# Coach Joe Paterno dead of lung cancer, 85

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 22, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269 "2012-01-22T02:27:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/1 "2012-01-22T02:27:24Z")

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[Story.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/joe-paterno-dead-ex-penn-state-football-coach_n_1221289.html)

I’ll withhold commentary.

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/2 "2012-01-22T02:29:18Z")

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Or maybe not- literally two minutes of posting the above they’re saying the story is unconfirmed. I’ll leave it up in case he dies again. (Apparently he died or didn’t die while playing with his neighbor Erwin Schrodinger’s cat.)

So the story is: Joe Paterno, 85, might or might not be dead. Of course that’s been true every day for 85 years.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/3 "2012-01-22T02:32:10Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I’ll withhold commentary.

Well, at least report it to your supervisor.

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/4 "2012-01-22T02:33:48Z")

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> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> Well, at least report it to your supervisor.

Possibly dead/possibly not dead old men are the maintenance man’s job.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/5 "2012-01-22T02:37:50Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Possibly dead/possibly not dead

Just open the damned box!

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**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/6 "2012-01-22T02:40:22Z")

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That poor cat!

What doesn’t anyone think about the cat!

You people! \<shakes fist\>

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**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/7 "2012-01-22T02:43:56Z")

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In [The Game Room](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=639294)

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/8 "2012-01-22T02:47:38Z")

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According to my Twitter feed, it’s not true.

Since there’s another thread in the Game Room, I’ll close this one, in any case.

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-joe-paterno-dead-of-lung-cancer-85/610269/9 "2012-01-22T18:28:55Z")

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Although the death has been confirmed, I still don’t see the need for a Cafe Society thread on this when there’s a thread in the Game Room, so I’m not going to reopen it.

**twickster** , Cafe Society moderator