Posted on 11/12/2011 8:13:38 AM PST by Kaslin
Back in 1999, I was driving into State College for a Penn State football game, listening to the pregame show on the radio.
They were interviewing Jerry Sandusky about his impending retirement. The play-by-play man asked him how much he had enjoyed working with Joe Paterno.
“Nobody enjoys working for Joe,” Sandusky said. “He’s hard on everyone. He demands perfection, and perfection is hard to achieve. And he lets you know about it when you fall short.”
The host sort of recoiled from the answer, but the color man cackled and said, “Yeah, Joe and Jerry don’t exactly see eye to eye.”
The color man was George Paterno, brother of the coach.
That’s what makes the defense of Joe Paterno offered by Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post and others so absolutely misguided. Jenkins’ idea was to call a shrink and ask him about the psychology of reporting one’s friends for the acts of which Sandusky has been accused.
But Sandusky wasn’t a friend. He was a co-worker, an underling – and one, by then, whom Paterno knew to be capable of some ghastly things. So what if we rethink this and view Paterno not as a man of honor who protected his friend out of misguided loyalty but as CEO of a corporation – which, essentially, is what a major college football coach is – who has discovered misdeeds by a top executive?
And make no mistake, whether he liked him or not, Paterno did protect Sandusky. He knew about the 1999 incident. He knew about the 2002 incident. He probably knew much more. Yet, he allowed this alleged predator to go on for another decade, even though he knew Sandusky was a foster parent and head of a charity that brought vulnerable children into his orbit.
And remember, Sandusky would be on the loose today if it were up to Joe Paterno. The coach can say what he wants about hindsight. But for hindsight to be meaningful, it has to come before the frog march. Ask Jack Abramoff.
The I-told-my-boss defense also does not fly for Joe. It’s fine if you start out that way. You tell your boss. You get the paper for a week. If you don’t see a story in the paper about what you told your boss, you take other action. Particularly if you’re Joe Paterno.
Because if you’re Joe Paterno, your boss – the athletic director – is not actually your boss. He can’t fire you – the AD tried once, with the help of the president of the university, and Joe rebuffed it. He can’t discipline you – Paterno’s version of right and wrong is infinitely more credible than the ADs to the people who care about Penn State football. And the performance review is done by the TV-watching, ticket-buying, suite-reserving, game-attending public, which cares all about Ws and Ls and nothing about your opinion.
It’s a little more complicated if you’re Mike McQueary. To him, Joe is much more than a friend. He is a mentor, a boss, an example of what manhood and leadership are supposed to be. If he thinks the Sandusky secret should stay in-house, it is not as easy to go against this. But go against this you must.
But back to the original question: If Paterno didn’t protect Sandusky out of friendship and loyalty, then why? And why did those whose ties are not as strong – the president of the school, the VP of finance, the athletic director – not only not come forward but affirmatively lie on Sandusky’s behalf?
There is a good chance the AD and vice president could go to prison for awhile … and perhaps longer if more details emerge.
And how big is this cone of silence? Does it include the university police? The local police? Other state officials and/or office-holders? And, again, why? What are these victims to make of the community they live in and the men who run it? Did nobody care about them enough to stand up and stop this?
This time last week, we all assumed these were decent men. The rioters in State College obviously still think Paterno is.
Why then? Why was this hidden? A lot of people think the secret inside the secret has been revealed – what on earth could be worse than a 40-count indictment for child molestation? But some other secret was bigger. That secret is worth keeping even if it means prison for some of the top officials at Penn State and, for Paterno, the loss of the job that seemed to be his for life and a reputation envied by all in his profession.
That must be one hell of a secret.
There are some clips of Sandusky talking about the charity being a great "opportunity" to throw the boys "a rope" for them to hang onto. He uses the word "opportunity" a lot when describing that charity.
Anyone remember the 1996 movie Sleepers? It was based on a book that the author claimed to be true, but the New York youth correctional authorities and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office denied the events took place. The author always maintained that they did.
