Monday, November 7, 2011
So I'm sure many readers are in the same boat as I was today with work colleagues just tearing at themselves to make a joke at Penn State's expense. All I could do is just sit there and take it because this is just about the worst thing to happen to an athletic program that I can remember. Jerseys for tattoos sort of seems like small potatoes compared to what is going on as Penn State. I have no defense for Sandusky. Since I believe in America so much I'd like to think I could abide by innocent until proven guilty but at my core I truly wish Jerry Sandusky would hang himself and put an end to all this. The truth is if he's guilty he deserves much worse. Where I did stand tall is in my defense of Joe Paterno.
This is where it gets tricky for non-PSU people to follow. Growing up as Penn State fan I absolutely revered Jerry Sandusky. I've heard my father's re-telling of the championship game against Miami so many times I feel like I were there. To listen to him and many others give their recap, all praise was due to Sandusky for the scheme he put out against Testaverde. His stout defenses were the pride of my early years as a Penn State fan. While Fran Ganter consistently put out the worst offense of any major program, Sandusky's side of the ball kept us in the national spotlight. Until a year ago, when I first heard of these allegations, his name rang as holy as Cappiletti, Warner, and Conlon. Now imagine turning that guy over to the cops and the papers based on a second hand account that lacked any detail. Tough to do.
So now everyone is calling for Paterno to step down. To them I say simply, Fuck you. What gives you the right you self-righteous little pricks? Paterno has done so much good for to countless young players, the university, and the sport. And all the Neil Rudells and David Jones'es can't change that for all their efforts. They don't get to win. Not like this. Paterno has done too much to be brought down for the wrong-doings of a former assistant.
The truth of the matter is, who with any sort of power can make Paterno step down? The athletic director has just been indicted himself and the last thing Spanier or the board of directors needs is to force out the one symbol of Penn State more recognizable than Old Main or the logo? So for me the media can make all the noise they want. My coach fucking stays.
15 Comments:
Additional children were raped because he and others gave Sandusky access to program and failed to have him jailed after 2002. FACT. He harbored a known pederast.
Harbored? Please explain how he harbored him? He told his boss about the incident...that's not harboring. Your blame is in the wrong place...it's Curley who should have come forth and had Sandusky arrested. Do you really expect Joe to skip the chain of command, go straight to the cops and turn in someone he had known for 40 years based on a second hand account of possible child abuse? Sounds terrible, but honestly, put yourself in Joe's shoes. Hindsight is 20/20, and I think we know that Joe would have come forth had he truly known the extent of this issue.
If I was in Joe's shoes I would have found out the kids name, kept Sandusky out of my locker room and made sure he went to jail...you cannot refute the fact that Paterno did the bare minimum and additional children were RAPED in his lock room. AGAIN children were raped in his lockeroom. FACT. "fuck you" if we think JoePa should go? You obviously are NOT a parent...."second hand report" PLEASE he trusted McQueary to call plays....pretty sure he believed his account of his good friend ass raping a child...and did nothing. You defend this guy? You are as sick as Spanier and the rest. There is a special place in hell for your lot.
theres not enough information present yet. How are we to know Curley didn't tell him "The police are now investigating Joe." Or something of the like. and yes I stand firm, if you want to vehemently play the heroic role of Captain Hindsight here and throw all the blame on Joe Paterno then yes, fuck you.
Trusted McQuery to call plays? He was a graduate assistant. This was 2002, not 2010. And speaking of trust...don't you think he would trust someone he worked with side by side for over 40 years? Can't you see? Sandusky is insane, but he fooled people. People that he knew his whole life. It's easy to see these things now with everything laid out in front of you, but you're wasting your time trying to ruin the life of a great man when there are others out there that failed to bring this to the attention of authorities. What about the Janitors? What about the police that were investigating Sandusky in 1998? The only reason you attack Joe is because he is an icon of honesty and integrity and you think he did the wrong thing, but we have no idea. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but I will not rush to the decision you have made. I believe Joe is of utmost integrity and will defend him until I am proven (with facts) otherwise.
And telling someone to die in a fire because they defend a man that funded a university library and has educated and coached thousands of young men? Get off your high horse and stop blaming people for this. Joe and MCQuery are human being that have a soul and this is probably eating away at them knowing that they could have possibly prevented some of this, and don't you think they would have if they knew the kind of monster Sandusky was? You weren't there, you don't know so stop pretending you're the judge and jury and wait and let the court system do its job. In the meantime I am going to defend our football coach and support this football team because he has earned that right
I think the bottom line here is that we all need to wait until this whole ting plays out. Let Joe speak and give his side of the story.
