# It's time to officially Pit Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167 "2011-11-07T14:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 112
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2221 "2012-01-22T22:05:24Z")
[Cool story, Bro!](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cool-story-bro) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2222 "2012-01-22T22:05:42Z")
Nope. It’s a good story and a true story. And it has an appropriate moral. Care to guess what it is? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2223 "2012-01-22T22:14:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > But then, as I turn back to head for my car, I spot this redneck bozo further down the sidewalk standing there with his hands on his hips glaring at me, certain, no doubt - as would be most of the posters in this thread - that I was but one step away from from luring them behind the store for a quick bout of rapeage.: All you needed to do was to clarify that you had NO intention of raping the boys…but you just wanted take off all their clothes and give them naked bears hugs, then teach them some nude wrestling moves and give them lessons on how to appropriately clean their scrotum. I’m sure the redneck bozo would have immediately understood that you were just a good samaritan. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2224 "2012-01-22T22:22:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Yep, it’s true! I, in my own nonfamous-as-an-excellent-person-and-nurturing-football-coach kind of way, got tagged as a pedophile last night. It went down like this: > > While en route to a relative’s house for a visit I stopped at a nearby 7-11 for a can of pop and a couple of the chocolate covered cherries they keep on the counter. Standing in the way at the however were a couple of boys around 11 or 12 years with several bags of goodies and a couple of fountain drinks, discussing animatedly whether they had enough money for all stuff they wanted to buy and which things to keep and which to leave if they didn’t have enough. > > Growing perturbed that they were standing between me and my beloved chocolate covered cherries and anxious to be on my way, I reached past them, saying “Pardon me, boys, I just need to grab a couple of these cherries,” where upon they apologized profusely and very politely for being in my way and explained that they weren’t ready to pay for anything anyway, they were just trying to figure out what they could afford. > > About that time another clerk came up and told them she could help them at her register so they scooped up all their stuff and moved over there. So I paid for my stuff and walked outside, stopping on the sidewalk by a trash can to unwrap one of the cherries, when they came walking out of the store with what seemed to be fewer items than they had before. > > Impressed with their politeness and friendly manner, I asked them if they’d had enough money for the things they wanted to buy. They said they were able to get everything but their drinks. I asked how much the drinks were and they said 76 cents… _“each”_! 😃 > > So I pulled out my billfold and gave them a couple of dollars to pay for their drinks, and watched smilingly as they hurried back into the store to get their drinks. > > But then, as I turn back to head for my car, I spot this redneck bozo further down the sidewalk standing there with his hands on his hips glaring at me, certain, no doubt - as would be most of the posters in this thread - that I was but one step away from from luring them behind the store for a quick bout of rapeage. I thought about challenging that dillweed but was concerned that residual annoyance from this thread might cause things to turn physical, and so I simply loitered a moment longer to let him know I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, and then got back into my car and continued on my way. > > So this is the kind of world you people are creating, where men are virtually prohibited from interacting pleasantly with children (and men are getting into fistfights on sidewalks over imaginary pedophiles) and children are taught to be fearful and distrustful of men. I have no doubt that in 15 or 20 years Oprah-esque programs will be full of people with screwed up romantic and family lives because they were raised to be fearful of men. > > And guess what? Kids will still be being sexually abused, so all you will have accomplished - as usual - is to create tons of new problems while the problems you sought to eliminate by doing so continue to flourish. So once again your hysteria, paranoia and fearfulness have succeeded in screwing things up majorly for the many while accomplishing precious little for the few. > > Good job, nabobs! :rolleyes: I’m sure you wanted their chocolate covered cherries. 😉 Since you didn’t talk to the guy outside how could you possibly know what his issue was? Maybe he was their dad and was in a hurry and was annoyed that they were going back into the store. Maybe he was there to molest them and you thwarted his plan. I guess we’ll never know but your answer is no more likely than others. Talk about jumping to conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2225 "2012-01-22T23:02:44Z")
And as I drove home in my rented panel van, being sure to take an atypical route and discarding the chloroform, handcuffs, and silicone butt plugs at the first poorly-lit intersection, I tore the false beard from my face and thought: is this what the world has become? ---
**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, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2226 "2012-01-22T23:07:06Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > “Pardon me, boys, I just need to grab a couple of these cherries,” Even in context, this cracks me up, but your larger point about how Paterno’s personal failings are just us liberals projecting our liberality is bullshit and if you had any sense at all, you’d salvage the tenuous shreds of your dignity and walk away from this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2227 "2012-01-22T23:30:56Z")
That is pretty funny, I gotta admit. More later. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2228 "2012-01-23T00:04:07Z")
As a parent, I get pissed off when people give my kids things I don’t want them to have. Maybe the kids had enough money for candy but not soda for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2229 "2012-01-23T00:05:05Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Your head is so tightly wedged up Paterno’s tight end that it has caused cerebral hypoxia which has severely impaired your judgement. \ And I would say the same about all other “fans” and apologists too. He’s dead. Tough shit. Bye bye. The bugs and worms can have him now. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2230 "2012-01-23T00:54:13Z")
