# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/161 "2011-11-08T14:31:42Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I could forgive Paterno for telling the AD and then waiting a short while to see if things started happening. If a week or so goes by and there was no sign of a police investigation, then Paterno should have gone back to the AD and said “hey, dude, if you’re not going to report this to the police I will”. Instead, his attitude seems to be that he did the bare minimum required of him and that’s as far as he was obligated to go. And before the Usual Legal Eagles jump in to say “well, he’s right, that’s all the law required!,” I’d like to repeat my statement earlier than a simple sense of humanity, of moral decency, required much, much more from Paterno than it seems he was willing to give. Hiding behind “I did what the law required” cheapens him, especially given that reputation he worked all those years to build. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/162 "2011-11-08T14:32:39Z")
Former Penn Stater here and oh, I am sick. Say it ain’t so, Joe. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/163 "2011-11-08T14:39:20Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > Looks like Paterno won’t face jail time, but R.P. McMurphy has it right: His legacy will now forever be ‘the guy that helped and protected a child molester for almost 10 years’. Hope he enjoyed those 409 wins, 'cause he’s going to have to spend the rest of his life thinking about the dozens of kids that he allowed to be molested right under his very nose. You realize you’re talking about maybe six months, tops, after he steps down as coach. The guy is 85. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/164 "2011-11-08T14:42:40Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > And before the Usual Legal Eagles jump in to say “well, he’s right, that’s all the law required!,” I’d like to repeat my statement earlier than a simple sense of humanity, of moral decency, required much, much more from Paterno than it seems he was willing to give. > > Hiding behind “I did what the law required” cheapens him, especially given that reputation he worked all those years to build. If ever there is a time to do more than the bare minimum that the law requires, it is to protect children. He knew that a 10 year old boy was raped in his locker room. How could he look himself in the mirror all of these years knowing that he didn’t do all that he could to stop other children from being abused? ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/165 "2011-11-08T14:54:31Z")
Color me another bummed-out Penn State ex-fan. Forget an 8-1 season and 409 wins, I’ll never be able to watch another game without wondering what Joe knew and if he couldn’t have done more. I don’t see any way he can come out of this with his reputation intact and if he could have done more but didn’t he doesn’t deserve to. There’s a really great player on my alma mater’s football team who was headed for PSU and I was stoked to think a kid from my high school was going to be playing for the Lions. Now I wonder if he’ll even go and I wouldn’t blame him. One thing I haven’t seen is how this whole mess got exposed. Did one of the victims come forward? ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/166 "2011-11-08T15:00:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If ever there is a time to do more than the bare minimum that the law requires, it is to protect children. He knew that a 10 year old boy was raped in his locker room. How could he look himself in the mirror all of these years knowing that he didn’t do all that he could to stop other children from being abused? Again, to stave off the Usual Legal Eagles, he didn’t “know” a 10-year-old boy had been raped. He’d been TOLD that a 10-year-old boy had been raped. By someone that he found credible enough to give an assistant coaching position to for the past nine years, so it’s not like McQueary said “I saw this” and Joe said “I don’t believe you, but I’ll pass it up the line.” Joe basically said “I’ll pass it up the line, and oh by the way, want a job?” After being told by someone that you find otherwise credible that a rape had been witnessed, you’re morally obligated to ensure that the proper authorities (the non-campus police) conduct a proper investigation. Nobody at Penn State looks good in this. Not McQueary, who worked for nine years with the guy who was supposed to make sure the report got investigated. Not Curley and Schultz. Not Spanier. Nobody. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/167 "2011-11-08T15:03:22Z")
As a nerd, I’ve never understood why football, an extra-curricular activity at an academic institution, is such a big deal. You can bet that if the administrators knew about an English prof raping kids, they would have found it in their hearts to call 911. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/168 "2011-11-08T15:30:04Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > As a nerd, I’ve never understood why football, an extra-curricular activity at an academic institution, is such a big deal. You can bet that if the administrators knew about an English prof raping kids, they would have found it in their hearts to call 911. English professors don’t bring in multi-million dollar contracts, TV coverage, and elite athletes. We can argue about the meaning of college sports and the negative or positive effects of the existence of the college sports machine elsewhere, but there is a financial reason why those two scenarios would receive differential treatment. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/169 "2011-11-08T15:33:24Z")
I know there is a financial incentive, it just bugs the living shit out of me that somehow college football makes people suddenly find the “grey area” in reporting child rapists. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/170 "2011-11-08T15:35:29Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > English professors don’t bring in multi-million dollar contracts, TV coverage, and elite athletes. > > We can argue about the meaning of college sports and the negative or positive effects of the existence of the college sports machine elsewhere, but there is a financial reason why those two scenarios would receive differential treatment. Well, that just means everybody involved in this fiasco was a moral whore with a price, which just makes it that much worse. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/171 "2011-11-08T15:36:09Z")
