The Lions' Pride

I def. think that is the narrative being driven by the media right now. However, long term people tend to remember the good over the bad and I feel that in a few years the perception of JoePa both in the media and amongst non-PSU people will begin to change and they will start remembering him as a man who did many wonderful things.

Do I smell...confirmation?

*sniff*

Umm Joe gave an in house interview after he was fired. He could have told his story, if there was more to tell. They clearly can't stand that negative things will finally come out about Joe.

Joe did not force anyone to not report Sandusky, but your fooling yourself if you think he didn't know it was being swept under the rug.

Likewise

I personally don't think Joe did anything out of the ordinary with regard to "protecting" his players. However, that is in comparison to some shady characters, and he almost definitely ran a "cleaner" program than most. That being said, I don't believe the Freeh report should have expanded their scope beyond the handling of Sandusky.

With regard to Sandusky, I agree somewhat with leftcoastlion. It is clear Freeh doesn't care what Joe's family has to say. For all we know, he might not have cared what Joe had to say if he was still alive. The family should tell their story before or simultaneously with the Freeh report and get their side out.

So let me get this straight. He wanted to give a presser right away but PSU told him no. The Paternos are upset they didn't let him speak and tell his story, and rightfully so. Then he decides to do an interview where he can tell his story and the family still states he didn't get a chance to tell his side of the story but he clearly did. Now, yes, he was on strong medicine and I'm quite sure he wasn't feeling well, but he was feeling well enough to give the interview and talk, so he clearly could have shared his side of the story. It would be different if he was unable to do the interview.

You can wait for the book all you want, I'm happy for you. I hope you enjoy the read.

Anybody can have any opinion they want, it saddens me though that there are PSU "loyalists" who seem so quick to toss the legacy of Joe into the trash. A couple undeniable truths are out there right now...

1) Joe is the ONLY person who accepted any kind of responsibility when he said he wished he had done more. This isn't an admission as some would claim that he knowingly participated in covering up for a pedophile. It is simply a statement that he wished he had done more, thus alluding to a belief that he could have. Curley, Schultz and Spanier are all denying everything.

2) When this broke, Joe wanted to talk and give everything he knew immediately. The University blocked it (not a sign that Joe was the omnipotent force at PSU that he is being painted as). Instead, he was forced to wait...and then giving an interview when he was essentially on his death bed. How lucid would any of us be in their 80's and on all the meds he was no doubt on? Still, he wanted a chance to talk and he did. Does he deserve credit for being willing to face questions???

3) When going through this crisis, the University did not want to hear from Joe nor let him provide any information to better educate them on what actually happened. They didn't even have the guts to fire him face to face.

Joe was allegedly fired for a lack of leadership when MM reported this to him. I ask once this story broke nationally, who from PSU has shown more leadership in confronting this??? Curley? Schultz? Spanier? The BoT's? No, no, no and no. I won't argue Joe is without some blame, I don't think that can be argued. He himself said as much. The sad thing is though, that some PSU loyalists seem to want to believe the worst. They can't give him ANY benefit of the doubt until at least all the information is out there. They want to assume the worst about a man that gave so much to the university. It's really kind of sad.

So iirc Joe testified he told Curly and Spanier and and didn't speak of it again. He also stated, iirc, that he didn't know how to handle it and left it to them and didn't know what they did. If I in fact am remembering correctly and assuming Joe is telling the truth, what more could he have to say on the subject and about those men?

Delete

That article was written January 24, so hopefully it can get rehashed soon.

sneaky;

i think one mistake people are making is the same mistake the media is making. I'm not a Joe apologist and welcome all facts. But lets take what we know for what it is and not ignore the "hindsight" portion of his statement:

1. MM testified that he didnt tell Joe exactly what he saw, he also proved during cross examination that he wasn't even sure what he saw...which ultimately led to an acquittal on that incident. That alone speaks volumes, but lets keep going on it to address Joe's "moral obligations." So basically Joe knows Jerry was in the showers with a child, thats it, why would he assume that a man like Jerry was doing something so devious. He obviously thought that alone was wrong and reported it to Curley and Shultz for further investigating. So he wasn't ok with it like many say he was. He had no reason to believe child molestation was happening and doing so and publicly stating something so disturbing without actual facts can also be viewed as morally wrong, no? We all like to say we would have done this or done that, but thats easy to say now after seeing 10+ victims come forward. His statement that "with the benefit of hindsight I wish I had done more" shows that at 84 and battling lung cancer he still was more intelligent and centered than 90% of us who fly off the handle when difficult situations arise.

2. I'm not sure how any of you can criticize the Paterno's handling of their public statements. The guy was fired in front of a national audience, gagged, and literally left to die without being able to address his response to what happened. The family can't defend themselves against what they dont know. Leftcoast is way off base with his position. This material hasn't been presented to them so they literally have no clue what Joe is being accused of, if anything, by the Freeh Report. Not sure what else you want them to say. But I applaud their stance that they are not afraid of what the report says and are ready to respond when its presented to them. They have complete confidence in Joe and I see no reason for them to apologize to people. Sure, he gave an interview before he died, but even then he still didn't know a lot of what was about to come out, so he couldn't address the investigation fully. To me, that is proof that he really didn't know what was about to come out. A guilty man is always easy to read in my opinion because they become defensive and forging, Joe did neither and is being criticized for it because people assume he knew more. Some people need to get over the perception that Joe Paterno ruled State College, Pa. Sure, he had some pull and his words were very influential, but lets not assume he used the power people gave him outside his realm of responsibility. Because there is not one fact out there that he EVER did this, just assumptions. Time and time again Joe asked people to not view him as larger than life, does that not tell you something about how he viewed himself?

3. I'm not trying to defend Joe, I'm trying to defend the facts. I don't think there will be a happy ending for Joe regardless of what the report says because the damage is done and it really saddens me. You can't change public perception and the loudest voice tends to be the most ill-informed. We were very fortunate to have someone like Joe running our football program for so many years, and we took great pride in that. It made our fan base what it is and different from everyone else in my opinion. Like I said before, if it comes out that Joe did out step his boundaries and did turn a blind eye then shame on me and I can honestly say that it will really change my belief that there are truly good people out there. It will also be completely heart broken because I am a fan of Penn State Football because of the old cry "winning the right way." And that to me goes beyond the student athlete, its the culture, a culture Joe Paterno brought to Penn State that has withstood the test of time.