I love how SA somehow equates getting a funny look from a stranger who doesn’t say anything to him to being mad about not reporting actual child rape to the authorities. Totally the same. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2231 "2012-01-23T00:58:45Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Even in context, this cracks me up, but your larger point about how Paterno’s personal failings are just us liberals projecting our liberality is bullshit and if you had any sense at all, you’d salvage the tenuous shreds of your dignity and walk away from this thread. And when I dream, I wish for a pony. ---
**Author:** ![Dolomite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Dolomite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolomite)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2232 "2012-01-23T01:47:40Z")
> [@](#): > > But Paterno is more worldly than that. He studied Greek literature at Brown. Whoa. How can Paterno ever claim he didn’t know of such things? They wrote the book on boy buggery. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2233 "2012-01-23T03:37:08Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > And when I dream, I wish for a pony. There must be a pony! Look at all the horse shit. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2234 "2012-01-23T03:40:22Z")
Well, with Joe dead now they can let the hounds loose without fearing damaging the guys history. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2235 "2012-01-23T05:22:14Z")
The man is dead but this thread lives on. I wonder when people will figure out the Paterno was silenced because he was going to spill the beans on Obama. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2236 "2012-01-23T14:15:39Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > _Lengthy story with no apparent relevance to thread_ So, **Starving Artist** , do you like movies about gladiators? > [@Vinyl Turnip](#): > > And as I drove home in my rented panel van, being sure to take an atypical route and discarding the chloroform, handcuffs, and silicone butt plugs at the first poorly-lit intersection, I tore the false beard from my face and thought: is this what the world has become? _snicker_ ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2237 "2012-01-23T15:06:37Z")
He died the way he lived: ignoring the screams of children. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2238 "2012-01-23T15:35:26Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > So, **Starving Artist** , do you like movies about gladiators? Ever been in a Turkish prison? ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2239 "2012-01-23T18:01:08Z")
I think I got the moral of SA’s story. You can give children money for candy and get nothing more than a disapproving look from a stranger. I’m not sure how it’s relevant to not doing anything about a naked man and an underage boy in a shower. As I have repeatedly said, I think Paterno should have been allowed to resign quietly at the end of the season. I do not think he is a pedophile or a criminal. I think he is just an example of how evil can flourish when otherwise decent men remain silent or do the bare minimum because they don’t want to get involved or feel it’s not their problem. This doesn’t diminish his legacy but it doesn’t make him a hero either. It makes him a man who was either too lazy, too selfish or too self-involved to care about what was happening for years in front of his eyes. I don’t expect people to be perfect but he was on the wrong side of the line when he failed to go that extra step or even to dissociate himself from Sandusky and his charity when he knew that at minimum Sandusky had been involved in grossly inapproprate conduct (being naked with an unrelated child). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2240 "2012-01-23T18:04:30Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Yep, it’s true! I, in my own nonfamous-as-an-excellent-person-and-nurturing-football-coach kind of way, got tagged as a pedophile last night. It went down like this: > > While en route to a relative’s house for a visit I stopped at a nearby 7-11 for a can of pop and a couple of the chocolate covered cherries they keep on the counter. Standing in the way at the however were a couple of boys around 11 or 12 years with several bags of goodies and a couple of fountain drinks, discussing animatedly whether they had enough money for all stuff they wanted to buy and which things to keep and which to leave if they didn’t have enough. > > Growing perturbed that they were standing between me and my beloved chocolate covered cherries and anxious to be on my way, I reached past them, saying “Pardon me, boys, I just need to grab a couple of these cherries,” where upon they apologized profusely and very politely for being in my way and explained that they weren’t ready to pay for anything anyway, they were just trying to figure out what they could afford. > > About that time another clerk came up and told them she could help them at her register so they scooped up all their stuff and moved over there. So I paid for my stuff and walked outside, stopping on the sidewalk by a trash can to unwrap one of the cherries, when they came walking out of the store with what seemed to be fewer items than they had before. > > Impressed with their politeness and friendly manner, I asked them if they’d had enough money for the things they wanted to buy. They said they were able to get everything but their drinks. I asked how much the drinks were and they said 76 cents… _“each”_! 😃 > > So I pulled out my billfold and gave them a couple of dollars to pay for their drinks, and watched smilingly as they hurried back into the store to get their drinks. > > But then, as I turn back to head for my car, I spot this redneck bozo further down the sidewalk standing there with his hands on his hips glaring at me, certain, no doubt - as would be most of the posters in this thread - that I was but one step away from from luring them behind the store for a quick bout of rapeage. I thought about challenging that dillweed but was concerned that residual annoyance from this thread might cause things to turn physical, and so I simply loitered a moment longer to let him know I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, and then got back into my car and continued on my way. > > So this is the kind of world you people are creating, where men are virtually prohibited from interacting pleasantly with children (and men are getting into fistfights on sidewalks over imaginary pedophiles) and children are taught to be fearful and distrustful of men. I have no doubt that in 15 or 20 years Oprah-esque programs will be full of people with screwed up romantic and family lives because they were raised to be fearful of men. > > And guess what? Kids will still be being sexually abused, so all you will have accomplished - as usual - is to create tons of new problems while the problems you sought to eliminate by doing so continue to flourish. So once again your hysteria, paranoia and fearfulness have succeeded in screwing things up majorly for the many while accomplishing precious little for the few. > > Good job, nabobs! :rolleyes: So, you are trying to say that because we punish rapists, you arn;t allowed to buy a soda for a kid? I am having trouble understanding if there is a point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=111) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=113)