If Graham Spanier (the president of Penn State University) had a clue, both Paterno and McQueary would already be on administrative leave. Speaking of Spanier, he has a [webcast about college athletics](http://expertopinion.psu.edu/): > [@](#): > > Penn State produces Expert Opinion with Graham Spanier, a national talk show series that focuses on critical issues impacting collegiate athletics. Each one-hour episode is filmed in high definition in the Big Ten Network (BTN) studios in Chicago. Graham Spanier, President of Penn State, is the show’s moderator and each episode includes three guests who bring their expertise to the conversation. The most recent episode was titled, “Impact of TV on College Sports.” Maybe the next one can be titled, “Impact of Child Rape on the Penn State Football Program.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/172 "2011-11-08T15:37:15Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > In case anybody has any remaining lingering doubts that **SA** is just a troll pure and simple, well, there ya go. Well, he certainly is being inconsistent with his own past statement. Obviously, the explanation for the lack of outcry is that the boy’s parents, being proper folk who always wore suits and ties when riding airplanes and what not, taught him manners such as the use of an indoor voice at all times while indoors. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/173 "2011-11-08T15:37:58Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I know there is a financial incentive, it just bugs the living shit out of me that somehow college football makes people suddenly find the “grey area” in reporting child rapists. > [@billfish678](#): > > Well, that just means everybody involved in this fiasco was a moral whore with a price, which just makes it that much worse. I am in 100% agreement with both of you. The machine of college football required, in this case, at least four high-level administrators to turn a blind eye to reports of child rape. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/174 "2011-11-08T15:38:56Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > As a nerd, I’ve never understood why football, an extra-curricular activity at an academic institution, is such a big deal. You can bet that if the administrators knew about an English prof raping kids, they would have found it in their hearts to call 911. Frankly, universities don’t handle run of the mill sexual assault accusations very well. So I won’t take your bet. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/175 "2011-11-08T15:41:56Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > While Sandusky is obviously a sick, sick individual, the fact that he allowed himself to get caught and appears to have been blatant in so many ways suggests that he may have wanted to get caught. Or that he (correctly) believed that the people in a position to do something about his behavior were too chickenshit to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/176 "2011-11-08T15:44:46Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > What would you have him do Tell his superiors, “You call the police, or I will”, and then do the latter when the former failed to occur. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/177 "2011-11-08T15:45:10Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > English professors don’t bring in multi-million dollar contracts, TV coverage, and elite athletes. > > We can argue about the meaning of college sports and the negative or positive effects of the existence of the college sports machine elsewhere, but there is a financial reason why those two scenarios would receive differential treatment. Even more reason to report it, really. If an English professor gets convicted of child molestation, that’s pretty much the end of the story. He’s a pariah to everyone he knows, and the department moves on. When a nationally-known defensive coordinator gets busted for having sex with a prepubescent boy in the locker room, that could be the end of the program. Who the hell is ever going to send their kid to Penn State to play football after this? If they’d called the cops immediately and shipped this guy off to hell, people would have been inclined to say “bad deal, but at least they took care of it.” Now, Penn State may be looking at going the SMU route in the foreseeable future. This is orders of magnitude worse than Ohio State or Miami football or UNLV basketball. There may be no NCAA sanctions, but they’re going to get killed in the court of public opinion. Being a lifelong Nebraska boy, I never thought I’d say that I felt honestly sorry for Penn State fans. I’m saying that now. Sorry, **Jacknifed Juggernaut**. This cannot be easy. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/178 "2011-11-08T15:51:20Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Frankly, universities don’t handle run of the mill sexual assault accusations very well. So I won’t take your bet. This whole thing may be the one point we actually agree on. Universities (including Penn State) don’t handle sexual assault/rape accusations (especially on-campus incidents) well at all. This kind of thing is why I tend to call Campus Security the place where crimes embarrassing to the admin go to die. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/179 "2011-11-08T15:55:05Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Being a lifelong Nebraska boy, I never thought I’d say that I felt honestly sorry for Penn State fans. I’m saying that now. Sorry, **Jacknifed Juggernaut**. This cannot be easy. I’ve been pissing off several of my Facebook friends (people who I would NEVER expect to excuse this kind of thing) because I’m not “waiting for all the facts to come in”. All the facts ARE in, as far as Paterno’s knowledge goes…the indictment has McQueary’s testimony. The eyewitness contradicts what the secondhand reporters (Paterno, Curley, etc) have testified to. But any acknowledgement of that, to certain Penn State fans, is just hearsay and couldn’t possibly have happened in any way that JoePa has any culpability. I’m fairly certain that I’m likely to get unfriended by several people over it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/180 "2011-11-08T15:58:02Z")
As a lifelong Big Ten fan, I remember being pleased when PSU joined the conference. Now, it might be time to show PSU the door. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=10)