Take a look at this amazing 10-minute clip from ESPN of former Eagles player Jon Ritchie, talking at length about Jerry Sandusky, whom he knew well. It’s something else. It gives you a sense of how Sandusky was seen by those around him. At the 5:30 mark, Ritchie says he couldn’t believe this had actually happened.

“This has caused me to re-evaluate everything I think is real around me,” he says. “My reality was that Jerry Sandusky was Mother Teresa, and now … .”

He says that this is no doubt how the Second Mile kids felt, because Sandusky brought that reaction out of you. At the 8:30 mark, Ritchie talks about Mike McQueary walking in on Sandusky in the shower raping that kid. Ritchie says he understands why McQueary walked away. He says that he himself couldn’t imagine seeing something like that. Says Sandusky was the No. 2 to Joe Paterno, and Joe Paterno was seen as a deity in State College. Ritchie says he could easily imagine that McQueary was so poleaxed by what he saw that he didn’t know what to do.

The problem, says Ritchie, is what McQueary did, or didn’t do, after that moment, when he was no longer in a state of shock. What’s fascinating about this interview is listening to Ritchie talk about how incredibly charming and honorable Sandusky was, so much so that it’s easy to imagine not believing what your eyes are seeing in that moment.

I got this from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s blog. TNC says:

None of the alleviates responsibility. The attempt to understand why is not the same as the attempt to excuse. McQueary had a moral responsibility to protect that kid. He did not. Taking that as given, I am still interested in the “Why?”

Me too. This clip helps.