Paterno Family's Penn State Report

[Superbelt]

I agree with the first part. The missing AD has not gotten nearly enough attention, I want to learn more about that.

Being a DA, he did work on other cases. The probability that his death and the removal of his HD being related to this whole PSU pedophilia case are pretty small.

[Payton34]

Being a DA, he did work on other cases. The probability that his death and the removal of his HD being related to this whole PSU pedophilia case are pretty small.

The timing was awfully coincidental though... Not to mention that its strange we don't hear about anything else he was working on which could potentially put this line of thought to bed (so to speak)...

[CalgaryHawkFan]

Not to mention that its strange we don't hear about anything else he was working on which could potentially put this line of thought to bed (so to speak)...

Why would we, when you start from a conclusion and work backwards, there's no reason to look at anything else...

[MKHawk]

However the excuse that Paterno was a senile old man incapable of comprehension has grown thin. He was the head coach for another 10 years. When they were talking about running him out years ago the Penn Staters protested, claiming that he was still large and in charge. Well they can't have it both ways. If he was still on the ball enough to run the program for another decade, being credited with bringing them back to prominence in the process, he sure as Hell understood what he was doing regarding Sandusky and protecting the Penn State Image.

Thank you. Paterno was above everything, answerable only to himself in that program/school. If you're going to fight for that power and to hold onto it, you don't get to hide behind the "I bumped them up the chain" line when allegations like that are reported to you.

[Darrell Green Fan]

Given how many bad guys they piss off I've always been surprised that we have not heard of more bad things happening to DA's over the years.

[Rear Admiral]

Thank you. Paterno was above everything, answerable only to himself in that program/school. If you're going to fight for that power and to hold onto it, you don't get to hide behind the "I bumped them up the chain" line when allegations like that are reported to you.

I tend to agree with this. With great power comes great responsibility, and in this case that responsibility comes to ANYBODY who has KNOWLEDGE of Sandusky's activities. You can't just beg off the issue due to senility issues, especially if a pattern of 'covering-up bad behavior to keep the football program sailing smoothly' can be proven.

The question remains for me, however, as to what KNOWLEDGE did Paterno actually have. I cannot necessarily condemn the man for creating a 'culture' that 'nobody dared inform him' of Sandusky's activities for fear of losing their jobs unless Paterno was explicit about just that. What we (or at least I) still don't really know is WHAT DID PEOPLE KNOW/WHEN and if they knew enough to take action why did so many not? (a) we don't know that, and (b) it seems a bit far-fetched to blame all their self-imposed silence on Paterno, or does it? I've never found myself in such a situation, and most of us here agree we'd have done SOMETHING more significant than anybody seems to have done, at least after the shower episode - but only one man actually saw that, and it went nowhere from there. Did that send (and confirm) a message to others not to 'blow the whistle'? I can think of stories, like the My Lai Massacre and, well countless others on a small scale like when a wife doesn't report her own husband for abusing her own daughter, where people take place in what some call 'group evil'. I don't know that's what happened here, but unfortunately for Paterno/family and PSU that's what must be studied and confronted for the sake of future episodes like this (if that's what occurred) to be prevented.

Given how many bad guys they piss off I've always been surprised that we have not heard of more bad things happening to DA's over the years.

I see your point, but we recently saw a DA get murdered in Texas and, to my knowledge, there has been no arrest in the case yet. We certainly have suspicious circumstances in the Pa/DA but we have no body. It could have been 'other case related' or 'no case related', or it could have been 'this case related'. I think the chances are highest it was 'this case related', given other aspects must have been investigated? But since we have no body, this DA may have just 'disappeared himself', whether by suicide or taking up a life of leisure in some far away locale.

[DutchBird]

Given how many bad guys they piss off I've always been surprised that we have not heard of more bad things happening to DA's over the years.

The ones that would - 'naturally' - resort to that means have too much to lose by doing so, or might feel that is pointless.

There are also far easier ways to get rid of DA's you do not like: control those who control the DA's (outright bribery or 'political donations'), if not use the political ambitions of a good number of DA's against them. It also helps to make sure there is enough media-attention concerning other crimes that causes the DA's to be distracted, and have politician/idiots graft the laws in your favour or gut the relevant investigatory agencies.

