Comments on: Penn State Scandal: Paterno’s Responsibility And Moving Forward

By: Jimmy Ciccone

Jimmy Ciccone — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:32:00 +0000

And chances are you wont see this on the news either…
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144845055615007

By: Jimmy Ciccone

Jimmy Ciccone — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:02:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpMdK2IcSzU&feature=player_embedded

You may find this as a biased take but it has good points and has all the facts right. Btw the library was 13.75mil so other than that I dont know what the espn anchors are saying when they say he had some of the facts right.

By: Jimmy Ciccone

Jimmy Ciccone — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:01:00 +0000

and tell me why the spotlight is on Joe Pa when Sandusky is the one we should be focusing on in the first place

By: Craven

Craven — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:46:00 +0000

JoePa was an enabler. Not a criminal. But he shares the same responsibility as the rest of the people who lost their jobs.

Calling it a misunderstanding is trivializing the abuse that he admits was reported to him. He heard the words “Sandusky”, “Shower”, and “Inappropriate”. That’s enough.

Appreciate you bringing the lax perspective but the comparison to the Duke case isn’t here.

This is an institutional failure all the way to the top. The number of victims coming forward has already doubled and the cover-up has been going on for over a decade. One phone call by JoePa or anyone else involved back in 2002 would have prevented everything that’s happened to him now and preserved his “dignity”.

Unfortunately, it’s too late for all the kids who were victims since then.

By: Thrillhouse

Thrillhouse — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:17:00 +0000

I’m not sure all of the criticism of Joe Paterno’s power at PSU are fair. He did have a lot of power, but up until now it’s not something he abused. His players did well academically and when players got in trouble it was always handled in a fair way. He earned the reputation he had which is what makes this situation so terrible. The lack of action by everyone involved, including Paterno and Mike McQueary enabled Sandusky to do the terrible things that he did. (Sandusky is going to be an old man incarcerated for abusing young boys, something that disgusts even convicted drug dealer and murders. He’s going to have rough time in prison.)
The thing that strikes me about this is you can spend your whole life doing the right things and trying to live up to the morals you set for yourself; but one bad decision will erase everything. Putting anything above protecting children from sexual predators makes you a bad person and cancels out everything you did before that.

I can’t understand why Mike McQueary hasn’t been let go yet.

By: smclax

smclax — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:53:00 +0000

I agree that what has happened is absolutely appalling, and that if anyone knew about this situation and didn’t report it they should be fired. However, these media frenzies, in my opinion, pressure administrators to act before all the facts of the investigation have been uncovered. I’ve heard from several news outlets that there is reason to believe all the facts about what had happened hadn’t reached Paterno. But that’s beside the point. Im saying that for someone in his position to be treated with the disrespect he has been showed there had better be incontrovertible proof of some pretty damning evidence against him. I just dont see how such a drastic decision could be made without a full investigation. As a lacrosse player I cant help but think of the Duke case. One of the first acts of a panicking University was to fire Mike Pressler before all the facts were in about the events that took place. I understand how emotional people can get about a case that involves children, but that is no excuse to break out the torches and go after the biggest name you can find. Its actually even more of a reason to thoroughly and comprehensively investigate what happened in order to find ALL guilty parties and bring them to justice.

On a more personal note I agree that if Paterno had some part in covering this up then he should be released. But even in the worst case accounts, his role in all of it is small enough, in my opinion, that someone who has given so much to the community of Penn State, 61 years of coaching along with millions of dollars, and college athletics in general should be able to play out his last 4 games and retire with dignity. I also truly do not believe he meant to cause anyone any harm. I believe he is one of the few truly sincere figures in big time college football. His track record for giving back to the community and holding players accountable for their actions speaks for itself. I think that any part he had in this situation was most likely a very very unfortunate misunderstanding. I think Penn State handled this very poorly.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:35:00 +0000

they should give tambroni the keys to the bus. to borrow from bray malphrus, he too is “a man of morals”

By: Craven

Craven — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:33:00 +0000

The illusion that Joe Paterno reports to anyone on the Penn State campus is a joke and the failure of leadership on the academic side of the college is damning. JoePa is a celebrated FOOTBALL COACH who’s been allowed to to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Under his watch children’s lives were tossed aside to protect one of his employees who he knew for 30 years. Now he’s an 85 year old who obviously doesnt understand whats going on. (Watch the YouTube clip of him leading a “WE ARE – PENN STATE” cheer on his lawn for proof)

Tom is completely right…if I saw someone doing a horrible crime like that you better believe I would call the cops. Ask yourself the same thing.

By: Swank Lax

Swank Lax — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:51:00 +0000

http://cactothecac.com/2011/11/09/paterno-must-go/
I’m gonna plug my take on this. PSU should fire Paterno. Inaction in the face of injustice is morally indefensible.

By: Tom Huppmann

Tom Huppmann — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Jimmy, I wonder why you call the administrators sick and corrupt and give Paterno a pass. How were they any more or less culpable than Paterno. None of them put the welfare of the kids who were being sodomized or otherwise abused ahead of Sandusky or Penn State. To say that Paterno passed the word on to other administrators and that relieved him of any responsibility is ridiculous. The law requires that the abuse of minors be reported to the police, not to your boss. As a father, I’m disgusted with everyone involved to include Paterno. I don’t think it takes away from the fact that he’s done a lot of good for Penn St., the community, etc. and I don’t think this episode makes him a bad man. In my mind, it does demonstrate that even good people make poor choices and find it hard to do the right thing all the time. I would hope that I could summon the courage to go to the police if I was told by a witness that a co-worker was raping a child.

By: bhsvideodad

bhsvideodad — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Paterno, the AD and probably the president of the university are all toast. It is just a matter of time. As much as I love watching NCAA sports, the top end of it is a complete distortion of what universities should be about. The BCS money is so large it magnifies the distortion.

The tragedy isn’t Paterno stepping down, it is what happened to innocent kids.

By: Jimmy Ciccone

Jimmy Ciccone — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:44:00 +0000

Also Paterno’s name is on school library…because he and his wife helped raise $13.75 million so it could be built. And to say winning was the number one priority and everything else second? Really? Joe Pa has always set high standards for his players when it comes to academics and if they’re not doing well in school they wont play. Year after year were in the top of the nation for graduation rates of football players and 2011 was no exception. In 2011 we ranked 10th in the nation with 87 percent.

By: Jimmy Ciccone

Jimmy Ciccone — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:32:00 +0000

Didn’t get to read this yet but what do you mean does Paterno need to go? He’s retiring at the end of the season. We should be focusing on the sick asshole who committed this act and those who covered it up. Paterno reported the incident to the higher authorities. Could have he done more and notified the police yes, but this incident has just shifted on Paterno so the media can try to make the incident more appaling. I feel like Sandusky is on the back burner of all this now. Redirect the focus where it needs to be…on Sandusky and the sick corrupt administrators who covered it up.