The Rest of College Football

[Jeff Buchanan]

It's funny .... JoePa probably has a lot of power and influence in the state. The length of time he's stayed at PSU is testimony to that. I think that's at play here.

I've already said this. Good companies cut their losses quickly when stuff like this happens. Those involved get broomed. These kinds of decisions have little to do with the facts in the matter and a lot to do with public perception.

Academia has no sense of this whatsoever. Higher ups inside big colleges pontificate about this and that and generally support those that should get canned for way longer than they should because they have a sense of superiority and trouble dealing with the reality that someone f'ed up big time ..... kind of like long standing powerful institutions such as the Catholic Church.

Predictable.

[hack]

Direct exposure to money often leads to focused decisionmaking.

[Jamie H]

I do wonder why people are as mad at this children's charity as they are at Paterno. Penn State apparently told the charity about the 2002 incident and yet they kept giving Sandusky access to the kids.

[hack]

It was a charity Sandusky founded, no?

[Hannibal]

Yeah I think it was basically Sandusky's charity.

[Jamie H]

Right, but I doubt Penn State called up and talked to Sandusky himself. There have to be people running the charity even if Sandusky founded it. Why did they all just let this happen? IMO they are more culpapble than the Penn State people since they were the ones providing Sandusky with the kids to abuse. If they knew he was abusing the kids in his own charity, or even if they were presented with info that it was happening, someone in the charity needed to do something.

[Hannibal]

The charity will get its due scrutiny. The story is still very young.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm hearing Paterno is going to be let go.

Good for PSU ..... don't think they had any other options.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?_r=1

[Optimus Prime]

No surprise, thought it would actually happen today. Honestly can't for a single minute feel bad for him. He should have insisted Sandusky answer the allegations and filing a criminal compliant with the State Police would have been sufficient, anything less is simply ading and abetting not to mention a cover up....no Joe you didn't do enough.

[iam416]

JoePa's problem in 2002 was that he was already waist deep in it. The 1998 incident is on record (and subsequently led to Sandusky's "retirement'). But he still had access to the program. If Penn State reports it in 2002, then they've let a known child rapist have access to the program which he then used to do exactly what pedophiles do. And, frankly, I'm sure they had some inkling about Sandusky well before 1998.

So, in 2002, he was pinned by his own decision not to cut Sandusky entirely off from the program in 1998. Yeah, the DA didn't feel like there was enough evidence and he may have been right (seriously, though, how many plausible explanations are there for showering with a 10 year old). But to any sane person, you cut Sandusky off immediately, criminally guilty or not. They didn't. And when the chickens sadly came home to roost in 2002, JoePa described it as "horsing around" and then his higher ups did nothing. NOTHING. Sandusky still had access to the program.

I do think it's a terrible way for Paterno to end his career -- a career in which he's surely done so much good. But that's not the tragedy. The story is tragic because of the gross derelection of civic duty from an entire community -- from the local authorities to the University to a legendary coach. I can't even imagine how many victims there are -- nor do I want to. I only know it's far more than 8. Has to be.

The whole thing honestly angers me beyond words.

[Optimus Prime]

Just in the nick of time, your WingMan, DSL has been getting his ass kicked.

BTW, would not be unreasonable to "bet the farm" on Nebraska this Saturday.

[Rocky Bleier]

McQueary shouldn't be let off easily either. He was a big, strong young man, who saw an older man buggering a kid in the shower and did nothing about it but run home and call Daddy.

Lots of freakin' cowards in this story.

[UMStan White]

The cowards in this story are the administrators of Penn State. Nothing was done because if anything had been done, the story would leak and the world would know that Penn State had had a pedophile on its staff. The fallout would have been huge. Most of the posters on this listserve have no idea what Watergate was about other than what they may have read about in their high school history class. It wasn't the break-in that brought down Nixon's administration--it was the cover-up. The cover-up is always worse than just facing the music and accepting your punishment. Look what it has done already for Penn State--two officials already gone for lying about it--Joe pa's legacy forever tainted--calls for the immediate firing of the school president. Joe Pa will now be known for the coach the "molder of men" who let slide the anal rape of a ten year old. Notice that almost every photo of Joe pa has been of him placing his hand upon Sandusky's shoulder. Joe pa has just become the latest tragic figure. Just as Woody Hayes was canned in disgrace, Joe Pa will from now on be known as the guy who didn't stop the rapist of young boys. Even the head of the state police has publicly declared that he may have met his "legal" obligation but not his "moral obligation." A someone who has had extensive experience in the criminal law field, believe me, people care much more about meeting your "moral obligation" than they do your "legal obligation." Why the cover-up? As the Catholic Church showed us--power and money. Let the world know what goes on behind closed doors and the world knows you and your organization are the worst hypocrits to exist. These people bet the farm that the truth would never see the light of day. They bet wrong. Don't forget, it was the rape of another young boy that brought down the House of Penn when the mother of the victim reported it to the school who reported it to the police. Sandusky had been led to believe he could rape young boos with impunity because once he had been caught red handed nothing happened. He was told "uh.. don't rape your victims in our shower.. Other than that carry on as before. College sports have been racked with scandals now for several years. This scandal, however, is the worst. No way in this day of instant internet reporting that Penn State survives. As I said before, these felons bet that the scandal would never see the light of day. They bet on Sandusky to keep his deviant behavior private. They lost the bet. Fuck 'em.

[Mike]

Well said, Stan.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Jamie. I can almost guarantee if Joepa or mcqueary called the police and said I saw an old man having anal sex with a 10 year old boy in the shower, the police would have (should have) taken action.

Its not a situation where you thought your roommate may have been raking advantage of a drunk girl.