Wall Street has proven how effective this is. Indeed, so probably have many major businesses/corporations. The modern western world is a paradise for white collar criminals... they are virtually untouchable, indeed with a little luck you get tax-payer's money to boot.

[Payton34]

Why would we, when you start from a conclusion and work backwards, there's no reason to look at anything else...

The only conclusion that one needs to work from here is that, "Gee, looks like he was a victim of foul play..."

No other pre-suppositions are necessary now, are there?

[EaglesKickA##]

With regard to Paterno, he is the sacrificial lamb. No way a man that old could ever fully comprehend the exact nature of what occurred in the showers. And that is clearly the reason why he didn't "follow up on it" as people like to say. From all accounts, he did his job and then some. Again, there is no way he grasped what occurred in the shower and probably half-jokingly, half-serious remarked that Sandusky and the boy were horsing around. Never could he have imagined .... sodomy.

The beautiful thing about this situation is that dead men can't talk so Paterno could be made the fall guy, the pedophiles at PSU and in PA and elsewhere could remain free to continue their descension to Hell and the NCAA, whose organization foments an environment for pedophilia, comes out smelling like roses.

This is the exact type of PSUer I was talking about... Seriously dude?!?! Can JoePa do any wrong in your book? You know as well as anyone that he ran that University... No one crossed him... And fans and alumni fostered it.... This worship of a man who allowed Pedophilia to run rampant on his watch is assanine...

You can't have it both ways with JoePa... When he was coaching/running the university, he wasn't a senile old man in any fans/alumni book... Now that his image has been shown to be fraudulent, he's a senile olde man who couldn't comrpehend a simple thing like "Pedophila,,, BAD...."

You say he went over and above what he should have done.... How? He didn't stop it or get Sandusky off campus and into the hands of authorities... In fact, he did the opposite and left him run around with kids in showers...

[Payton34]

This is the exact type of PSUer I was talking about... Seriously dude?!?! Can JoePa do any wrong in your book? You know as well as anyone that he ran that University... No one crossed him... And fans and alumni fostered it.... This worship of a man who allowed Pedophilia to run rampant on his watch is assanine...

You can't have it both ways with JoePa... When he was coaching/running the university, he wasn't a senile old man in any fans/alumni book... Now that his image has been shown to be fraudulent, he's a senile olde man who couldn't comrpehend a simple thing like "Pedophila,,, BAD...."

You say he went over and above what he should have done.... How? He didn't stop it or get Sandusky off campus and into the hands of authorities... In fact, he did the opposite and left him run around with kids in showers...

I don't think AV is a "PSU'er" dude... He's more of a "CT'er" and there's a potentially huge one looming over this entire thing...

As for Joe Pa? I dont' think what AV was saying was said properly, so I'll try:

It isn't that he didn't "understand" necessarily what had occurred, but I think its a generational difference in that he may have thought if Sandusky was "spoken to" about all of this that he'd just stop doing it (Whatever it is that he's doing).... A complete lack of understanding of what a pedo is and what they do and why they do it....

Doesn't exhonorate Joe Pa in any way, but IMO it sheds light on how he could think he's "Nipped the problem in the bud.", when all he's actually done is ignored it and enabled Sandusky... JMO...

[Darrell Green Fan]

This is the exact type of PSUer I was talking about... Seriously dude?!?! Can JoePa do any wrong in your book? You know as well as anyone that he ran that University... No one crossed him... And fans and alumni fostered it.... This worship of a man who allowed Pedophilia to run rampant on his watch is assanine...

You can't have it both ways with JoePa... When he was coaching/running the university, he wasn't a senile old man in any fans/alumni book... Now that his image has been shown to be fraudulent, he's a senile olde man who couldn't comrpehend a simple thing like "Pedophila,,, BAD...."

You say he went over and above what he should have done.... How? He didn't stop it or get Sandusky off campus and into the hands of authorities... In fact, he did the opposite and left him run around with kids in showers...

You really need to write your own material. Where's the smiley for copywrite infringement?

However the excuse that Paterno was a senile old man incapable of comprehension has grown thin. He was the head coach for another 10 years. When they were talking about running him out years ago the Penn Staters protested, claiming that he was still large and in charge. Well they can't have it both ways.