Posted on 01/03/2014 4:08:31 PM PST by FlJoePa
By now, you’ve probably read Patriot News columnist David Jones’ rabble-rousing piece outlining some of the reasons behind Bill O’Brien’s departure — specifically quoting O’Brien during profanity laced tirade against so-called “Paterno people” that supposedly drove him right out of Happy Valley. If you haven’t, you should.
I couldn’t help but feel compelled the first time I read the story Tuesday night. On the surface, it has significant shock value and information you won’t find anywhere else. But then I read it again. And again. And now, three days later, I find myself reading it for the dozenth time and growing angrier and angrier at an ill-conceived quote that went viral and once again damaged our collective identity for no good reason.
Before I explain, let me make two things clear:
1. Joe Paterno’s legacy has no bearing on the ridiculousness of this story and O’Brien’s comments. It’s a complete non sequitur to the negative impact of this story as far as I’m concerned. Let’s not distract the point with those arguments.
2. I’m actually a big fan of David Jones. I don’t always agree with his opinion, but he’s one of the most eloquent and well-connected writers on the beat and I have immense respect for his work. No matter how angry you might be at Jones for this one, don’t let this incident devolve into ad hominem.
Now, to the story. Here’s an excerpt of a conversation Jones had with O’Brien in early December, which he left unpublished until Tuesday:
O’Brien’s ire also was raised that day by my suggestion that a faction of Joe Paterno-era loyalists seemed to me to be miffed by Vanderlinden’s departure or dismissal, depending upon their view, and that they might want some sort of explanation. The former linebackers coach had been the second-longest-tenured member of the staff, dating to 2000, one of only two remaining staff members hired by the legendary coach. This really got O’Brien going:
“You can print this: You can print that I don’t really give a —- what the ‘Paterno people’ think about what I do with this program. I’ve done everything I can to show respect to Coach Paterno. Everything in my power. So I could really care less about what the Paterno faction of people, or whatever you call them, think about what I do with the program. I’m tired of it.
“For any ‘Paterno person’ to have any objection to what I’m doing, it makes me wanna put my fist through this windshield right now.”
This entire exchange is just a head scratcher. It was doomed from the beginning, starting from when Jones made the false assertion that “Paterno loyalists” specifically were miffed about the Vanderlinden dismissal. I’ve heard very few people mention the Paterno connection as a reason to be upset about Vanderlinden’s departure. No, people are confused about the Vanderlinden dismissal because he was a great coach, independent of his Paterno affiliation.
Is O’Brien really so thin skinned that he can’t understand why fans would want answers about why one of the best position coaches in the country was fired? I don’t know why Vanderlinden was dismissed, and I trust that O’Brien had a good reason for his dismissal. But to fault fans for questioning a decision to let a coach go, with no explanation, who seemingly developed Pro Bowl-caliber linebackers year in and year out? That has nothing to do with Joe Paterno, and they’re fair questions to ask.
The second part of the exchange is just as absurd: “So I could really care less about what the Paterno faction of people, or whatever you call them, think about what I do with the program. I’m tired of it.”
This is coming from a man who was one of the most ubiquitously loved college football coaches in the entire country. In two years, I can count the number of Penn State fans on one hand — Paterno loyalist or otherwise — who did not support Bill O’Brien. To claim that Paterno loyalists were in any large number against O’Brien or what he did with the program is a lie. O’Brien was adored at Penn State by essentially everyone in the community — I suspect only a handful of coaches would have a higher approval rating at any level of football.
Sure, some of the more traditional fans were upset about O’Brien’s decision to put names on the jerseys and a few other small decisions. They have a right to be, because for many people, tradition is important and change is hard. But even the fans upset about those relatively inconsequential changes almost always supported and loved O’Brien.
Obviously, O’Brien had plenty of valid reasons to leave. Coaching in the NFL is the top of the profession, and he made no secret that it was a dream of his. He’ll undoubtedly be making more money. Now he can just coach football instead of being forced to act as an ambassador for he university, something he never really embraced. But, to tell David Jones that the reasons for leaving Penn State are fans questioning a high-profile coaching change and fans being unhappy with the direction of the program? The former is reasonable; the latter is simply untrue.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an instance of confirmation bias — David Jones, after all, coined the term “JoeBots” to describe the folks that are still fighting to restore Paterno’s legacy. Jones asserts “Some of his frustrations revolved around what he saw as the lack of leadership at Penn State” but offers no flippant quotes or insults about that nugget. And then again, maybe O’Brien does actually harbor some deep-seated hatred for any fan who dare question the departure of the best linebackers coach in the country. I don’t understand it, but it could be true.
So why do I care? If this was just a typical Jones column that gets passed around for a day or two and then falls into the abyss, as most things tend to do on the Internet, it wouldn’t really matter. But telling Joe Paterno loyalists to fuck off was, of course, too much for the national media to pass up.
