Well gosh. After the doom and gloom fest that was last week's Cup Check column, full of end-of-the-world prophecies and rants against the mainstream media stoking the flames of idiocy in our public discourse, I had planned to take it easy this week. I figured it was high time I came up with something lighthearted, like a column about how annoying it is when soccer players fake injuries, or something on what a douchebag David Stern is, or maybe even something about that Seattle Mist lingerie football player getting her pants pulled down the other night.

I don't know ... something fun.

Well, as you know by now, former Penn State defensive coordinator and accused child-molester Jerry Sandusky kind of fucking foiled that plan. Sandusky was arrested last weekend, charged with 40 alarming criminal counts of child sex abuse on eight boys. It's a salacious story that has come to dominate every news cycle. It's a story that makes talking about any of sports' trivial delights seem oblivious and inappropriate.

The charges against Sandusky come after an 18-month investigation in which a grand jury found more than enough evidence to warrant them. Details of the allegations facing the once renowned architect of Penn State's "Linebacker U" defense, laid out in the grand jury's report, are nothing short of horrific. As we've come to learn (and of particular disgust), Sandusky "mentored" his alleged victims through a foundation he established in the late '70s, The Second Mile, which focused on helping at-risk boys.

Sandusky has maintained his innocence and posted bail shortly after the arrest, though as I write this FOX 29 in Philadelphia reports the list of boys possibly victimized by Sandusky has grown to "almost 20," with more expected to emerge.

The scandal - and referring to it as such doesn't do the alleged horrors justice - has rocked Penn State, an institution long regarded for its self-lauded moral compass. "Success with honor," has been the Penn State football program's motto for decades.

Which brings us to what is ultimately the second most troubling aspect of the story - who knew what and when they learned about it. As the hours tick by, the narrative develops, and a patchwork of journalists devouring the story methodically chip away at the layers of self-preserving BS that's been sheathed around it over the years to protect Penn State, its famed football program and its canonized coach, it becomes more and more obvious that this is a tragedy of the worst kind - a preventable one, and one covered up over the years at the expense of a list of victimized young boys that only grew. As early as 1998 allegations surfaced of inappropriate contact between Sandusky and a minor on the Penn State campus.  A year later, at the relatively young age of 55, Sandusky retired - a somewhat surprising move considering his career as a coach had been successful, having helped win two national championships at Penn State and having twice been named college football's top assistant coach. It's not clear whether Paterno was ever made aware of the 1998 allegation against Sandusky, though it's hard to believe he wouldn't have been.

According to the grand jury report, in 2002 then graduate assistant with the Penn State football team Mike McQueary says he walked in on Sandusky sodomizing one of his victims in the locker room showers. Though there's some debate as to how graphic a story he painted, McQueary relayed what he'd seen and how much it disturbed him to Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president of business and finance Gary Schultz. The police, however, were never notified. (Schultz and Curley have since been indicted on charges they lied to the grand jury during the Sandusky investigation. Prosecutors say Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation by alerting his superiors, but perhaps failed a higher moral test.)

Nine years later, charges that have made a whole nation's stomach churn were officially leveled against Sandusky last week - spurred on by a new set of molestation allegations against Sandusky, these from 2009 and made by a 15-year-old boy.  By the time that boy told his story it was, at the very least, seven years after McQueary first told Paterno what he'd seen in that shower.

The Sandusky story has shocked a nation, but to those who've followed Penn State the news isn't quite as new. Mark Madden of the Beaver County Times wrote about the "Jerry Sandusky situation" in April, during the grand jury's investigation, noting:

Allegations of improper conduct with an underage male first surfaced in 1998, while Sandusky was still employed by Penn State. ...

Sandusky retired the next year, in 1999. He was 55, prime age for a coach. Odd, to say the least - especially with Joe Paterno thought even then to be ready to quit and Sandusky a likely, openly-discussed successor.

It seems logical to ask: What did Paterno know, and when did he know it? What did Penn State's administration know, and when did they know it? ...

Worst-case scenario: Sandusky is charged. Then it seems reasonable to wonder: Did Penn State not make an issue of Sandusky's alleged behavior in 1998 in exchange for him walking away from the program at an age premature for most coaches? Did Penn State's considerable influence help get Sandusky off the hook?

Seven months after they went to press, Sandusky has been charged and those questions may finally be getting close to an answer.

It's hard to make jokes in the face of something so disturbing. It's hard to crack a smile when considering the utter failure of every person affiliated with Penn State University and the school's football program who didn't do enough to stop this.

It's hard to distract yourself with athletics when it's athletics that provide the headlines you need distracting from.

How can we possibly pretend Saturday's docket of college games has any significance when faced with something as faith-rattling and disgusting as what Sandusky allegedly did to those boys, and something as morally bankrupt as the way Penn State allegedly reacted when it had chance after chance to do something to stop it ... but didn't?

We really can't.

So I'll be back with the jokes next week, I guess. Until then I'll just sit here and shake my head like everyone else.