That is infuriating, but it's not going to work in this case. Everyone knows the score on this one. The media can do their psy-ops group-think propaganda till the cows come home.
The Discover I.D. Channel has a program called “Disappeared” that runs on Monday nights and the repeats run at other times throughout the week. It is also available on youtube under the subject of “Disappeared Ray Gricar.” It’s a pretty good show-I recommend that you watch it. It focuses on the Gricar case and presents the facts of the investigation in a timeline and also has interviews with investigators and family members. They present several possible scenarios (I won’t mention them so I won’t spoil it if you watch it). It runs about 50 min. long.
After watching this show a couple months ago it bothered me for days after. I couldn’t stop thinking about why this man just disappeared. I don’t think the Penn State scandal had anything to do with it (just my opinion,I kinda agree with one of the scenarios from the show, but I could change it if other info comes to light)-—it’s just a very mysterious and baffling case.
The irony, huh?
I have seen grown men stoically endure the deaths of family members with a dry eye. However, mention the death of Bear Bryant and they begin sobbing like little girls.
No surprise. Ex football players get top employment priority in many fields, at least where I come from. No matter if they are as dumb as a box of hammers.
$91 mil a year is a lot of money (see post #30 above). Important people have been done in for a tenth of that.
I have lost faith in the “system”, completely and totally.
You and me both.]
Make that 3.
Roger that. And this guy is classic closet homo. Married, passel of adopted kids. Not gay though, nope....
SHOCKING PENN STATE RUMOR: Jerry Sandusky 'Pimped Out Young Boys To Rich Donors'
Over in Europe they busted an online pedophile ring with 70,000 members. Earlier, there were rings busted that involved government officials.
Consider this scenario: could it be that Sandusky was just a front man, procuring and "breaking in" vulnerable boys for wealthy/powerful pedophiles, and providing venues where such wealthy/powerful pedophiles could have sex with young boys while being shielded from having their identities revealed.
How much would the lives of Sandusky and the rest of the "visible" people involved be worth if a hundred or so "movers and shakers" were threatened with exposure?
Call me cynical, but I don’t see the NCAA jumping on this. If sandusky had given them a gift for the rape, AND they were potential football recruits, The NCAA would have been all over it with a vengeance. But since recruiting violations weren’t involved, the big boys couldn’t care less.
Hey, it was just kids, not football players, right? And they were probably thrown away after being raped, instead of enrolled at PS, so no big deal.
Am I wrong?
That's amazing...
I regularly listen to Penn State games on the radio and remember George as the sidekick for many years. The last time I heard George he was a caller to the Joe Paterno show and he was drunk off his rear end. It was sad and pathetic, and Joe was obviously embarrassed. It wasn’t long after that call that George passed away.
The scenario you laid out is exactly what I think was going on. Sandusky was very careful in choosing the right boys and then took his time “grooming” them. It is all so sick.
I noticed that the Penn State Facebook page had one entry dealing with the victims of Sandusky and that was it.The rest of it was football,football and more football.Very sad.The single entry on the page was to announce the candlelight vigil for the victims,and there were some pretty angry comments left on the page,as you would imagine.I think the page should be taken down and replaced with something more appropriate. If Penn State thinks they’re just going to gloss over this and move on,they’re mistaken.There ain’t that much gloss in the world!!
Oh wow... I’m telling you, there is a circle of Sexual perversion at Penn State University. And that entire circle, it’s members, and those protecting it will come crashing down. It’s going to the the biggest news story since. 9-11.
Really,First time I read that.
Money woes could mean fewer college teams (April 2010).
Is college football doomed? (June 2011).
NCAA tourney awash in cash. (April 2010).
Paterno, PSU differ from many universities. (August 2011, VERY interesting in view of recent events>.
Paterno admits he broke rule. (June 2011).
Pigskin piggy bank. (January 2010).
This story brings up a serious point. If JoePa had his way, Sandusky would still be raping children on Penn State campus.
How anyone celebrates the man at this point is beyond me.
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