The Penn State Aftermath Thread *Penalty Post #403*

[Concord]

"I talked about Paterno's "true legacy" in all of this. Here's his true legacy: Paterno let a child molester go when he could've stopped him. He let him go and then lied to cover his sinister tracks. He let a rapist go to save his own recruiting successes and fundraising pitches and big-fish-small-pond hide.

Here's a legacy for you. Paterno's cowardice and ego and fears allowed Sandusky to molest at least eight more boys in the years after that 1998 incident -- Victims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10. Just to recap: By not acting, a grown man failed to protect eight boys from years of molestation, abuse and self-loathing, all to save his program the embarrassment. The mother of Victim 1 is "filled with hatred toward Joe Paterno," the victim's lawyer says. "She just hates him, and reviles him." Can you blame her?"


http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8162972/joe-paterno-true-legacy

 

[RoyTheHammer]

I'd like to piggyback too, by basically suggesting that the world would be better if I looked in the mirror and didn't judge another person (Paterno) who enabled child molestation for years, is a total slap in the face.

Anyone involved in this thing is scum. The AD, President, Paterno, Sandusky, the lot of them. Throw them all out.

I believe they have all been thrown out.

..and just to comment on those that have been discussing the NCAA and possible sanctions, i was driving home from work tonight listening to a local talk radio show (live in PA) and heard one particular caller with an idea that i kinda liked. I do believe PSU should take it upon themselves to take action before the NCAA does, regardless of what the NCAA eventually decides to do. The caller suggested that all the revenue that the football program generates for the next 5 years be donated to charities helping sexually abused children. Not profits.. all revenue, all income.. everything for 5 years. I'd say that would be a good start on getting the university back on the right track.

 

[TNCowboy]

It gets worse. According to Freeh, Spanier, Schultz and Curley were set to call child services on Sandusky in February 2001 until Paterno apparently talked them out of it. Curley wasn't "comfortable" going to child services after that talk with JoePa....

I hope Penn State loses civil suits until the walls of the accounting office cave in. I hope that Spanier, Schultz and Curley go to prison for perjury. I hope the NCAA gives Penn State the death penalty it most richly deserves. The worst scandal in college football history deserves the worst penalty the NCAA can give. They gave it to SMU for winning without regard for morals. They should give it to Penn State for the same thing. The only difference is, at Penn State they didn't pay for it with Corvettes. They paid for it with lives.

From Reilly's article.

PS administration was going to contact the appropriate authorities, and Paterno talked them out of it. I can't understand the mind of a Joe Paterno apologist. But keep in mind you're making excuses for someone who protected a serial rapist for over a decade.

 

[DallasEast]

To the best of my knowledge, no. BUt I bet there's some books in the Penn State library about those individuals. But according to you, books about an individual is a reminder of that individual.

None of those other individuals had any impact on the university. Paterno did. I'm not certain why you're making an argument for causation outside of anything pertaining to Paterno, for I am not.

I don't think it's an either-or situation. You're making it sound like we have to choose between helping the victims and criticizing Joe Paterno, and anyone who engages in the one cannot also be doing the other. I bet taking down the statue of a man who could have prevented these attacks would be a good first step towards helping those victims heal. Leaving that statue up is a slap in their collective faces.

I have not done any such thing. What I have been saying is that Penn State is not doing enough towards removing reminders, honored or otherwise, of Paterno. However, there has been a lot of energy directed solely at the removal of the statue. In my opinion, the public could harness that same energy and use it to get rid of the statue, remove most (if not all) other reminders of Paterno AND do something for the victims. Instead, the focus is ONLY on the statue for all intents and purposes--a.k.a. cake/eating.

The victims are going to be compensated mighty heavily for what they went through. I hope they get the counseling and treatment they need to improve their qualities of life. The best thing we as members of society can do to help them is to let them live their lives in privacy and dignity.

Let's all hope so. In the future, let's also hope that if one of Sandusky's victims may be reminded by something Paterno related, which the university didn't deem necessary of addressing, someone else doesn't try consoling him or her by stating, "It's alright. They got rid of his statue, didn't they? That should have been more than enough to offset how you're feeling, right?"

 

[Jay]

We shouldn't judge anybody.. that is the point. Again, it comes down to a topic we arn't allowed to discuss on here, but that's the general idea. If we were all more worried about our own behavior and actions this world and our society would be alot better than it is right now.

If more people got up in the morning and spent a couple minutes of self reflection thinking about their own faults and how they could better themselves and help those around them live better lives and not grab a coffee and stick their nose in a newspaper reading about all the negativity in this world and saying "Man, that (insert random name) is a sumama gun!".. i feel like maybe our society wouldn't be as screwed up as it is.

The fact that i say we shouldn't judge anybody other than ourselves and you say that's a load of crap is telling of where our society is right now.

Oh, give me a break..

We get it, you're a Penn State fan.

 

[Jay]

From Reilly's article.

PS administration was going to contact the appropriate authorities, and Paterno talked them out of it. I can't understand the mind of a Joe Paterno apologist. But keep in mind you're making excuses for someone who protected a serial rapist for over a decade.

If that is indeed true, it's clear that JoePa apologists are just being ignorant.

I have a feeling if it was Roy's son being raped in a Penn State shower, his feelings toward Paterno would be remarkably different.

Joe Paterno may have done a lot for many people, but the man was a coward whose lack of actions allowed children's lives to be destroyed. End of story. I will never, ever remember him as a great football coach. He will forever be remembered by me as a piece of scum that turned his head away from children being raped in fear of tarnishing his program. Cowardly is putting it nicely. The guy gets zero respect from me, a total joke of a "man". He's no man, don't get it twisted.

