dlq04

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg has a front-page editorial calling for Paterno to leave. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in an editorial, called on Paterno to resign now. The police said Paterno did his part by notifying university administrators and there has been no additional news to suggest Paterno did anything wrong. Paterno had no first hand witnessing of anything. I love how the media can take the moral responsibility high ground when it suits them and the rest of the time they muck around in the gutter. The media just loves to build people up and then tear them down.

S2KRAY

Could not agree more Dave. I met Paterno years ago and he is a fine man and a great coach. His players love him and I agree he did the right thing in notifying the administrators. I too get sick of the media who blow everything out of proportion.

Lainey

I too get sick of the media and will grant that many things get blown out of proportion. However sexual abuse of a child is a horrific thing. If it were your (collective) child or grandchild you'd be screaming from the rooftops that there should have been more follow through once Paterno was notified. He may have done his duty reporting to the authorities, but he should have done more. IMO, if he was notified of sexual abuse in his department and didn't follow through by sheitcanning or suspending that guy, he's no better than all those Catholic Bishops who transferred priests from parish to parish after reports of sexual abuse of children.

Just my .02 of course.

Edit: I'm not sure of the time line. It appears Sandusky was already retired when Paterno was advised of the situation. If so, then he couldn't sheitcan the guy, but IMO, he still should have done more.

Sandusky, the defensive coordinator on Paterno's two national championship teams in 1980s and once thought of as the coach's likely successor, was arrested Saturday on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.

A second person familiar with board's discussions said it was focused on the horrific aspects of the charges against Sandusky; two university officials have also been charged in the scandal, accused of failing to notify authorities when told Sandusky had assaulted a boy in a shower used by the football team.

Trustee David Joyner said he was unaware if any decision had been made on Paterno's future.

Authorities have said that Paterno, who testified in the grand jury proceedings that led to the charges against Sandusky, is not a target of the investigation. But the state police commissioner has chastised him and other school officials for not doing enough to try to stop the suspected abuse.

valentine

I totally agree with you, Dave. The media decides who should be celebrities (whatever that means anymore), who should be extolled and who should be defiled. There is no mere reporting of the news, simply conjecture and stupid airheaded commentary by those who wish to be celebrities.

Zippy

According to the Mike McQueary, the witness, he in fact told Paterno EVERYTHING that he saw, but JoPa insists that he knew only of "inappropriate" behavior. If he did in-fact know that a child was raped (the graphic details are available, and I will leave them out), and he didn't call the police personally, he is not the moral paragon that he has claimed to be for oh so many years.

A 2

I think the Paterno case proves to me yet again that every one has shades of grey. There is no denying his accomplishments and all that he has done for Penn State, and you also can't deny the fact that maybe he did not go to the fullest extent he should have. Only he knows the entire truth. Perhaps it did not strike him as a grave matter or maybe he just plain refused to believe that his assistant could do that to a child. He is human and fallible like the rest of us.

ETA: I dont always agree with the media, but I'm glad they are there. A free press wont always publish something that is acceptable and digestible and that is a good thing. Much rather be bombarded by opinionated views from different sources than have a single Xinhua-like organization feeding me the official version.

MsPerky

As far as I'm concerned, the media did exactly what they should have been doing - reporting the vile acts perpetrated by this sleazebag over a long period of time. Columnists get paid for their opinions. Joe Paterno and every other person who ignored what was reported (in graphic detail, according to the record) to them and let this pervert continue to molest/rape young boys for another ten years deserve what they get. I have no sympathy for any of them. Disgusting.

raymo19

I agree that there are shades of gray here. Maybe Paterno felt he did all he was supposed to. Maybe it was all he was allowed to do under Penn State's policies and procedures.

But I also know this. If Mike McQueary came to me with this report and I knew him to be credible I would have confronted Sandusky personally along with a Louisville Slugger to play "good cop". Then called the cops.

Child sexual abuse is one behavior I simply can't understand.

S2KRAY

Time will tell.

Matt_in_VA

I turned off the news this evening because I am sick of people being "tried by the media".