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Reply With QuoteI was looking forward to his press conference to see what he had to say.
That would be almost a relief.Originally Posted by fgg
I didn't start out to collect diamonds, but somehow they just kept piling up.-Mae West
I was looking forward to his press conference to see what he had to say.
You don't engage with crazies. Because they're, you know, fucking crazy. - WitchCurlGirl
Penn State's Paterno faces pressure to quit over sex abuse case
He's reverently and affectionately called "JoePa." He leads Penn State's storied Nittany Lions, their uniforms a pure white with dignified blue stripes, as they've delighted fans for decades in a stadium called Happy Valley.
Now, Joe Paterno, 46 years as Penn State's head coach - and just a week after notching his 409th victory, the most for any major-college football coach - is facing resounding calls to resign in disgrace.
The calls come after Paterno's longtime assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with child sex abuse for alleged incidents dating back to 1994. A graduate assistant informed Paterno of one alleged incident in 2002 that took place in a Penn State locker room shower.
Paterno, who is not facing charges in the case, says he told his superiors in the athletic department about what the graduate assistant saw. Paterno was told that Sandusky was "fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy," according to a grand jury.
Paterno has said in a statement that he "did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention."
On Tuesday, a Paterno news conference during which he was expected to face questions about the scandal was canceled.
"Due to the ongoing legal circumstances centered around the recent allegations and charges, we have determined that today's press conference cannot be held and will not be rescheduled," the university said in a statement.
With no new answers or explanations Tuesday, the prevailing opinion seems to be that Paterno didn't do close to enough; so little that there are widespread calls for him to resign.
"Remember, Penn State is not your typical college football program," writes Neil Rudel in The Altoona Mirror. "It is a kingdom and there is one king, regardless of whether he supposedly reports to anyone else."
"This was a moral test, one in which Penn State's leadership - led by Paterno because he's the king and all he had to do was tell all involved to turn in Sandusky - deserves an F," Rudel writes.
The moral issue came up again and again in comments Tuesday.
"Paterno did only the minimum the law required. Telling (athletic director Tim) Curley doesn’t absolve Paterno from a moral obligation. He should’ve taken action himself. Failing to do that allowed Sandusky to victimize boys for another seven years," the Newark Star-Ledger writes in an editorial.
The Star-Ledger was echoing a point made by Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly on Monday.
“Those officials and administrators to whom it was reported did not report the incident to law enforcement or to any child protection agency. Their inaction, likely, allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many, many years," Kelly said.
"We don't yet know who is legally guilty. But several prominent employees at the state university are morally guilty. And one of them is Joe Paterno," writes Michael Rosenberg on SI.com.
Rosenberg likens Penn State to the Catholic Church, which has been rocked by sex abuse scandals.
"The allegations were so horrific that they threatened to undermine the reputation of the institution. The people in charge should have brought the allegations to light. But they were more worried about how the institution would look than the values it is supposed to uphold," Rosenberg writes.
New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica also used the Catholic Church analogy.
"It was not a priest with a boy in the dark rooms of a church this time, it was the church of football at Penn State University," Lupica wrote.
"If the government can make its case against Sandusky — once Paterno's top football sergeant, and so a priest of football at Penn State — then nobody involved should survive this, starting with a coach who came out of Brooklyn Prep nearly 70 years ago to make his name one of the most famous and respected in the history of his sport," according to Lupica.
In the state capital of Harrisburg, The Patriot-News ran a full front-page editorial calling for the end of Paterno's time at Penn State.
"As for Joe Paterno, the face of Penn State and the man who has pushed for excellence on the football field and for the entire university, this must be his last season. His contract should not be extended," the editorial said.
Besides Sandusky, two other Penn State officials, athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz, face charges in the case for failing to report the abuse allegations to criminal authorities.
In a USA Today story, some questioned if they were trying to protect what the paper called "Paterno's saintly reputation."
"Sainthood is a word not often used in sports of any kind, college or otherwise," Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, is quoted as saying. "This story comes out of a program that seemed the epitome of squeaky-clean."
Earlier this year, another Big Ten conference coach who was seen by many as above reproach, Ohio State's Jim Tressel, resigned in disgrace after withholding program violations from the NCAA. Tressel's case was just the latest in a long list that have plagued college football, including cases at the University of Southern California, the University of Miami and several other top programs.
But commentators Tuesday said the Penn State case has taken the slimy side of college football down to a new depth.
"If these allegations are proven true, this scandal is far worse than anything that's happened at other universities. Exploiting dozens and raping young boys could never compare to the minor infractions of boosters buying a car for a player or a player selling his autographed football jersey for a few bucks," Roxanne Jones, a Penn State alumnae and founding editor of ESPN The Magazine, writes for CNN.com.
At age 84, Paterno has been seen as a candidate for retirement for decades. With the sex abuse scandal rocking the campus, The Philadelphia Inquirer says, Paterno's time has come.