 

[85Cowboy85]

In my opinion there is a significant hole in the Joe Paterno lied to save the university's reputation theory.

The problem is if Paterno or really any of the Penn State higher ups had actually believed that Sandusky was a child molester, it would have been clear that simply not reporting the incident was insufficient to suppress the information.

Every victim would have known and all it would take is for one to go to the police to expose it. The smart PR move would have been to turn the matter over to the police before the University could be implicated.

I think the far more likely scenario is one of negligence. Instead of taking the initiative each person pushed the matter and the responsibility on to someone else. The were too trusting and decided to believe the more probable he's not a child molester scenario and tragically gave Sandusky the benefit of the doubt.

In the Freeh report there is no direct evidence that Paterno did know of Sandusky's molestations. Only that he should have known or at least suspected and failed to take the appropriate steps to protect the children. This is different from what many of you are accusing him of.

 

[casmith07]

I believe they have all been thrown out.

..and just to comment on those that have been discussing the NCAA and possible sanctions, i was driving home from work tonight listening to a local talk radio show (live in PA) and heard one particular caller with an idea that i kinda liked. I do believe PSU should take it upon themselves to take action before the NCAA does, regardless of what the NCAA eventually decides to do. The caller suggested that all the revenue that the football program generates for the next 5 years be donated to charities helping sexually abused children. Not profits.. all revenue, all income.. everything for 5 years. I'd say that would be a good start on getting the university back on the right track.

Good idea.

The place where I draw the line, though, is the NCAA getting involved. Nobody on that team now or who should like to go there now that everyone has been removed should have to suffer consequences because of this.

If anything they should be penalized in that any revenue/proceeds fr bowl games/program success go to charity, but you can't enact program sanctions just on football because one of the coaches was a criminal.

 

[casmith07]

LoL, Paterno's family has directed the family attorney to review the Freeh FBI Report.

Selfishness.

 

[Joe Realist]

LoL, Paterno's family has directed the family attorney to review the Freeh FBI Report.

Selfishness.

maybe they are worried their inheritance is at risk...

 

[joseephuss]

Good idea.

The place where I draw the line, though, is the NCAA getting involved. Nobody on that team now or who should like to go there now that everyone has been removed should have to suffer consequences because of this.

If anything they should be penalized in that any revenue/proceeds fr bowl games/program success go to charity, but you can't enact program sanctions just on football because one of the coaches was a criminal.

It would be two coaches who could possibly considered criminal. Sandusky obviously, but I think you can say that Paterno is a criminal. Covering up what happened can be considered criminal.

I think it can also fall under NCAA rules about not reporting a crime. Plus the NCAA makes up rules at whim, so it is possible that they could have the power to punish Penn St. I am not saying they should at this point, but I think they could if they wanted.

The NCAA could claim there was a lack of institutional control that led to these events. They could even boot strap it with all the player arrests that have occurred in the last decade. And even though Paterno is gone, the current coaches all worked under Paterno, so they still follow his basic methods and teachings. The fact that there are new incoming players, students and/or staffs has never influenced the NCAA's decisions on how to punish a program. They don't consider that these new people aren't the wrong doers when deciding punishment. They just do what they do. I don't expect the NCAA to step in and assert their authority and I don't think they need to, but they could if they chose so.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Oh, give me a break..

We get it, you're a Penn State fan.

Nah.. you don't get it..

 

[burmafrd]

Nah.. you don't get it..

until you admit that it was NOT a mistake but a failure to stand up when given repeated chances, then you don't get it either.

 

[phillycard]

I actually think they should take the statue down, and change the uniforms. The "plain janes" have too long been associated with Paterno, and maybe going forward a name on the back of the jersey, and maybe the PSU lion on the helmets might help to turn the page. Not saying to turn them into Oregon, but maybe some subtle changes. I know that's treasonous among the PSU faithful, but I think it would send a messge of a new era in place.

 

[joseephuss]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/07/jerry_sandusky_case_three_men.html

Jerry Sandusky case: Three men say they were abused in '70s or '80s

Sources close to the Jerry Sandusky case say that three men have come forward and told police that they were abused in the 1970s or 1980s by the convicted pedophile.

They are the first men to allege abuse before the 1990s, and if found to be credible, would directly attack the 68-year-old's defense argument that a person doesn't become pedophile in his or her 50s.

In the early 1970s, when one of the men says he was abused, Jerry Sandusky would have been in his late 20s.

 

[03EBZ06]

"You did what you have to do, now it's up me to decide what we need to do."

- Paterno to McQuary in 2011

Very telling of just how much power this man was wielding in PSU.

 

[Joe Realist]

"You did what you have to do, now it's up me to decide what we need to do."

- Paterno to McQuary in 2011

Very telling of just how much power this man was wielding in PSU.

That is such a damning quote

 

[Jay]

Nah.. you don't get it..

Yup, I do get it. Continue downplaying Paterno's actions (or lack thereof) and continue to talk about judging others and how we are all sinners.

The guy could have stopped many lives from being destroyed and didn't. That's all there is to it.

 

[03EBZ06]

"You did what you have to do, now it's up me to decide what we need to do."

- Paterno to McQuary in 2011

Very telling of just how much power this man was wielding in PSU.

That was in 2001, not 2011, sorry.

 

[Joe Realist]

That was in 2001, not 2011, sorry.

It is McQueary and here is the exact statement Paterno made:

" You did what you had to do, now it's to up to me to decide what we want to do "