I don't know if it is true or not, but about six months ago I saw a story on TV about someone, perhaps even a District Attorney, who mysteriously disappeared and has never been found. There was speculation in that news report that perhaps he had learned about the scandal.
Anyone happen to know anything more about that???
Welcome to State College! Ray Gricar was the DA, he did disappear mysteriously, and there is conflicting evidence about why/how he did so. On one hand, as a DA he certainly had enemies. On the other hand, he appears to have researched "how to disappear" on his own computer at home. It is a big mystery - speculate all you want, people have been looking for the truth for years and the timing makes little sense with regards to the Sandusky case (he vanished in 2005).
Cosmicfish: You are missing the point. Had this been nipped in the bud, had the janitor reported what he saw, the damage would have been limited and we would not be talking about the death penalty. We would not be talking about the janitor's job. Coming down hard on the program would actually encourage whistle-blowing - report it before it gets out of hand. That said, whistle-blowing is always a difficult thing to do.
Joe P proved to be lower than pond scum, he's a joke, a hypocritre and a liar. The only solace is he knew it was all gonna blow up before he croaked, now he's with Bin Laden in the pits of hell.
College football is out of control in this country.
I wonder how many other big name football programs would have acted similarly to Penn State in a similar situation.
Or how many have covered up rapes and assaults by their star players.
In my view, a college football team should be made up of "normal" students, guys who would have earned admission to the University even if they couldn't play football. Instead, what we often have is a bunch of kids who are essentially ringers, who have no real interest in attending college, and aren't remotely qualified to attend that particular university.
Look at college basketball, where the new trend seems to be "one and out", where the kids just play for one year.
When you root for your college football team, you are essentially rooting for hired ringers, who often have very little to do with the college they are playing for. (Don't get me wrong, I watch the games on TV too)
Now, I realize many college football programs are extremely profitable, and bring big money to the college, which can be used for educational programs. But that doesn't make it right. A college could set up a strip joint, and have girls wear skimpy college outfits, and that might bring money to the school, but would it really be the right thing to do?. Also, eventually, it seems that the college football program often becomes more important than the University itself.
Supposedly, a coach at University of Oklahoma, perhaps tonque in cheek, said "we are trying to build a university our football team can be proud of".
Just to be clear, we are talking about a woman who made it her agenda to strip students of much of their self governmental powers, and consolidated such powers under her office. She may have clashed with Joe, and maybe on a certain level, in that respect she had a point. However, as a student at the time, she was a detriment to my college experience, and it had nothing to do with football...
I would call it a smear campaign but obviously those are old complaints. She didn't seem to understand that a college exists because of and for the students, but then neither did Joe Paterno. I'll still call it a smear campaign because it has nothing to do with how Paterno protected players from prosecution and other discipline all those years. It has nothing to do with her larger point on the culture of deification.
If you want to go down that road, given how so many students reacted to his firing, I also question that they should be governing anything. Maybe they should be baby sat. She's not a hero, I get it. Paterno was still a self-serving devil though in his maniacal pursuit of a record at all costs, not a scapegoat by a long shot.
The Paterno family launching its own investigation reminds me of OJ's quest for the real killer. I am sure they will hire someone more credible than the former head of the FBI. Good luck finding that email where Paterno says:" Sandusky must be stopped , let the reputation of the football program suffer."
It was not a few people making bad decisions that lead to this scandal. It was the Head Football Coach, Athletic Director and President of PSU. A culture was created where janitors and assistant coaches could not speak out and report child abuse.
This is not a few kids taking $1,000 to play ball at a school. If allowing, failing to report, and covering up child rape, by the leaders of a university for the purpose of protecting the football program and it's revenue, doesn't deserve the death penalty please tell me what would.
Stealth,
First you didn't include a link to the Zielger article, How the Media May Have Framed Joe Paterno
Secondly, by cutting and pasting the entire article ( or more than three sentences) you are violating the 'fair use provisions" and copyright provisions that could put CC site at risk.
Zielger is not exactly unbiased in this matter.
From his prior editorial Contrary to What You Have Heard, the Freeh Report has Big Problems
>> The most glaring omission in the report is that Freeh did speak to any of the primary witnesses in the case. Not Paterno. Not Tim Curley. Not Mike McQueary (whom he referred to as “McQuade” in the press conference). Not Jerry Sandusky<<<<<
Perhaps they didn’t speak to Freeh on advice of counsel as they are under indictment!!!
In another article, he jumps on the fact that Sandusky was acquitted on the charges witnessed by McQueary and says that there were no corroborating witnesses to the other acts other than the victims...I guess the other 9 victims don't mean anything unless the abuser has an audience....
Lastly, he is factually incorrect. He wrongly jumps on ESPN for a rush to judgment when in fact they were one of the last media to even mention it and many sports fans wondered if they were reluctant to cover the story in order to curry favor or because of their relationship w Penn State. Only when it exploded elsewhere did they have to cover the story.
[HTKT cosmicfish: As is usually the case, it was the cover-up which was most damaging to the university.]
Covering up worked a long time ago, many got away with it except for Richard Nixon-- Now we have computers, where information can be tracked as well as news spreads like wildfire.
I think Paterno, Priests, teachers unions, govt officials, corrupt police enforcement, etc thought that they could punish deviant behavior and spare themselves & their organziations embarrassment. Its wrong and no longer viable and usually does not solve the problem.
