Penn State, Rah, Rah, Rah.

[laojim]

According to the news, a boy was raped in the shower by a member of the football faculty in the pay of the university. Students have turned out in large numbers to express their support of the coach.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this story?

[Shikanosuke]

According to the news, a boy was raped in the shower by a member of the football faculty in the pay of the university. Students have turned out in large numbers to express their support of the coach.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this story?

From what I heard I believed the students were attending to show the support of Coach Paterno, who is accused of no wrongdoing other than failure to take further action (further than notifying 2 superiors). They aren't rallying, from what I can tell, to support him failing to take up the matter but to remain as head coach. I'm pretty sure the board/president is considering him kicking him out.

Not too surprising to see fans clamor around one of those big coach types.

[laojim]

According to the news, a boy was raped in the shower by a member of the football faculty in the pay of the university. Students have turned out in large numbers to express their support of the coach.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this story?

From what I heard I believed the students were attending to show the support of Coach Paterno, who is accused of no wrongdoing other than failure to take further action (further than notifying 2 superiors). They aren't rallying, from what I can tell, to support him failing to take up the matter but to remain as head coach. I'm pretty sure the board/president is considering him kicking him out.

Not too surprising to see fans clamor around one of those big coach types.

Something similar happened at Colorado a few years ago.
I didn't see any rally in favor of abused young man, or one criticizing the employees of the athletic department. One might suppose that Paterno could have reached over and called the cops himself or rushed off to throw the guy who did the abusing out or something. We are not very impressed with the big time coach doing the absolute least that the law allows.
But, then, I'm tired of coaches running the universities. Bobby Bowden comes to mind, doing a good job of keeping his boys out of prison.

[Bryan]

Something similar happened at Colorado a few years ago.
I didn't see any rally in favor of abused young man, or one criticizing the employees of the athletic department. One might suppose that Paterno could have reached over and called the cops himself or rushed off to throw the guy who did the abusing out or something. We are not very impressed with the big time coach doing the absolute least that the law allows.
But, then, I'm tired of coaches running the universities. Bobby Bowden comes to mind, doing a good job of keeping his boys out of prison.

But that's the thing, isn't it? There have been several coaches with a long history at a school where something just forces them to bow out like this. Paterno was there for 61 years. I've never got the impression from anyone that Paterno "ran" the university, per se, but he was the full force behind that football program which still has several games left in the current season. Shikanosuke had it right on why there was a rally to show support for a coach that most of the fans grew up with, and who they want to stay to at least finish out the season. He's already announced that he's retiring after the season finishes. There are a lot of people that don't believe he should even get that choice.

Edit- Okay, didn't check the news before I posted. Apparently Paterno was fired last night.

On the flip side, while rallies are nice and all, I think it's way too early in this thing to have one, personally. It could still get a lot uglier once facts really start getting uncovered, and didn't a couple more men come forward accusing Sandusky? Right now there's a ton of finger pointing and Joe's just the current centerpiece. What about the people he did tell? Or the guy that told him?

Would also like to note that the shower event supposedly took place back in 1998.

[SunXia]

What I know of the story is that McQueary walked in on Sandusky physically raping a ten year old boy and reported it to Joe Paterno, who further reported it to the Dean or University head or something!! Nobody did anything other than tell Sandusky not to bring his business to work!! All of these people have been thus punished and so they should be as they all knew full well what had happened and had disregarded their responsibilities as members of the faculty!! I don't think they should all be imprisoned but they should never be allowed to be the "responsible adults" in that sort of environment again!! Such actions are a disgrace!!

[Zhuanyong]

Being a former football player and also potentially having gone to Penn State from H.S., I'm actually glad I didn't go there after hearing what has been going on these past few days. I think Joe Paterno (and this is coming from a PSU fan), should be fired for lack of taking action. Jerry Sandusky should have been fired and imprisoned for what he was doing. That's no different than a Catholic priest molesting young boys in my opinion. It doesn't matter what level of religious or communal relations they have. They should be removed from their position and put in jail.

Sure, he has been the face of the college sports program for basically 3 generations but so what. Should he be given the pass for not being the leader that he showed himself to be. Sandusky could have been fired and wasn't, plain and simple.

Also, now my wife will definitely not allow my sons to play football when they grow up... She also had some choice words in regards to the few times she witness me get the 'fanny pat' during games.

[Shikanosuke]

Just for the record, I wasn't defending the coach or the rallies in support of him.

[Zhuanyong]

Just for the record, I wasn't defending the coach or the rallies in support of him.

???

I didn't read anything that would have made me think such. That's what they were doing. They were defending his firing as I'd assume they believe he is only marginally guilty and should remain the coach.

[Shikanosuke]

Just for the record, I wasn't defending the coach or the rallies in support of him.

???

I didn't read anything that would have made me think such. That's what they were doing. They were defending his firing as I'd assume they believe he is only marginally guilty and should remain the coach.

Good to know.

[Zhuanyong]

The PSU fan in me almost wanted to side with the 'Keep Joe!' crowd but, being a parent all of that takes a backseat to the reality that there are 'True pieces of poo!' in this world. While I won't fault Joe with the actions that Sandusky committed, he was definitely his enabler. As the leader of that team along with the power and pull he had, he could have done more than tell someone what transpired and likely attempted to sweep it under the rug. He should have reported him to police authority and ensured his firing.

Something makes me wonder if he had a hand in what happened.