"His oft-discussed retirement would be timelier than ever - even though leaving amid this scandal will provide a sad coda to an otherwise stellar career for the man who, until now, served as the reassuring public face of Penn State," The Inquirer said in an editorial Tuesday.
TIME.com's Sean Gregory said it would be tough for any fan to watch Paterno at work on a Saturday afternoon now.
"If these charges are true, how can we ever view him in the same light again? Who cares about all the wins? We’re not talking about a recruiting violation here. We’re talking about an unspeakable violation, to innocent children," Gregory writes. "We don’t see how Joe Paterno can still coach."
The Star-Ledger is starker.
"Given the disgusting nature of these widespread allegations, the insidious connections to Penn State football and Paterno’s lack of judgment when told, it’s time for him to take his 409 victories and Hall of Fame bust and leave. Quickly," the Ledger said.
Penn State's Paterno faces pressure to quit over sex abuse case – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
can't post pics because my computer's broken and i'm stupid
I cannot believe there is even a debate about this. Any single person who had any contact with Sandusky in or near the football stadium or facilities or University as a whole after 2002 should resign immediately.
If i hear one more personal attack, i will type while drunk, then you can cry! - Bugdoll
(716): I'd call her a cunt, but she doesn't seem to have the depth or warmth
Sandusky was heavily invested in Penn State, and they him. Why else would he have the keys to the sports facility for 17 years after the first accusation? If Sandusky was just running a camp, why all the access? You can't tell me that Penn State didn't spend at least one half-time show each year focused on Sandusky's program or use it to show donors all the good work the team did in the community through Sandusky's camps.
I'd say Penn State is all kinds of responsible in this situation. Sandusky may have left 17 years ago under pressure and Penn State thought that absolved them of any responsibility for his future actions. I call bullshit.
Ok, fair enough. It's true, I don't like old boys' clubs with lots of secrets. After investigating the Catholic Church's attitude towards abuse victims and their families, I've become very jaded and prejudiced about the cynicism and cruelty of large institutions towards the victims of their brethren.
i have to zero the contain to your level -bugdoll
you can't even be ogirinal - Mary
What you're saying works for me.
The entire thing makes me a bit sick to my stomach, it's absolutely foul. There is no reason to take it personally what these people did or did not do at Penn State, it's just a fucked up situation all around and I hope everyone that looked the other way is held accountable.
Posted from my iPhone
KILLING ME WON'T BRING BACK YOUR GOD DAMNED HONEY!!!!!!!!!!
Come on, let's have lots of drinks.
Report: Penn St. planning Paterno's exit
Penn State University officials are discussing how to end the historic career of football coach Joe Paterno after the school was rocked by child sex abuse charges leveled against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The university is reportedly still hashing out how the 84-year-old Paterno's tenure will end, but have concluded that he will not be back in 2012 for a 47th season.
Paterno's son, Scott, said on Twitter that there have been no discussions between the university and his father about an exit plan.
Though he has not been charged with a crime, Paterno is facing a massive backlash over his immediate response to learning of Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse of a child in 2002.
Paterno was set to make his first public appearance since Sandusky's arrest at his weekly news conference Tuesday, but university president Graham Spanier abruptly called off the briefing with less than an hour to go.
Paterno said Spanier canceled the press conference without providing him with an explanation for the decision, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
The athletic department had said Monday night that Paterno would only answer questions about Saturday's game against Nebraska. Paterno, though, claimed after the cancellation that he was prepared to answer questions about the scandal.
The Times reported that Paterno has quickly lost support among the school's board of trustees since Sandusky's arrest Saturday.
Sandusky, 67, has been charged with 21 felony counts for allegedly abusing eight victims over a period of 15 years. The allegations were laid out in a grand jury report.
Six of the eight alleged victims have been identified by investigators, but their names have not been made public.
A possible ninth victim came forward to police over the weekend after seeing the reports of Sandusky's arrest, according to the Patriot-News.
Athletic director Tim Curley and vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz were charged with perjury for failing to notify authorities about the allegations.
Curley and Schultz, who announced they would step down Sunday night, have maintained their innocence.
According to the indictment, Paterno notified Curley after a then-graduate assistant on his coaching staff reported that he witnessed Sandusky having sexual intercourse with a boy in the Penn State locker room shower. Sandusky was no longer a coach at the school, but had access to the locker room as part of a non-profit organization he ran for at-risk children.
Paterno's legal requirement was that he notify his superior, but on Monday Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan suggested there was a "moral responsibility" for the coach to make sure police were contacted.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said Monday the university's failure to report the alleged incidents to police or child-protection officials likely led to further victimization of young boys for several years.
In a statement released Sunday night, Paterno maintained he did what he "was supposed to do" under the law.
After learning of the alleged 2002 incident, the university banned Sandusky from bringing children into the locker room, but he continued to have contact with young boys through football camps at Penn State satellite campuses until 2008.
