Here is my speculatio­n on the situation. Whatever else we can say about Joe Paterno, he is not a pedophile. People who are not pedophiles do not like pedophiles­. For Sandusky to be so bold as to commit the crimes at the PSU football facility, means he knew he had protection at high places. Most likely Spanier. Paterno knew what he was fighting, and feels ashamed he did not do more. The FBI needs to put Paterno and Sandusky in witness protection before they are 'suicided' by the pedo ring. Or being 'disappear­ed' like the DA. The reason for protecting Sandusky, to make sure he talks in court.

Reminds me of the last episode of Seinfeld .

Remember they just stood there and watched as a dude got robbed.

They went to trial and were found guilty and received 1 year in jail.

Originally posted by Matt1951
Here is my speculatio­n on the situation. Whatever else we can say about Joe Paterno, he is not a pedophile. People who are not pedophiles do not like pedophiles­. For Sandusky to be so bold as to commit the crimes at the PSU football facility, means he knew he had protection at high places. Most likely Spanier. Paterno knew what he was fighting, and feels ashamed he did not do more. The FBI needs to put Paterno and Sandusky in witness protection before they are 'suicided' by the pedo ring. Or being 'disappear­ed' like the DA. The reason for protecting Sandusky, to make sure he talks in court.

I never suspected that Joe was a pedophile.....
But then again, I never thought Sandusky was either.

This whole thing has turned my world around and upside down. I am very worried about what hasn't come out yet, and I suspect that we certainly haven't heard the worst of this.

Originally posted by jerryznv
I find it difficult to blame Joe Paterno...I think the blame is more fairly laying on the shoulders of the upper administration...Joe reported it to them and they took no action.

In my opinion...Joe Paterno is just a scape goat and it is unfair.

Either way it is a tragedy for the children and nothing is going to rectify that!

I disagree. He had a duty to report a crime or suspected crime. Yes, he reported it to his superiors but he should have followed up when he saw nothing was being done about it. Makes him an accessory in my book. Morally he had an obligation as well. Not only was nothing done about it, it was allowed to continue, further jeapardizing additional children. Those kids will never get back what that scumbag did to them. And to boot, it has tarnished a great school and football program.

Lesson learned: Speak Up!

Originally posted by butcherguy
For many years, Joe Paterno ran a very tight ship at Penn State's football program. He was a model citizen that lived a modest life, donating the largest part of his salary to the school.

All that has changed. Joe did the right thing legally, but in a moral sense, he failed miserably.

Firing him was the right move by the board of trustees, which includes the governor of the state of PA. Joe should have resigned yesterday and saved the fans the disgrace of seeing him fired, which no one would have ever predicted a year ago.

College football is too big.

Universities are supposed to be about higher learning, not about operating a sports business that generates $50 million a year. JMHO.

edit on 10-11-2011 by butcherguy because: (no reason given)

I absolutely agree with your assessment. I love Joe Paterno and Penn State football. But he failed the University, himself, and those kids and the community, and every Penn State fan by not following up with the police. I do not believe he did it out of malice or conspiracy, but he was morally and ethically wrong not to report it to the authorities. When he saw that school officials were doing nothing he should have taken the next step and involved the police. Now, unfortunately, instead of being labeled a hero he is being tarnished in a scandal involving pedophilia. Very sad.

Originally posted by mugger
Joe Pa did nothing illegal and reported it to his superiors. They failed to have it investigated.
I find it very hard to believe someone witnessed Sandusky in the act and was not stopped. It is not Paterno's job to take any action on his own based on one account of a student and sent it to the proper people. They failed to look into it.

This was just the excuse the board needed to replace Joe without the alumni getting into an uproar.

And all those Nazi soldiers were just following orders when they exterminated 6 million jews. I don't think it was a valid and moral stance then and I don't believe it now. I know the two situations are very different but the point remains the same. Nobody is saying Joe Paterno is legally responsible but morally, come on?

Let me ask you this, what would you have done? Morally, if someone told you they thought someone was being raped by a fellow employee at work what would you do? Would it be enough to just report it to your boss or would you call the police? These are kids we are talking about! I think its safe to say the legal, moral, and right thing to do is call the police.

I think at the "end of the day" we have to consider this:

If that was your kid, what would you have wanted Joe Pa to do?

(there you go)

I agree this is a very sad time for PSU ....my Grandson goes there he is keeping me posted on what is going on .....PSU is also sending out messages via e-mail letting us know that they are having meetings and how they are handling this with the student body.

My Grandson will be home Friday for Thanksgiving break so I will have a talk with him to see what is going on.

Time weakens all wounds no matter how bad something is.

I see it as Penn State saving a lotta pension money that was owed to Joe. Its gross in my opinion. At least give him half or a fourth. Saturday Penn State played their first game without coach Joe since 1965. He deserves a little more then their giving him. Hopefully Coach Joe has a back-up plan ....

Paterno, even until the very end, was interested in Paterno. He's not a niave old man. State College was Joe's town, if someone threw a rock, Joe knew before it hit the ground. Plausible deniability is a farce in his case.

Paterno went to work when all this hit the public fan, and he acted as if nothing was going on, if anything, he was a little miffed at the intense scrum of reporters he had to wade through to get to his car in the morning.

When the buzz was that the board was going to fire him, Paterno pulled a pre-emptive measure, in an attempt to take care of himself and his legacy. Joe for Joe, he and his camp thought fast, and came up with a solution. Paterno called his own press announcement, " I have decided to retire at the end of this season". Clever.

He and his camp felt that the board wouldn't be so bold as to fire him after he made his announcement, and just let him retire into a relatively unharmed legacy. He was wrong.

The board called his bluff and fired him, effective immediately and they did so over the phone, because he had tried to pull shenanigans on them by "retiring"...

Joe Paterno is not innocent. Many men were involved in this, and to say there was a COVERUP is an understatement. Joe Paterno knew, and he knew all along.

Then throw in the Mystery of the early DA in this case, the one who went missing in 2005 and who has never been found. The one whose car was found alongside a river in PA, and inside was his laptop which someone had smashed and destroyed.

Originally posted by Leo Strauss
This story is about arrogance and greed!

You are 28 years old you walk into a shower room and see 50 to 60 something year old man a** raping a 10 year old boy. What do you do?

a. run away, call your dad and go see 'coach'
or
b. Call 911 and stop the man from raping the child (not necessarily in that order)

Why did he go see 'coach' instead of report a terrible crime to the police? Maybe he didn't want to hurt the university? Maybe he was afraid it would hurt his future coaching career?

When he came to see 'coach' why didn't 'coach' call the police immediately? Why didn't 'coach' show his young assistant what one should do when they witness a terrible crime? Why? Because he WAS teaching the young assistant what he should do! The lesson was that his duty is to protect the reputation of the football program and Penn State at all costs. That was the lesson that Joe Paterno was teaching that day.

Personally I think this story is not over yet.

Leo you have an excellent point. If it were myself that witnessed a grown man raping a young boy, this man would be walking with a permanent limp the rest of his life, then I would report it to the police.....geez, this guy runs and tells his daddy? what is this kindergarten?

If Joe has as much clout as he has, why didn't he threaten a strike until they took action?

Do we have any statements from the victims yet?