I am very dissappointed that Joe has become the villan here. The media and all of the haters are making judgements based on one little piece of factual evidence to an extremely large and complicated story. I cant imagine that he really turned a blind eye to all of this. Somebody within the administration dropped the ball but I want to believe it wasnt Joe. The funny thing is...if you listen to all of the people who actually know Joe (i.e. former players) most of them are supporting him. Hell, even Matt Millen supports him to an extent.
The sad part is...I think somebody is going to throw somebody else under the bus. Will Joe throw Curley under the bus? Will McQueary throw Joe under the bus? Will Spanier throw Joe under the bus? That is where it will get hairy. Only time will tell, but, like Rudy said...I think, at least, Joe has earned the right to plead his case. Lets let him speak before we jump to any more conclusions.
Drew Merritts' statement is an unmitigated disgrace. Something important was absent in his moral development.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said "the test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." It is completely possible to love Joe Paterno and still believe he had to be punished.
- deadspin
Drew Merritts went full tard.
When an institution erects a bronze statue of you on its campus, you are expected to make difficult decisions regardless of how inconvenient the outcome may be. Are you expected to go beyond merely “satisfying the law”? The media seems to think so. Does this mean turning in a friend and colleague of 40 years to the police? Maybe. I don’t think anyone knows with any level of certainty what they would do or how they would react put in Joe Paterno’s situation. Then again, not everyone has their own bronze statue.
Fidel, that's baloney. If I learn that a person -- any person -- engaged in the rape of a child, I'm going to the police. I don't have to wrestle with any complex issues. If you don't know with certainty what you would do then you have share the Merritts moral deficit. Given what has happened in the past 24 hours, we now know that many Penn State students lack proper moral guidance.
"Something important was absent in his moral development."
Thats the funniest thing I've ever read. +1 to you sir or madam
The Onion captures the Drew Merritts type perfectly.
Sports Media Asks Molestation Victims What This Means For Joe Paterno's Legacy
http://liten.be//t5IXK
Given the delicate situation, sportswriters said they felt the need to tread lightly and initially only asked victims how they thought Paterno might be feeling during this difficult time. They then followed up with more substantial questions about being exploited and preyed upon by a sexual deviant, such as how the victims thought their being pinned against a wall while Sandusky assaulted them might hurt Penn State's 2012 recruiting class; how covering up a systematic pedophile victim-grooming pipeline, in the form of youth football camps, might damage the culture of winning Paterno worked so hard to establish; and whether they were worried about the mental state of the team heading into Saturday's game against Nebraska.
In addition, various representatives from CNN, The New York Times, and Sports Illustrated asked the victims—all of whom will reportedly have to undergo therapy for the rest of their lives—how they thought Paterno's wife, Sue, and their five children were holding up.
Sources later confirmed that one victim, who couldn't stop shaking his head while being questioned, began sobbing openly when asked if he would join the throngs of students who took to the streets to protest the head coach's ouster, and if he thought his molestation would overshadow Paterno's renowned ability to graduate his players...
Many members of the sports media said they found the victims equally uncooperative and generally disinterested in Paterno's Bear Bryant, Walter Camp, and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Awards. According to the journalists, shock and trauma were possible reasons for this response, and the victim's were more than likely speechless due to the thought of Paterno's storied career ending on such a sour note.
"I think right now they just need some time," said ESPN senior writer Ivan Maisel, who, in light of the allegations of misconduct at every level of Penn State's administration and the dozens of ruined lives that resulted, filed a column about Paterno's football legacy Wednesday. "I'm sure they'll be better when the dust settles and they realize just how impressive 409 victories really is."
Now, let Mr. Merritts' comments live in infamy.
Report: Penn State, Paterno concealed child abuse facts
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno and other senior officials “concealed critical facts” about Jerry Sandusky's child abuse because they were worried about bad publicity, according to an internal investigation into the scandal concluded.
The 267-page report released Thursday is the result of an eight-month inquiry by former FBI director Louis Freeh, hired by university trustees weeks after Sandusky was arrested in November to look into what has become one of sports' biggest scandals.
The report concluded that Paterno, president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.”
“In order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the university — Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley — repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse,” the report said.
http://tinyurl.com/6pk5fbf
I wonder if Drew is now defending the Catholic church in Altoona, home of a breathing number of pedophile priests, as he did Penn State during the Sandusky revelations.
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