Say it ain't so, Joe

[dfwabel]

And Paterno makes a statement

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case. I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief. I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today. That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can. This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more. My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this University."

[Gothamite]

"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care.

Shame that he focused so much on the former and was willing to sell out the latter.

[NoHoJoe]

HOW DARE YOU CALL JOEPA A SCUMBAG!!!!

[infrared41]

HOW DARE YOU CALL JOEPA A SCUMBAG!!!!

Shea Stadium.

[Mings]

The amount of trolling in this thread is horrible, and I can't believe those people doing it don't have the decency to just shut the hell up.

That said, if I was McQuery and I saw that, the kid would have seen his first murder because I would have killed the guy. There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

[Gothamite]

There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

Agreed.

Protecting and sheltering those who do isn't on the list.

Scumbags all.

[nuordr]

The amount of trolling in this thread is horrible, and I can't believe those people doing it don't have the decency to just shut the hell up.

That said, if I was McQuery and I saw that, the kid would have seen his first murder because I would have killed the guy. There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

I question McQuery for not pushing the subject because I think his Career ambition of currently being a WR coach on the team clouded his judgement. However, he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

[Jigga]

For those calling for state action, it's important to recognize that despite the name, Penn State is NOT a state school. It is one of 4 schools that has an affiliation with the state, but isn't run by the state like the true state system schools, and the state's authority is rather limited in this case.

The more I read about this, the more I regret any "pass" that I gave McQueary for being a young kid fearful for his career who may have been confused about the right thing to do. Dude was absolutely gutless and as a first hand witness, really effed that kid (and future ones) almost as bad as Sandusky.

Also, in reference to the Penn St faithful, I think that the overwhelming majority realize the seriousness of the situation, and it's a small, stupid, young, and in some cases inbread population that's supporting these guys.

I'm 100% with you here. I initially gave McQueary a pass, but after hearing that he called his dad (a friend of Jerry Sandusky) after witnessing such a vile and heinous act...and his dad told him to leave instead of do something, anything to help remove that little boy from the situation, him. McQueary deserves at least the fire and vitriol that is being directed to JoePa, if not significantly more. McQueary saw this happening, and did nothing to stop it. His failure to act is despicable. Paterno has to go, for sure...and I guess Prez Spanier has to bounce as well, but I would have to say that McQueary is a much bigger villain than either of them, once you separate the "alleged" crime from the cover up.

[nuordr]

There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

Agreed.

Protecting and sheltering those who do isn't on the list.

Scumbags all.

I agree as well!

[Gothamite]

I question McQuery for not pushing the subject because I think his Career ambition of currently being a WR coach on the team clouded his judgement. However, he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

McQuery watched a kid get raped by an adult, and just walked away. He let the rape continue.

His superiors took no action, not even when the rapist brought more kids into the facilities. They let the rapes continue.

Nobody in this sad, sad story "did the right thing."

[dfwabel]

The amount of trolling in this thread is horrible, and I can't believe those people doing it don't have the decency to just shut the hell up.

That said, if I was McQuery and I saw that, the kid would have seen his first murder because I would have killed the guy. There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

I question McQuery for not pushing the subject because I think his Career ambition of currently being a WR coach on the team clouded his judgement. However, he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

He failed to act when witnessing a sexual assault of a child. I disagree with the Grand Jury in saying that he is not guilty of a crime.

He is (for now) also the recruiting coordinator and goes into the homes of prospective HS athletes. How can he now go into a home, high school, or any recruiting trip and not face questions on his ethics and morals?

[Jigga]

The amount of trolling in this thread is horrible, and I can't believe those people doing it don't have the decency to just shut the hell up.

That said, if I was McQuery and I saw that, the kid would have seen his first murder because I would have killed the guy. There are certain things in life you just don't do, abusing kids in any way is one of them.

I question McQuery for not pushing the subject because I think his Career ambition of currently being a WR coach on the team clouded his judgement. However, he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

What McQueary and Paterno did was in no way the right thing in this situation. They did the bare minimum they were required to do. That's a big ass difference.

[The_Admiral]

he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

No he didn't. He may've done what was legal. He didn't do what was right.

[Cujo]

For allowing a man who aided in the sexual abuse of children to finish out the season: YOU PENN STATE UNIVERSITY. YOU. ARE. GUTLESS.

[dfwabel]

Sally Jenkins in yesterday's Washington Post

From the column:

Try to forgive Joe Paterno: When he looked at Jerry Sandusky, he didn't see a dirty old man in a raincoat. He saw a friend, a close colleague, and a churchy do-gooder. He saw a nice guy. You'd have seen the same thing. Think not? You think you can see a clear-cut difference between an alleged child molester and a youth coach? How exactly? By the hunchback and the M-shaped scar on his forehead that says, "I'm a molester"?

It's sorely tempting to assign Paterno chief blame in the Penn State case, to say that he should have seen Sandusky for what he allegedly was. Unfortunately, the truth is, youth coaches from California to Rhode Island have molested children at every level, sandlot to USA Swimming, and we hardly ever recognize the pervert. We usually shake his hand.

"We would prefer he have some kind of trait," former FBI agent Ken Lanning says. "That he be ugly or pockmarked so we can say, 'Oooh, look out for him.'"

