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Joe Paterno passes away


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Seemed like a good man who made one horrible decision. Not sure a-hole is appropriate for a man most of us didn't know, especially on the day he died.

 

When the decision is ratified over and over again, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, I would not call that one decision. Still, I do not know the facts, and I do not know the man's heart.

 

It is an interesting question whether one matter can, does, or should define a man. For me, I'll not participate in that discussion in this thread beyond what I said above. At this time i hope his passing eases the pain and suffering of his family and of others.

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When the decision is ratified over and over again, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, I would not call that one decision. Still, I do not know the facts, and I do not know the man's heart.

 

It is an interesting question whether one matter can, does, or should define a man. For me, I'll not participate in that discussion in this thread beyond what I said above. At this time i hope his passing eases the pain and suffering of his family and of others.

This.

 

And I stand behind what I said 100%.

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Classy !!! :wacko:

Him reporting something to campus police is not enough if they did not act on it. Sounds familiar to the catholic priests reporting to their bishops, etc and then getting to play shuffle the priest instead of reporting it to REAL authorities! Sick people who messed up a lot of lives.

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Him reporting something to campus police is not enough if they did not act on it. Sounds familiar to the catholic priests reporting to their bishops, etc and then getting to play shuffle the priest instead of reporting it to REAL authorities! Sick people who messed up a lot of lives.

 

I keep hearing that he was a father figure to so many. Unfortunately those other 10-11 boys were probably hoping for some to stand up as a "father figure" authority and make it right. Several did not, including that famous "father figure".

 

The adage goes that your character is built on not those acts done while people are watching but what you do when no one is watching. Yes we all make mistakes, but those with a conscious and good "bones" do not let those mistakes go under the rug, but stand up straight and say you made a mistake and take your lumps. Trying to walk the line of legal/ethical (you "did what was required") does not cut it when you are a "father figure" to so many.

 

The others involved, hopefully are not as old and will get their day in court. Those boys deserve to see justice done now when it wasnt done years ago. I feel for them. I feel nothing for JoePa. He did what was required to get famous in a good and bad way.

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I keep hearing that he was a father figure to so many. Unfortunately those other 10-11 boys were probably hoping for some to stand up as a "father figure" authority and make it right. Several did not, including that famous "father figure".

 

The adage goes that your character is built on not those acts done while people are watching but what you do when no one is watching. Yes we all make mistakes, but those with a conscious and good "bones" do not let those mistakes go under the rug, but stand up straight and say you made a mistake and take your lumps. Trying to walk the line of legal/ethical (you "did what was required") does not cut it when you are a "father figure" to so many.

 

The others involved, hopefully are not as old and will get their day in court. Those boys deserve to see justice done now when it wasnt done years ago. I feel for them. I feel nothing for JoePa. He did what was required to get famous in a good and bad way.

 

Good post.

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Him reporting something to campus police is not enough if they did not act on it. Sounds familiar to the catholic priests reporting to their bishops, etc and then getting to play shuffle the priest instead of reporting it to REAL authorities! Sick people who messed up a lot of lives.

 

First of all, on large campuses, the campus police hold jurisdiction to an act that was committed on campus. The State College police have already said that they wouldn't have been able to do anything, as they would have turned it over to the campus police force. Paterno passed on the information, which McQueary has admitted was limited and vague, he received to the person in charge of the campus police. He was told it would be taken care of. Months later, he questioned why nothing had taken place, and he was again told that it was being taken care of. Was that enough ? No, it wasn't, and Paterno has admitted that in hindsight he wished he had done more. However, those acting like he completely turned a blind eye and did nothing are wrong. Some are placing him in the same category as Sandusky, which is sad. He didn't handle it perfectly, but, I don't believe that he was part of some large cover-up, as that isn't his character.

 

Every single player that has played for him, coaches that has coached with him, and those that have played / coached against him who have spoken up, have nothing but positive things to say. Hundreds of them are coming out now and speaking of how much they respect the man. I will take the opinions of those who knew him over my own and others, who are all assuming they know exactly what did or didn't happen (myself included).

 

Like I said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but, saying good riddance and calling him an a-hole, when you have no idea of what exactly occurred is extremely classless.

Edited by Menudo
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I think this article says it pretty well: :wacko:

 

"When time does what it does, and the full measure is taken, Joe Paterno’s legacy will be a fine and remarkable thing. It will be very close to what the great man hoped and dreamed during his decades as a college professor whose discipline happened to be football.

 

Paterno was a winner, on the field and in almost every area that mattered.

 

He was not perfect, which was true before the terrible Jerry Sandusky story broke. That dreadful scandal may have robbed Paterno of the appropriate end to his coaching career, and almost certainly sped up the end of his life, but it will not ultimately rob him of his reputation. That was built carefully, brick by brick, over decades of hard work, uncommon decency and unyielding integrity. It is a sound structure that was rocked, but not destroyed, by the hurricane that has blown through State College since November.

 

Death and mercy came to Joseph Vincent Paterno Sunday. Surrounded by his beloved wife Sue and their family, the coach was carried off on the phantom shoulders of the hundreds, even thousands, of young men whose lives he enriched over six decades at Penn State.

