# 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:** 174
**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:** [February 22, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3462 "2012-02-22T02:47:53Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Let’s review that “proof” for old times sake: > **SA** : Consider the experiment in which you take a paper towel tube… > > **the internet** : Uh, ok, we’ve considered it > > **SA** : I just proved it was impossible > > **the internet** : Uh, you did? When? > > **SA** :When I told you to consider that experiment. I’ve shown it was impossible. > > **the internet** : Shouldn’t your proof involve more than pure speculation, like maybe actually trying the experiment? > > **SA** :You are all like Nancy Grace > > **the internet** : Uh, ok. This thread is like trying to win an argument with a mentally handicapped guy who just can’t understand the other side of the argument. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3463 "2012-02-22T02:48:25Z")
Hmmm, tough decision, Nancy Grace or a paper towel tube. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3464 "2012-02-22T03:01:40Z")
Are those the emergency replacement Republican candidates? I’d go with the paper towel tube. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3465 "2012-02-22T03:15:02Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Um… is this a fair description of the event? “Vague, ill-defined activity that they presumed to be sexual?” Really? That’s the best, most fair-minded way to described what he saw? _ **Bricker** _, we do appreciate you checking in. As the _ **Anti-SA** _, we knew you’d come down on the side of NOT basing a whole system of justice on spurious salacious speculation. But I’m having second thoughts about telling you about this derailment. I really hope you don’t get sucked into the singularity that is this thread. Back away slowly… and do _not_ think 'Oh, I’ll just go back and skim – maybe just read 10% of _ **SA** _’s posts here". You can’t have that much free time, and you’d have to clean out your brain with Janitor In A Drum. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3466 "2012-02-22T03:17:23Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Are those the emergency replacement Republican candidates? I’d go with the paper towel tube. No, they’re the emergency replacement for **SA** ’s blow-up love-sheep, which he accidentally poked a hole in with a power drill while trying to prove that Goatse couldn’t be a real guy. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3467 "2012-03-06T22:41:49Z")
Only 70 pages? What a buncha quitters you guys are. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3468 "2012-03-06T22:46:22Z")
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! You’ll wake the Kraken. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3469 "2012-03-12T19:07:20Z")
Sorry Kraken … go back to sleep … nothing to see here … except the report mentioned in [this CNN article](http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/12/joe-paterno-was-fired-after-scandal-for-failure-of-leadership-penn-state-trustees-say/?hpt=hp_t2) by Penn State Board of Trustees detaling why exactly Joe Paterno was fired. And that reason was: “Failure of Leadership.” A quote: “While Coach Paterno did his legal duty by reporting that information the next day, Sunday, March 3, to his immediate superior, the then Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, the Board reasonably inferred that he did not call police. … We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno.” ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3470 "2012-03-12T19:21:45Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Sorry Kraken … go back to sleep … nothing to see here … except the report mentioned in [this CNN article](http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/12/joe-paterno-was-fired-after-scandal-for-failure-of-leadership-penn-state-trustees-say/?hpt=hp_t2) by Penn State Board of Trustees detaling why exactly Joe Paterno was fired. And that reason was: “Failure of Leadership.” Personally, I find their decision not to go with “We Fired Him Due to PR & CYA Considerations” less than compelling. But YMMV. On another note, it appears from the news reports (e.g. [here](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120312_Sandusky_seeks_to_dismiss_sex_charges_citing_vague_timelines.html)) that the prosecutors claim they have still not identified the two unidentified victims in the original GJ report, as I suggested earlier, and contrary to the insistence of others here, e.g. Huerta. Though I’ll grant that they were misled by erroneous media reports at the time. One other thing that’s interesting is the prosecution insistance that the timelines can’t be narrowed down. In the GJ report, most of them seemed pretty tight. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3471 "2012-03-12T19:29:46Z")
This could be chapter one in _Introduction to Public Relations - The Basics of Covering Your Ass_ but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the board was on solid ground when they canned him. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3472 "2012-03-12T19:31:29Z")
You’re certainly free to think so, but the fact that Board announced that it was for “Failure of Leadership” does not add a whole lot. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3473 "2012-03-12T20:30:02Z")
Stings a bit less than “Ignoring Child Rape” though, doesn’t it? ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3474 "2012-03-12T23:25:33Z")
Nooooooooooooooooooo! Kill it! Kill it with fire! ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3475 "2012-03-12T23:53:52Z")
Rape it from orbit! ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3476 "2012-03-13T00:04:17Z")
_throws rotten cabbage at **Jack Batty** _ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3477 "2012-03-13T00:22:13Z")
Dead as a doornail, deader than disco. We cut off the head, stuffed the mouth with garlic, sewed the lips shut, buried at the crossroads, stake through the heart, that’s it. Its dead, Jim. Jim, this thread is dead. Rung down the curtain, joined the Choir Invisible. Does anyone know, is there such a thing as a Unitarian exorcism? ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3478 "2012-03-13T01:10:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Dead as a doornail, deader than disco. We cut off the head, stuffed the mouth with garlic, sewed the lips shut, buried at the crossroads, stake through the heart, that’s it. Its dead, Jim. Jim, this thread is dead. Rung down the curtain, joined the Choir Invisible. > > Does anyone know, is there such a thing as a Unitarian exorcism? The silver bullet. When are you going to remember the silver bullet? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3479 "2012-03-13T01:21:15Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > _throws rotten cabbage at **Jack Batty** _ But … but … the board of trustees … ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3480 "2012-03-13T01:43:34Z")
> [@Robb](#): > > The silver bullet. When are you going to remember the silver bullet? I don’t have a gun! What am I gonna do with a silver bullet, throw it really hard? ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/3481 "2012-03-13T01:45:26Z")
Perhaps you could fashion some sort of blow gun out of a paper towel roll. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=173) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=175)