coureur

One thing I don't understand is why does Paterno still have any defenders left among the Penn State boosters? They loved Paterno the most. They invested the most in honoring, praising, and enriching him. And except for the child victims who were incredibly betrayed, he betrayed them the most. Why aren't they the most outraged?

FlyMeToTheMoon

Coureur, I think it's because we need to go through the grieving process. I'm not even a Paterno worshipper, nor do I follow football, but because I am married to an avid Penn State fan, and live in Penn State Land, I had a great deal of respect for Paterno. Notice the use of the past tense.

By reading this thread for the past few weeks, I've had some time to gradually come to terms with Paterno's shortcomings, but I'm not outraged. I'm annoyed that Paterno didn't do what was necessary to stop Sandusky way back in the last century. I'm disappointed that he lied.

I have to come to terms with viewing Paterno as a much different man than I thought he was. The fact that the front page of our local paper used the headline, "Paterno's legacy now lies in ruins" helps.

I guess you could say that I'm in shock. I think many of you who are calling for the meltdown were haters of Penn State before this even became an issue. I could be wrong. But I think if this had happened at another big 10 school, I would just be following the story, but I wouldn't be so outraged that I would be calling for the death penalty. Again, I'm not a football fan.

So please understand that you need to give us some time to work through this.

goingmyway

I think you might be -- remember, Paterno allowed Sandusky to sexually assault little boys for years. That IS outrageous.

I am not and never was a PSU hater. In fact, my son was accepted to University Park and with a decent scholarship. He chose, for reasons having nothing to do with PSU, to go elsewhere. So I always held PSU with fondness in my thoughts.

cptofthehouse

Penn State will be paying quite a bit to the victims, their families, their attorneys and to even more victims that will be stepping up. Look at what has happened with the Catholic church. So they will pay, and pay plenty for this. How does one even put a dollar figure on it?

They also need to put a lot of money into programs and safeguards to make sure this sort of thing does not happen again. Also, I truly believe that there should be a purge of those who were present and let this thing happen. It should be made very clear, that this is not tolerated and even residual responsibility means that you are out of there.

Those on trial are entitled to a fair hearing, and deserve a chance to explain and deny what is in the report. I think Spanier and some others at the university should also be charged, given what has surfaced. They need to explain to the court and to all what the heck happened here and how they justified it, if there is any justification at all.

To me, the saddest thing about ALL of this, is how clearly those children did not matter. No one went to find out what happened to those boys. No one talked to them, followed up on them, nothing. That is the most appalling thing of all. It is entirely possible that those boys would have refused to say anything to allow the university or police to take any legal actions, but they were not even approached. They could have been killed and buried for all the officials knew.

There is a lot I don't understand about this. Why were these people paying ANYTHING to Sandusky and letting him use the university resources? It's not as though he was some rich baron dispensing the money. It's as though he was blackmailing them.

Mini, perhaps send me a PM--you keep saying "follow the money" here and I truly am at loss as to how this was flowing right TO Sandusky and his causes. He was told he was not going to be head coach, so that should have been the short farewell right then and there. Sometimes one simply does not have enough proof to make certain serious accusations, but if you suspect something like THIS, you don't continue supporting the guy, You don't want him on your staff, why allow him on your facilities? None of this makes any sense to me.

I think Penn State and particularly its athletic facilites, and anything in the name of any of thos involved should have to have a big announcement prominently displayed explaining this shame and disregard for children's safety for posterity. I'd like to see a some statues of children playing, throwing a footbal, and just running and laughing decorating the grounds in various areas, with an explanatory plaque on how these little ones were totally disregarded and abused in this horrible chapter of Penn State's child molestation.

Joe Paterno's accomplishments are real and well known. Now a whole other side of what was ignored and covered up due to tunnel vision and focus on his personal priorities should be put right out there. I don't think just scrapping it all is the answer.

Phillyfed

When will Spanier,Schultz,et al be charged with crimes of covering up the abuse...This is no differnent then Monsignor Lynn of the Philly archdiocese found quilty of not protecting children form abuse by others and cover up

Stats21

I said, a few hundred pages back, that I suspected that after the report was issued and the facts came to light, that I would feel that Joe Paterno was a punk.

Joe Paterno was a punk. But apparently I am taking an unneccesarily narrow view.

I learned today, in the manner of most higher learning - watching Sportscenter, that there are two sides to the story. In light of the conclusions of the Freeh Report, we are too quick to fogert that Joe won over 400 games, that he transformed Penn State, that he was a positive influence on the lives of a great many of his players, and that he was generous in donating large sums to PSU.

Also I believe we should view Ted Bundy, a former Eagle Scout, in a more complete context. Sure he murdered 40 people, but many old ladies navigated safe street crossings thanks to Ted. History should remember that.