 

Death comes to us all. It is mercy when it eases pain too great to bear. For Paterno, the pain of what transpired over the past few months was surely as great as the cancer that officially claimed him. He is free from that pain now.

 

There was pain over the loss of his job, of course, and over the inability to leave it on his own terms after such a long and stellar career.

 

But his deepest pain was for the university to which Paterno devoted his life. To say he was the Nittany Lions football coach would be to say Steve Jobs worked in computers, or that Walt Disney was a cartoonist. The man was larger than the university where he worked, than the sport that he coached.

 

That was both his greatest achievement and, in the end, part of his downfall. If you appreciated Paterno for assuming his position as a much needed conscience of college sports, and for his singular status as the most important man in Happy Valley, then you had to be disappointed by his failure to meet his own standards when confronted with Sandusky’s heinous alleged behavior.

 

This is not a contradiction. Indeed, you got the distinct impression that Paterno was disappointed in himself. He said in an early statement that he wished he had “done more.” His interview with Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post last week – which turns out to be his final say on the matter – was tinged with sadness and with regret. If you cared about Paterno, if you believed in him, you detected sorrow in every word.

 

This is the third and final time Sandusky’s name will appear in this column. It is unfortunate that his name is linked with Paterno’s at all. There is no getting around the connection – not after the breathtaking sequence that began with the release of the grand jury report, the dismissal of Paterno, the housecleaning in the PSU administration, the revelation that Paterno had lung cancer and now, with shocking finality, his death.

 

For decades, Paterno made time stand still in State College. His team dressed and (sometimes to its disadvantage) played as if the calendar still said 1965. Paterno conducted himself like a courtly gentleman of some previous era. He wore the same thick glasses, sported the same thick black hair, ran onto the field in the same high-water khakis.

 

Nothing ever changed. And then everything did. Suddenly, cruelly.

 

It is possible to believe that Paterno could not continue representing Penn State as its head coach and also believe that he’d done so with great distinction for an incredibly long time.

 

It is possible to believe he should have done more when confronted with real evil and also believe that he was a good and decent and admirable human being.

 

It is impossible to turn back time and give everyone involved a do-over. Joe Paterno, the man, is gone now. It is sadly true that much of what he believed in and represented was already gone from college sports and society at large. But quite a bit of what remains does so because he instilled it in lives he influenced directly and indirectly, in former players and Penn State alums and those who admired him and his teams from afar.

 

Joe Paterno was a force for good for most of a long and wonderful life. When the full measure is taken, that will outweigh the terrible events of these last few months.

 

Penn State already has hired a new football coach. It will never have another soul. That was Paterno. That is Paterno. Time will take care of the rest."

Edited by Menudo
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First of all, on large campuses, the campus police hold jurisdiction to an act that was committed on campus. The State College police have already said that they wouldn't have been able to do anything, as they would have turned it over to the campus police force. Paterno passed on the information, which McQueary has admitted was limited and vague, he received to the person in charge of the campus police. He was told it would be taken care of. Months later, he questioned why nothing had taken place, and he was again told that it was being taken care of. Was that enough ? No, it wasn't, and Paterno has admitted that in hindsight he wished he had done more. However, those acting like he completely turned a blind eye and did nothing are wrong. Some are placing him in the same category as Sandusky, which is sad. He didn't handle it perfectly, but, I don't believe that he was part of some large cover-up, as that isn't his character.

 

Every single player that has played for him, coaches that has coached with him, and those that have played / coached against him who have spoken up, have nothing but positive things to say. Hundreds of them are coming out now and speaking of how much they respect the man. I will take the opinions of those who knew him over my own and others, who are all assuming they know exactly what did or didn't happen (myself included).

 

Like I said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but, saying good riddance and calling him an a-hole, when you have no idea of what exactly occurred is extremely classless.

Just imagine how you would feel if it your son was put into harm's way by the inaction of someone else, no matter how great a guy he was in the rest of his life? Would it really matter to you how much money he donated to some stupid college then? Would it matter to you a bit how terrific a coach and a role model he was, if when the chips were down, he didn't take the one action that would have saved untold pain to a large number of young and impressionable boys? Paterno himeself said he regretted not doing more.

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Just imagine how you would feel if it your son was put into harm's way by the inaction of someone else, no matter how great a guy he was in the rest of his life? Would it really matter to you how much money he donated to some stupid college then? Would it matter to you a bit how terrific a coach and a role model he was, if when the chips were down, he didn't take the one action that would have saved untold pain to a large number of young and impressionable boys? Paterno himeself said he regretted not doing more.

 

I think my anger and downright hate would be focused on Sandusky and THOSE WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO ACT ON THE INFORMATION THAT JOE PATERNO PASSED ONTO THEM. Joe wishes he had done more in hindsight, because he found out how many kids were affected. The fact that his name is getting drug through the mud more than those whose job it was to act on the information he provided is sad. What is even more sad, is because of his fame, many seem to be putting him into the same group as the sick s.o.b. who actually committed the crimes.