More than 41,000 articles now show up on Google that include the terms “O’Brien” and “Paterno people”. Almost every national outlet picked up the story — ESPN, USA Today, Yahoo, Fox, Daily News, Washington Post, Sporting News, Philadelphia Magazine, and Chicago Tribune just to name ten. Of course, the articles didn’t mention the fact that almost every Penn Stater loved and embraced O’Brien — that we believed in him almost unequivocally and that, ultimately, he had honest NFL aspirations all along. No, that quote and those articles paint a picture of a crazy Penn State cult that ran O’Brien out of town like a bunch of lunatics, a situation that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s an incredibly damaging narrative, and there’s no going back at this point.
Steve Jones had similar things to say on his radio show yesterday. Jones dedicated the first 15 minutes to discussing the article, saying “I don’t think (Dave Jones) had it quite right.”
“I think more context was needed beyond everyone just picking up this story,” Jones said. “You can’t paint with a broad brush unless you come to the table with a full palette. Dave needs a fuller palette to give perspective on what this actually means.”
Just another day at Penn State, where one off-the-record, fallacious quote paints the entire community as an insufferable cult. Here’s to a new coach and a new era.
*Shrug* You post fairly often about the man. If you don’t expect unfavorable comments, you’re not being realistic.
And no, I’m not interested enough to “seek the truth about his life and legacy.” Good grief, who do you think he is? Jesus?
What a stupid comment.
“Who do you think he is? Jesus?”
Really. Is it not the calling of all Christians to be more like our Savior? No one can ever BE the Lord, but we can ALL strive to be as CLOSE to His example of being an apostle of the faith that He brought to us.
Joe Paterno happened to be a great Christian man. If you took the time to know more, you’d be less likely to make idiotic and snarky comments about someone you can never match as a valuable member of society.
That response goes a long way toward proving: insufferable cult.
>> Joe Paterno happened to be a great Christian man.
A great Christian man does not look the other way while his assistant repeatedly rapes young boys in his locker room, to preserve his job, his football program, and his legacy.
Don’t bother trying to evangelize me about Paterno.
BTW, I can say this....I don’t claim to be anyone great. Far from it. But I can honestly say that I’ve never turned a blind eye to the buggering of children.
That’s a great piece of fiction you’re working on there. Tell me more!
Neither did Joe - or ANYONE at Penn State. But don’t let that stop your uneducated indignation.
Paterno was never charged, nor accused of such.
do YOU have any evidence of Paterno’s culpability or involvement in the crimes? If so, you are duty bound to forward that evidence to the proper authorities. Since the investigating and prosecuting authorities never accused, charged or tried Paterno or any involvement in the crimes, your “evidence” would be a bombshell.
If you DON’T have such evidence, and it is merely your “opinion”, then your comments are given the appropriate and equal weight of any other theoretical vomitus presented by the clueless and dimwitted.
I thank you for your “contribution” to the discussion.
What bothers me more than anything is what’s being ignored or brushed under the rug. And nobody seems to give a damn. All they’re worried about is the stupid G-D football program. Sandusky was just the tip of the iceberg. The Second Mile Foundation is a well-organized, well-funded network of pedophiles involving high-level politicians, judges, and other very influential people. I wish someone would start connecting the dots already. But they won’t because it would expose very powerful people to allegations of unspeakable crimes.
Nice to see the pedophilia supporting wing of FR checking in this early in the year.
Burn Pedo State to the ground. Dig up Paterno and feed his rotting corpse to wild dogs.
How do I know you haven’t?
For all we know, you have turned a blind eye while dozens of children have been raped, sodomized, assaulted, filmed and photographed.
At least Paterno was in the glare of competent investigators who made the determination he had no culpability.
He has exonerating investigations on his side. You don’t.
“Joe Paterno happened to be a great Christian man”
Yea, Jesus loved those who failed to protect children from pedophiles.
Satan is buggering Paterno right now and I hope he does it for 10,000 years.
You describe the media very well in that post. But not PS4RS or Ray Blehar, Franco Harris, John Ziegler, and thousands of PSU alums. They want the truth and they know it runs from the second mile to the Hershey School to Harrisburg to Philly.
Ray has done the most work on this and, as an experienced federal investigator, has pointed new AG Kane in the right direction.
The problem is that Kane is just another self-serving pol that used PSU much the way O’Brien used them - to advance herself politically and professionally.
Paterno died before he could be held accountable (in this life, anyway).
Only a fool, a pedophile, or a member of the Ped State Football Uber Alles cult could suspend enough disbelief to say with a straight face that Paterno was not aware of the crimes committed against innocent boys on his watch.
The rest of us, who weren’t born yesterday and find homosexual pedophilia disgusting have examined the ample evidence of his awareness and attempted cover-up and drawn the inescapable conclusion.
Typical Liberal bullshit. Make an incendiary accusation and hope it sticks.
How has a Troll like you survived on FR so long?
one of 0bama’s NSA buttboy, choom smoking minions burrowing into the territory of good Americans?
He’s a pirate!
I refer you to post 31.
Put up or shut up, Troll.
Since you have no evidence, your BS is as worthy for consideration as 0bama’s BS.
Try harder.
What part of Frank Fina’s (the lead prosecutor in the case) comment don’t you understand? You need someone to read it to you reallll sloooowwww?
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