If this season turns out to be Paterno's last, then Saturday would be the final home game of his legendary career and would occur just two weeks after he recorded his 409th win to pass Eddie Robinson for most victories by a Division I coach.
Sandusky played for Paterno from 1963-65, returning to Penn State as a coach in 1969. He was defensive coordinator from 1977-99, and was long viewed as a possible successor to Paterno.
can't post pics because my computer's broken and i'm stupid
How could anyone on the Nittany Lions' team walk out on to the field this weekend in good conscience with either McQueery or Paterno either in charge of anything or even in the stadium?? His press conference wasn't cancelled because he's loony (he had one last week, wasn't he just as out of it then?); it was cancelled so he wouldn't have to talk about the allegations and his probable part in a coverup.
This is making OSU's tatooligans look like the Peace Corps in comparison.
“In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”
― Dr. Seuss
Wait, how they're going to show Paterno the door is what they're worried about? God damn, they're dumb.
Apparently Sandusky had access to the PSU weight room and was on campus last week.
Kinda looking forward to watching the Penn State at Ohio State game on 11/19. Should be interesting. We Ohio sports fans are known for our understated class!
If i hear one more personal attack, i will type while drunk, then you can cry! - Bugdoll
(716): I'd call her a cunt, but she doesn't seem to have the depth or warmth
I live in PA which means I of course have many family members, friends and employees who are PSU grads. I was happy to see that the Alum have started a Facebook page of PSU Alum for the prevention of child abuse. The alum are gathering to make the point that WE ARE PENN STATE means they are well educated people who care about children and that this scandal does not represent who WE ARE. It is early stages but people are posting about asking for the resignation fo several key people and for starting a fund to help prevent abuse going forward. They are well intentioned and I hope they succeed in making meaningful change. I am just happy to see they are not defending anyone involved and are looking for a way to help kids.
You don't engage with crazies. Because they're, you know, fucking crazy. - WitchCurlGirl
This is really terrific - and, Paterno's gotta go. I don't care how - carry him out on a gurney or stash him in this week's trash - just get him out of there before it gets worse.
“In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”
― Dr. Seuss
9 victims have come forward, but I wonder how many more are out there that are staying quiet....
RELIGION: Treat it like it's your genitalia. Don't show it off in public, and don't shove it down your children's throats.
Damn, I saw a docu about that DA a while ago on Investigation Discovery. It was an odd story.
I think I heard that Paterno's contract is up at the end of this season anyway.
avatar made by green_queen@LJ
facebook post:
If an older woman chasing a younger boy is called a cougar, is an older man chasing a younger boy called a nittany lion?
can't post pics because my computer's broken and i'm stupid
Mothers of Alleged Penn State Sex Abuse Victims Speak Out
Giving a voice to one of the biggest sex scandals in college sports history, the moms of two alleged victims of Penn State University's former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky have spoken out about their sons' ordeals.
"I'm very proud of him," the mother of one of the boys – referred to as Victim One by authorities – told The Patriot-News of her son. "He's a brave kid. And his major concern in the whole thing was for anybody else. That was his big thing. He said, 'I just don't want this to happen to anybody else.' "
According to authorities, the alleged abuse happened to eight boys. Sandusky has been indicted on 40 counts, including inappropriate touching and statutory rape. He stands accused of targeting the boys over 15 years, both before and after his retirement in 1999.
Additionally, former athletic director Timothy Curley and former Vice President of Business and Finance Gary Schultz resigned from the university Sunday night. They were arraigned Monday on perjury charges for claiming they did not know about the alleged sex abuse.
The Alleged Abuse: What Happened
The mother of Victim One said her son first met Sandusky through his children's charity the Second Mile. Her son was attracted to the perks of being around a popular figure in college sports – as well as the gifts and trips that came with it, the mom told the newspaper, which is not identifying the boys or their mothers.
Victim One was 15 when, prodded by his mother who saw he had begun "acting out," told school officials that he had been sexually assaulted by Sandusky. He said the abuse lasted four years.
Another boy's mother is also sharing her family's story. Victim Six, now 24, alleged in 1998 that Sandusky touched him during a shower together at Penn State, but no charges were brought after her son reported the alleged incident. He cried when he read the grand jury presentment, says his mom.
"I'm so upset," she said. "My son is extremely distraught, and now to see how we were betrayed, words cannot tell you." She added, "He had no idea how bad it was. He was lucky. He only had that one contact with him."
Victim One's mom says one of the worst things about the ordeal is the knowledge that Curley and Schultz have been accused of knowing about, and ignoring, another incident of sexual abuse by Sandusky in 2002.
"I'm infuriated that people would not report something like that," she said. "I still can't believe it. I'm appalled. I'm shocked. I'm stunned. There's so many words. I'm very mad. They could have prevented this from happening."
can't post pics because my computer's broken and i'm stupid
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