Make no mistake, there is deep guilt to be assigned at Penn State, and we will get to that in a minute, to the utterly negligent behavior of university president Graham Spanier and his underlings Gary Schultz and Tim Curley. But first we have to realize that we all have trouble believing that mentors could be molesters.

According to Lanning, who spent 35 years profiling pedophiles, a hallmark of "acquaintance molesters" is that they tend to be deeply trusted and even beloved. They are not strangers, but "one of us." They are expert at seducing children and are almost as expert at seducing adults, including parents, into believing in them.

"How do we say to kids, 'The only way these people differ is, they will be nicer to you than most adults?'" Lanning says. "They will listen to you, and shower you with attention and kindness, and so I want you to watch out for this evil bastard.'"

Until we rid ourselves of the myth of the "predator" in the raincoat preying on angelic victims, our discernment will continue to be clouded, says Lanning, who wrote a Justice Department-sponsored manual, "Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis." And so will our judgment.

With that in mind, now let's start again. If Sandusky is guilty of molesting, how do we parcel out the responsibility and decide what was preventable? Who should have recognized him, and how?

"Whether it's the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, USA Swimming, or Little League, you look at these groups and say, why do they keep screwing this up?" Lanning asks.

According to the "acquaintance molester" profile, it's probably a mistake to place all of the blame on Paterno personally. Paterno was perhaps in the worst position to see or judge the alleged behavior, because Sandusky was his valued assistant from 1966-1999.

"It's hard to identify those people close to you as a potential molester, because you know them so well," Lanning says. No one wants to believe such a thing of a friend.

Which is exactly why someone at Penn State's institutional level should have done better. It was the responsibility of Paterno's more dispassionate superiors Spanier, Schultz and Curley to take a much colder-eyed, distanced organizational view of Sandusky's alleged behavior. Instead, they failed all along the line.

[Lights Out]

Poor move by Penn State to let JoePa finish out the season.

[bosrs1]

For allowing a man who aided in the sexual abuse of children to finish out the season: YOU PENN STATE UNIVERSITY. YOU. ARE. GUTLESS.

I'm inclined to agree. His resignation should have been effective immediately.

[NJTank]

Sally Jenkins in yesterday's Washington Post

From the column:

Try to forgive Joe Paterno: When he looked at Jerry Sandusky, he didn't see a dirty old man in a raincoat. He saw a friend, a close colleague, and a churchy do-gooder. He saw a nice guy. You'd have seen the same thing. Think not? You think you can see a clear-cut difference between an alleged child molester and a youth coach? How exactly? By the hunchback and the M-shaped scar on his forehead that says, "I'm a molester"?

It's sorely tempting to assign Paterno chief blame in the Penn State case, to say that he should have seen Sandusky for what he allegedly was. Unfortunately, the truth is, youth coaches from California to Rhode Island have molested children at every level, sandlot to USA Swimming, and we hardly ever recognize the pervert. We usually shake his hand.

"We would prefer he have some kind of trait," former FBI agent Ken Lanning says. "That he be ugly or pockmarked so we can say, 'Oooh, look out for him.'"

Make no mistake, there is deep guilt to be assigned at Penn State, and we will get to that in a minute, to the utterly negligent behavior of university president Graham Spanier and his underlings Gary Schultz and Tim Curley. But first we have to realize that we all have trouble believing that mentors could be molesters.

According to Lanning, who spent 35 years profiling pedophiles, a hallmark of "acquaintance molesters" is that they tend to be deeply trusted and even beloved. They are not strangers, but "one of us." They are expert at seducing children and are almost as expert at seducing adults, including parents, into believing in them.

"How do we say to kids, 'The only way these people differ is, they will be nicer to you than most adults?'" Lanning says. "They will listen to you, and shower you with attention and kindness, and so I want you to watch out for this evil bastard.'"

Until we rid ourselves of the myth of the "predator" in the raincoat preying on angelic victims, our discernment will continue to be clouded, says Lanning, who wrote a Justice Department-sponsored manual, "Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis." And so will our judgment.

With that in mind, now let's start again. If Sandusky is guilty of molesting, how do we parcel out the responsibility and decide what was preventable? Who should have recognized him, and how?

"Whether it's the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, USA Swimming, or Little League, you look at these groups and say, why do they keep screwing this up?" Lanning asks.

According to the "acquaintance molester" profile, it's probably a mistake to place all of the blame on Paterno personally. Paterno was perhaps in the worst position to see or judge the alleged behavior, because Sandusky was his valued assistant from 1966-1999.

"It's hard to identify those people close to you as a potential molester, because you know them so well," Lanning says. No one wants to believe such a thing of a friend.

Which is exactly why someone at Penn State's institutional level should have done better. It was the responsibility of Paterno's more dispassionate superiors Spanier, Schultz and Curley to take a much colder-eyed, distanced organizational view of Sandusky's alleged behavior. Instead, they failed all along the line.

She makes a great point all around, I think Spanier needs to go too.

[nuordr]

he did do the right thing and report the manner to his superior just like JoePa did.

No he didn't. He may've done what was legal. He didn't do what was right.

I completely agree with that...that is the problem with ethics! In the military it is ethically right to kill a man, but out of the military it is against the law. That is the difference between the two.

[Sodboy13]

So, instead of stepping down at the end of the season as planned because he's 84, his contract's up, and he's well past it, he's stepping down at the end of the season, but announcing it now to seem magnanimous. Well, that's that! End of the story! Move along, media types!