Game Over audiobook

PainfulThis is a very powerful book full of pain, sorrow and violence against children. Yet, it is true. It hurt me to reread the events that were part of my life.

Game Over is a well written account of the Sandusky and Penn State child molestation case. There are parts of the book that are tragic, hard to hear, and leave the reader wondering why more people didn't speak up to prevent this tragedy from happening. As society is learning more about these "monsters" that are among us, I feel, it is important to understand how they hide and groom their victims so we can all do more to prevent situations like this in the future.

Laboriously detailed story of the rise of Coach Paterno, financial & program success of Penn State football and the culture that valued the university & football program’s reputation above outing the sexual abuse of young boys by long term coach Jerry Sandusky.Chilling events from the first knowledge of abuse and subsequent unexpected resignation of Sandusky, to the abuse and silencing of victims, witnesses and whistle blowers that continues to this day.Left me troubled for days.

Great read following the culture that allowed a man such as Jerry Sandusky to do the things he did. There are always accomplices in a decade long assault and this instance is no different. When boys as young as 10 get assaulted there is no gray area period. Hopefully Penn State has learned a valuable lesson from all this.

I liked the style and how intense it got at some points

Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak, authors of Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Culture of Silence, have definitely struck a nerve with thousands of Penn State alumni and Happy Valley residents. It appears, based entirely on the “reviews” of the book I see posted on Amazon, that the pair faces a vicious backlash based more on emotion than on reason – and that almost all of the negative “reviews” posted there have been written by people who did not bother reading the book before damning it. It seems that it will be left to those without ties to Penn State, and a minority of Penn-Staters themselves, to gauge the objectivity and effectiveness of the book. On one level, Game Over is an excellent recap of the news that starting leaking out of Happy Valley, PA, in early November 2011. Those that may have come to the story a little late will find the chronology presented to be especially helpful. Others are likely to focus more on the additional details attached to the original revelations, disgusting as some of those details are. Readers should, in fact, be forewarned that several descriptions of Jerry Sandusky’s alleged assaults of the young boys under his sponsorship and care are disgustingly graphic in nature and leave little to the imagination.On a second level, what Game Over reveals about the culture espoused by Penn State administrators, its athletic coaches, its students, and the community that supports and benefits from the school’s presence, is almost as disturbing and horrifying as the crimes Sandusky is alleged to have committed against his young victims. That there was, and to a lesser degree still is, a “culture of silence” surrounding Penn State that allowed this kind of criminal behavior to continue for decades, cannot be disputed. Moushey and Dvorchak present their case in detail, naming names and shaming those who deserve it, in the process. Only the court system can determine the guilt or innocence of the various parties involved in all of this, but Jerry Sandusky should not be the only one facing a judge and jury of his peers before this is over.From what the Game Over authors have to say, it appears that the second worst “crime” committed during this whole period, may lay at the feet of Coach Joe Paterno, the man who really ran Penn State while all of this was happening. If true, Paterno helped bring shame to the university and forever sullied his own reputation and famous catchphrase: “Success with Honor.” Paterno’s silence seems to have been the signal to Penn State’s coaches, administrators, and others that the entire Sandusky matter should be kept within the confines of the Penn State “family,” and that outsiders were not to be trusted with this information. Joe Paterno had just that much clout in Happy Valley – he had, in fact, almost been granted sainthood by the locals, making a cover-up of this magnitude a relatively easy thing for the school to pull off.Much remains for the courts to determine, including: the culpability of two principal university administrators in the cover-up; the part in the cover-up of some inside The Second Mile (Sandusky’s charity for poverty stricken boys); how much Sandusky’s wife knew of crimes said to have taken place in her home; and whether Sandusky remained at Penn State (even after resigning from its coaching staff in 1999 while at the top of his game) simply because his charity provided him with a ready supply of victims of just the right age. As James Murtha, a 1977 Penn State graduate, put it, “…in retrospect, you could almost predict how this would turn out because of the way Penn State does business. Isolation is one of its charms, but it’s also part of the problem. They all drink the Kool-Aid up there. They lost all focus. The only way to solve a problem is to admit that you have one. It’s crisis management 101. When I saw the way they handled it, I wanted to projectile vomit.”So did I.

This book just repeated most of the facts revealed by the media during the Penn State debacle. I was hoping for more of a backstory. However, I did come away with a message. There was an Irish statesman named Edmund Burke who said,"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" Jerry Sndusky was able to weave his web of evil for many years while good men saw or heard of his actions and did nothing. Because Jerry Sandusky had power of notoriety - school administrators, Paterno, McCreary, the janitor and the list goes on and on - good people- did nothing. I repeat, these good people did nothing. If there is any message from this book, I think it is a call to action for the good people to begin to speak up no matter the consequences. We should begin to applaude the whistleblowers and unveil evil when we see it. Don't you agree?

It's so tempting to get trapped in wondering who knew what and when and how could nothing have been done. I appreciate books that give timelines, facts, and context to "unthinkable" acts and events. Here is the truth: we must stop thinking in terms of being shocked at what people do in their private lives. Most people do have a dark side-- not to the extent of Sandusky and Ted Bundy, but sociopaths are all around and inhabit every career and vocational calling. They are charming predators. Open your eyes and keep your children safe. Please and thank you.

I gave this 5 stars because it was well written and full of facts and information.. I am still a little sickened by the whole story and dont know if I can ever think about PSU in a good way again. I am/was a huge fan of the university, parents and other family went there and I truly loved JoePa.. I dont know about now.. I want to believe JoePa did everything he could but I just dont know.

Admittedly the first of many to be written n this topic. It was a good primer for someone like me who wants to follow this evolving story intelligently.