is nearly inaudible. Hunter, however, is clear as a bell.) 

But through all that tough talk, it's worth noting what Hunter did not say. He never said that the players wouldn't accept the owners 50/50 offer. 

What he said was that they'd never accept it ... while all those other issues were hanging around that could make things even worse for players. They would not accept 50/50 yet, in other words. But with some wins on the other issues ... Hunter hints 50 percent is within the realm of possibility. 

"We're at 53," Hunter said. "You're at 50. Maybe if we try to address the system, and some of those issues, maybe we can come back and look and maybe it will be more palatable to us after we have talked about the system." 

Speaking of the league, Hunter says: "We didn't ask them to move off of their number [of 50]. We didn't ask them to come up. We said let's go and talk about all these other issues. Let's go and talk about all these other things. The system is maybe even more important to the players than the dollars, if the system is right." 

Saying the other issues are more important is a strong sign that the players' 53 is negotiable. Also worth noting: The players have already made an offer that is lower than 53. In fact, they have made an offer that they say would pay players just 50 percent of BRI in a slow economy. But if NBA revenues climb, so would the players' share of BRI, to a maximum of 53. 

In short, that means the players have already offered something that sounds a lot like 50, which is another strong sign Hunter's union is not that far from 50. He also said the key issue was getting his players to come along: "You're at 50. In order to sell it to our membership, let's let it float. Let's let the economy and the revenue generation year in and year out determine what the number will be. It can be 50, 51, 52, or it can go as high as 53. But it couldn't go any lower than 50." 

On today's agenda 
Assuming the owners are as entrenched as ever at 50, what is there to talk about today? The system -- which is really a bundle of issues that determine exactly how hard the NBA's salary cap will be, and, related, how certain NBA players' incomes will be. 

Hunter's core concerns: "We're not prepared to let them impose a system on us that eliminates guarantees, reduces contract lengths, diminishes annual contract increases, eliminates the other [salary cap] exceptions, really restricts Bird [rights for teams to exceed the cap to re-sign their own free agents]. That's the kind of system they want. And we say no way. We have fought too long, and made too many sacrifices, to get where we are. We're talking about a system that's going to generate billions of dollars in the next few years and we were prepared to take a step back, to take a cut, to help them. We have presented them with a proposal that would address all of their losses, so that minimally they would have broken even. So that's where we are." 

Where they are is once again in a New York City hotel room, with something to talk about.

2011 Week 8 Power Rankings ...and my thoughts

A look at how the AFC North teams stand in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings. I don't have a vote, but I can certainly chime in:

STEELERS

Power Ranking: No. 5

Record: 5-2

Milly's Comment: The Steelers are in first place in the AFC North for the first time this season and move into the top spot in the Power Rankings for the division. The only debate is whether the Saints, who are also 5-2, should be two spots above Pittsburgh. But New Orleans has beaten Houston and routed Indianapolis by 55 points. The Steelers lost to Houston and edged Indianapolis by three points.

RAVENS

Power Ranking: No. 6

Record: 4-2

Milly's Comment: The Ravens slipped three spots after that dreadful offensive performance to the one-win Jaguars. The fall could have been worse (and probably should have been). Baltimore is the highest-ranked 4-2 team, which shows the level of respect from voters.

BENGALS

Power Ranking: No. 16

Record: 4-2

Milly's Comment: The Bengals moved up two spots while on the bye. Maybe it's a reward for theCarson Palmer trade. Still, Cincinnati remains the lowest 4-2 team in the rankings. The Bengals should be in the top 15. They are behind five three-loss teams: Oakland, Atlanta,New York Jets, Houston and Chicago.

BROWNS

Power Ranking: No. 24

Record: 3-3

Milly's Comment: It's understandable that the Browns would move down one spot with an ugly win over Seattle. The problem is they are the worst-ranked 3-3 team in the Power Rankings and it's not even close. In fact, Cleveland is the only team ranked below No. 21 that doesn't have a losing record. Philadelphia (2-4) and Carolina (2-5) are ahead of the Browns.