Statue of Joe Paterno at Pennsylvania State University
tds.com has a report from the Associated Press that the controversal statue of Joe Paterno has been taken down. The Freeh Report revealed that Joe Paterno and university officials knew about allegations of child sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky but chose to do nothing.
ESPN has a glimpse of the removal this morning via this YouTube video.
The AP report indicates that on Monday July 23rd, 2012, the NCAA will reveal the "corrective and punitive measures" against the university.
I'm looking forward to hearing what those specific sanctions will be.
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9 comments:
Finally! It's stunning that in the wake of a report revealing their lack of action, they lacked taking action.
According to Ms. Ganim's article, Joe Paterno knew about a 1998 investigation into Sandusky and a 2001 investigation into Sandusky and closely followed both. Paterno denied that before a grand jury and in an interview shortly before his death.
The Freeh report's conclusions are based upon "emails and other correspondence" unavailable to the Attorney General of the state and thus unavailable to the grand jury and to the public. None of those "emails and other correspondence" has been made public, and it seems like the stuff of legend to dig up evidence unknown to Pennsylvania law enforcement until Mr. Freeh entered the scene.
Even though I cannot imagine how Mr. Freeh and his staff came up with such evidence, this is a highly visible undertaking and Mr. Freeh is a former judge and former FBI director. I have to assume they really do have such emails and other correspondence and found them by mining old email servers. Based on that assumption, the case is closed. Such evidence would conclusively prove that Paterno and others at the university covered up Sandusky's monstrous behavior for more than a decade and lied to a grand jury.
I assume that the Penn State president waited to see that evidence before he removed Paterno's statue, and I assume he took some time and reviewed the evidence. I assume that once he was satisfied with the evidence, he had the statue removed, then the university made some admission of culpability and then the NCAA lowered the boom. There isn't much left to be said. The most telling NCAA sanction is Penn State vacating all their football wins dating back to 1998. That vacates Paterno's legacy and turns him from a legend into an asterisk in an afternoon.
I feel as disgusted and disappointed as that kid standing outside the Black Sox trial, who brushed Joe Jackson's sleeves and said, "say it ain't so, Joe."
Interestingly, the only news report I've read so far --and I've searched the web for the latest-- that had ANY information on the thoughts of the victims.....was Sara Ganim's.
Penn State sanctions: What they mean for fans, players, coaches and your tax dollars
The victims are pawns in a political game and everyone from the NCAA to Penn State officials and fans and players are more concerned with how it will impact them, not the kids. That's sad, but it's the way we live our lives.
My purpose in posting was to say, I had given Paterno the benefit of the doubt, and to some degree still do until I see the emails and other correspondence Freeh dug up. In his sixty year career Paterno never had an NCAA violation and was considered squeaky clean by everyone in the business. A bit of a tyrant on the field and in meeting rooms, but a guy who would not tolerate the slightest impropriety. He had no skeletons in his personal closet, one wife no affairs, etc etc, and yet this man allegedly covered up the most heinous abuse and then lied about it to a grand jury? My first blush was to say, no way... and part of me is still saying that. What did he hope to gain, that he would not lose in the end?
However, a former judge and former FBI director says he has emails and other correspondence that are damning... and I'm sure the review of that correspondence is what led the Penn State president to remove Paterno's statue. If Paterno did as alleged, then his statue should be removed. If Paterno did as alleged, then those wins should be vacated. There is no question about it.
I just hope the Penn State president had an independent forensics person look at physical documents and the emails to be sure they were constructed or sent at the time alleged, and when that second source agreed that Freeh had found a smoking gun, and the evidence was consistent with the time frame, then that was when the end came. I hope it was not done out of political expedience, but after a careful and conclusive review of documents and emails.
If such a review produced a smoking gun, and Paterno was aware of Sandusky's conduct and did anything except fire the guy and call the cops, then this is a fitting end. He deserves this and more. Unfortunately, hundreds of athletes and tens of thousands of students who had nothing to do with Sandusky's behavior are also being punished. Life is not fair...
Robert, thanks for your comments.
The 60 million dollar fine levied on Penn State is the amount the football team grosses in a typical year. This may be why that figure was chosen.
The penalty will probably do more to make the Penn State fans dislike Paterno than his covering for Sandusky. Losing scholarships and not going to bowl games for four years, along with winning fewer games than usual is what really upsets college football fans.
David In TN
It is disgusting that a 'game' can trump morals and even Paterno seems to have fallen into the money trap. I no longer have any pride that I interviewed him ages ago... sadly I don't think this will change how the game is played...
PDF Document report...Sports by Brooks July27th, 2012
In a recent tweet, Sports by Brooks asks, Would you allow anyone investigated for child abuse by 3 police agencies to shower w/your preteen son?
Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno are back in the news the last few days. It's said Paterno was told of abuse by Sandusky back in 1971 and 1976.
The more information that comes out, the more damming it is to Paterno and whatever legacy he has left.
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