Lisa Salters on Penn State problems: "Disturbing ... sad ... embarrassing"

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER I enjoyed my interview with ESPN Monday Night Football sideline reporter Lisa Salters the other day. My profile story on her ran on the fifth page of the Sunday sports section. Here's a link to the online version: http://www.mcall.com/sports/football/eagles/mc-lisa-salters-1124-20121124,0,6851321.story ESPN pitched Salters to me because she's from right down the road in King of Prussia and she's a Penn State grad. The Upper Merion graduate was actually a member of the Lady Lions women's basketball team for one season. Because we're relatively from the same era -- she's 46, I'm 51 -- I felt I could relate to her fairly easily. For example, we both remember the days when Monday Night Football was must-see TV and Howard Cosell was the star of the show and actually provided some context, and not just fluff, with his commentary. She also remembers things from her days growing up in this area, like the sadness everyone felt when popular WPVI-Action News weatherman Jim O'Brien died in a skydiving accident in 1983. I see Salters as more than a pretty face. She is an accomplished, award-winning reporter who has done a lot of hard news stories in her career in addition to sports. Eagles fans probably wanted her to rip Andy Reid, but like a lot of national media, she thinks well of Reid and considers him one of the nicest coaches in the NFL. Reid's level of popularity outside the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys is inifinitely higher than it is in the heart of WIP country. Because she's a Penn Stater, I had to bring up all that has transpired in Happy Valley in the past 13 months. Salters reluctantly answered my inquiry. "It was all very disturbing ... sad ... embarrassing," she said. "Your heart breaks for the victims. When you think about being an alum, you're embarrassed first. But when you think about the victims, you're sickened and heartbroken. "You also think about the people you knew up there from Joe Paterno to Tim Curley. Those were people I knew for a long time and worked with and did games with. And you come away confused, and with questions, and you're sad. It's kind of one big mess. I try not to talk about it a whole lot because I don't have any more insight than anyone else. "It hurts because [the Sandusky incident] is all people are talking about. And you know that Penn State is an awesome university. And this is all people are talking about. This is what we're known for -- a convicted pedophile. It's embarrassing to think that we've gone from being such an awesome university and so well thought of, to being known for this. People shouldn't be walking around with this cloud of shame hanging over them." The death of Joe Paterno just months after the scandal broke added to Salters sadness. "It's one thing when someone is going through it and they're still around to fight for their name," she said. "It's quite another when they're not. It was all unfortunate that went down the way it did as well."