fighting myself to figure out how I really
feel about Joe Paterno's role in what took
place at Penn State during and after Jerry
Sandusky's time at the school. Believe it
or not, for those of us who aren't on a witch
hunt, this isn't an easy decision.
The DA stated the Paterno is not a target of
the investigation, and that he did exactly
what he was supposed to do legally, report it
right away. Paterno did nothing to cover this
up. He didn't sugarcoat it, or make excuses,
and Sandusky was reportedly no longer part of
the staff when the one specific reported act
at hand took place. Yet I can't help but ask
myself, what would I do if it were my kid who
was the victim here? I mean, Paterno had
nothing to do with it. He didn't turn a blind
eye to it or enable it, but why didn't Paterno
follow up on this? Should he have? Did he,
and we don't know about it? Was he discouraged?
How could he be? He's Joe Paterno, Joe Pa,
He is Penn State! Make no mistake about it,
this is no easy question to answer, because as
mad as you wanna be, and are at Peterno, he
wasn't the predator here. So whether you defend
him or damn him, I'm not sure either is wrong.
What's craziest about this is, that in a world
of college athletics, yes we have to bring that
up too, Penn State football is probably one of
a handful of programs that is "clean", if that
many LSU, Stanford, Oklahoma St, Alabama, Boise
State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arkansas, Clemson, and
Virginia Tech, those are your BCS Top 10, and I
assure you that you will be hard pressed to find
a school among them that has as clean a reputation
as Penn State does over the same period of time,
similar maybe, as good, hard to believe. Keep in
mind that just when you think that you got it all
figured out, you don't. As a sports fan I was dead
to rights sure that both Manny and A-Rod were clean,
they weren't. Remember how Nick Saban left LSU,
and then again the Miami Dolphins? This isn't a
finger pointing contest, just trying to put it in
some kind of perspective. I too am disappointed in
Paterno, a little mad maybe, but those calling for
his head should be more concerned with what Jerry
Sandusky did, and how to get justice for the victims,
than how can we get this head coach fired because he
was a half a step behind the curve. Yes it was a
huge curve, but it was a mistake, surely a big, big
error in judgement.
Joe Paterno was not in that boys pants. Joe Paterno
did not prey on little children. Joe Paterno did
not give this animal an extra five minutes to get out
of Dodge, and though he pisses me off for not being
more full on aggressive about this, I just can't hang
him for it, but maybe I can say that because it wasn't
my kid. I just don't know. You have a right to feel
more angry about this than I do, just don't let your
anger be and frustration be misguided. Jerry Sandusky
is the degenerate here, not Joe Paterno.
Tweet Thank You Al Davis !
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