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I think my anger and downright hate would be focused on Sandusky and THOSE WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO ACT ON THE INFORMATION THAT JOE PATERNO PASSED ONTO THEM. Joe wishes he had done more in hindsight, because he found out how many kids were affected. The fact that his name is getting drug through the mud more than those whose job it was to act on the information he provided is sad. What is even more sad, is because of his fame, many seem to be putting him into the same group as the sick s.o.b. who actually committed the crimes.

I understand what you are saying, Menudo. But the fact he did not follow up after seeing Sandusky roaming around free smacks of burying your head in the sand. Doesn't it?

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I thought having the link to it posted directly above it shows that it was an article

Right, but without quotes, nobody knows for sure (without opening the link) where the article stops, and where your own comments start (or vice versa). I wasn't giving you a hard time, but rather, just making a suggestion. :wacko:

 

And, for what it's worth, when I said quotes, I meant like this (which makes it very clear where the quoted article stops/starts):

 

When time does what it does, and the full measure is taken, Joe Paterno’s legacy will be a fine and remarkable thing. It will be very close to what the great man hoped and dreamed during his decades as a college professor whose discipline happened to be football.

 

Paterno was a winner, on the field and in almost every area that mattered.

 

He was not perfect, which was true before the terrible Jerry Sandusky story broke. That dreadful scandal may have robbed Paterno of the appropriate end to his coaching career, and almost certainly sped up the end of his life, but it will not ultimately rob him of his reputation. That was built carefully, brick by brick, over decades of hard work, uncommon decency and unyielding integrity. It is a sound structure that was rocked, but not destroyed, by the hurricane that has blown through State College since November.

 

Death and mercy came to Joseph Vincent Paterno Sunday. Surrounded by his beloved wife Sue and their family, the coach was carried off on the phantom shoulders of the hundreds, even thousands, of young men whose lives he enriched over six decades at Penn State.

 

Death comes to us all. It is mercy when it eases pain too great to bear. For Paterno, the pain of what transpired over the past few months was surely as great as the cancer that officially claimed him. He is free from that pain now.

 

There was pain over the loss of his job, of course, and over the inability to leave it on his own terms after such a long and stellar career.

 

But his deepest pain was for the university to which Paterno devoted his life. To say he was the Nittany Lions football coach would be to say Steve Jobs worked in computers, or that Walt Disney was a cartoonist. The man was larger than the university where he worked, than the sport that he coached.

 

That was both his greatest achievement and, in the end, part of his downfall. If you appreciated Paterno for assuming his position as a much needed conscience of college sports, and for his singular status as the most important man in Happy Valley, then you had to be disappointed by his failure to meet his own standards when confronted with Sandusky’s heinous alleged behavior.

 

This is not a contradiction. Indeed, you got the distinct impression that Paterno was disappointed in himself. He said in an early statement that he wished he had “done more.” His interview with Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post last week – which turns out to be his final say on the matter – was tinged with sadness and with regret. If you cared about Paterno, if you believed in him, you detected sorrow in every word.

 

This is the third and final time Sandusky’s name will appear in this column. It is unfortunate that his name is linked with Paterno’s at all. There is no getting around the connection – not after the breathtaking sequence that began with the release of the grand jury report, the dismissal of Paterno, the housecleaning in the PSU administration, the revelation that Paterno had lung cancer and now, with shocking finality, his death.

 

For decades, Paterno made time stand still in State College. His team dressed and (sometimes to its disadvantage) played as if the calendar still said 1965. Paterno conducted himself like a courtly gentleman of some previous era. He wore the same thick glasses, sported the same thick black hair, ran onto the field in the same high-water khakis.

 

Nothing ever changed. And then everything did. Suddenly, cruelly.

 

It is possible to believe that Paterno could not continue representing Penn State as its head coach and also believe that he’d done so with great distinction for an incredibly long time.

 

It is possible to believe he should have done more when confronted with real evil and also believe that he was a good and decent and admirable human being.

 

It is impossible to turn back time and give everyone involved a do-over. Joe Paterno, the man, is gone now. It is sadly true that much of what he believed in and represented was already gone from college sports and society at large. But quite a bit of what remains does so because he instilled it in lives he influenced directly and indirectly, in former players and Penn State alums and those who admired him and his teams from afar.

 

Joe Paterno was a force for good for most of a long and wonderful life. When the full measure is taken, that will outweigh the terrible events of these last few months.

 

Penn State already has hired a new football coach. It will never have another soul. That was Paterno. That is Paterno. Time will take care of the rest.

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I understand what you are saying, Menudo. But the fact he did not follow up after seeing Sandusky roaming around free smacks of burying your head in the sand. Doesn't it?

 

Well, hopefully his story will be told, because the "insiders" on the PSU boards are saying that Paterno complained every single time he saw Sandusky. He went to the President of the university and asked him to be barred from using any campus facilities, but, was told he didn't have the power to do that.

 

Like I said, these are from those considered insiders, and who knows if / when Joe's story will come out, but, none of us likely know what actually occurred. Based on what I know about Paterno, I don't believe for one second that he would do any kind of cover-up if he knew kids were being hurt. Even in his dying days, he reportedly continued to tell his family and friend to continue to pray for the true victims, the kids who were disgustingly abused by Sandusky.

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