OJ was a great guy before he took to decapitating waiters. Heisman Trophy, 2000 yards (in a 14 game season!), not to mention Naked Gun. Sure he had a bit of a temper, but all in all, a good, but imperfect, guy.

Not to mention, Sandusky himself could coach up that defense. Linebacker U, and all.

cptofthehouse

Coreur, I am no fan of football, particularly on the college level, and have no interest in Joe Paterno at all. But even in my world, I know who Joe Paterno is, before all of this, and that he was considered one of the greatest football college football coaches. That still stand, but what goes along along with it is that his program was so important to him that he was willing to let children get abused and molested. That part needs to be given the same weight and be interwoven in his accomplishments. It'll take time to do this, as it will take time for many people to get in incorporated in their minds.'

Sadly, there are most likely people out there who don't care, still. What's important to remember is that these people involved in this may be more typical than one thinks. The involvement runs the gambit from the janitors at the athletic center who very well knew what was happening to the president of the university who did not even say, "what about the boy" when he heard the story. Not a thing about those boys, which is what makes me hurt in the chest even as I write this. Not, "who are these boys", "is that child all rightL, "what happened to the kid", "find out who the child was", call someone trained in these things to talk to the children that Sandusky is around". Not a thing about them.

When I first read about the situation, what struck me was how McQ, the young man who actually witnessed Sandusky molesting or more, a child, LEFT THAT CHILD with the perpatrator and did not call campus police, or anyone to make sure the kid was all right. For all McQ knew, that child could have been raped minutes after he left. And he told his father and a doctor, a MD (and was his father also a doctor?) w
That is downright frightening. I don't know what I would have done if I got rumors that someone looked like he was crossing boundary lines. A =ho are under law required to report any signs of child abuse. If nothing else, the police should have been called at that moment to go make sure the child was ok. Even an anonymous call would have sent someone out to check up on the child.

MD Mom

Well said, Stats21.

LakeWashington

Stats21, you said it all. Who said that sports reporting isn't really journalism? Wait...I said it.

That being said, I don't know if sports radio WFAN New York (Boomer & Carson, Mike Francessa, etc.) is broadcast elsewhere in the nation, but if you heard them last night and this morning they have been quite sober, factual and fair with their commentary on this sordid business. Indeed, they repeated what we all know now; Joe Paterno LIED, LIED, LIED.

missypie

Football, no....academically, better than ever. (I heard that the average ACT score of late is 29 - far cry for when it used to be the "13th grade" for rich kids.)

I still don't get how anyone can observe a child being sexually assaulted under any circumstances and not call the cops.

LakeWashington

Just read Hayden's point in post no. 5649. Bingo! While this matter might not expressly fall under the NCAA Death Penalty standard that requires a repeat offense, the Sandusky matter is not the first time that Paterno has ignored (or worse) justice and set himself up as the only judge whom matters at Pennsylvania State University. I remind you all of the football player riot at a private residence a few years back, wherein Coach Paterno's punishment for players who assaulted and severely injured an innocent person was to make the players push around brooms to sweep-up the stadium.

Hanna

"Some students are inspired by academics, social/political consciousness, the arts and friendships. Not attacking athletics, just saying there are other things that make a college experience special and inspire school spirit. "

And there are other sports besides football! You don't need to start rallying to the symphony orchestra, just find another sport. No one has suggested retiring basketball, soccer, gymnastics, etc. at Penn State. If students/alumni really care that much about school spirit, bleeding blue, etc., they should be able to hold soccer games in the football stadium and attract the same crowd. (Of course, we know that won't happen, but if the boosters were right, it would.)

MD Mom

Missypie, I am with you. How could you observe it and not stop it?. My former football player husband said he would have stopped it right then. It is hard for me to imagine, but perhaps it really does show the power of the program.

MommaJ

Really, FlyMeToTheMoon? Do you really think the outrage expressed here has anything whatsoever to do with being a jealous football fan? I don't follow college football and I barely knew Penn State existed before this story broke, and I think the suspension of the football program is the only way to send the message that colleges can't put sports above ethics, no matter how much alumni money they bring in. It's highly unlikely PSU is the only school that has cut corners, protected criminals, paid people off and done whatever other unethical conduct was considered necessary to protect a vaunted team. The message has to be sent to every school, loud and clear.

Lergnom

The best comment I've heard was a text message read on sports radio in Boston yesterday. Guy said, "If my brother killed a man, I'd help him out. If he raped a kid, I'd turn him in."

That's the line we're talking about here. Like many people, I see this kind of moral abdication as the worst thing imaginable. But - and this is a big one - there is a model for how big institutions handle this kind of thing: the very church that Paterno and Sandusky and probably Curley - don't know about Spannier - belonged to hid child abuse and child rape for decades.