I do think you all are missing a great deal concerning Joe's responsibility in this. Compare this to say, Benghazi. You appear to be taking the side of "what does it matter?". Compare it to any really heavy personal knowledge of a horrible crime, you don't just hand it off, wash your hands and never say anything again just to go about your business. Were those Germans that knew about the holocaust innocent? Are the journalists that won't cover the crimes of this administration innocent?
It's really hard to swallow a cry of genuine innocence on Joe Paterno's part. The best thing you can say is he failed to do what he should have done at a critical time in his life. To say all he should have ever done is hand it off and wash his hands is to ignore the virtues of courage, fortitude, and honesty we all commend in a hero when they do the right thing under duress. There are a lot worse scenarios that you can surmise from Joe's failings, and you seem incapable of seeing the possibility that he failed in any way. That's simply inconceivable.
I wanna know what mm told Joe. According to Franco (who asked MM), it was so watered down he might as well not even tell him.
Years later, MM gets confronted and changes his tune.
Joe didn’t know about any sexual abuse - ask Posnanski who basically lived with him the last 1.5 years of his life. Even Posnanski couldn’t call out Joe. He tried, but realized - and wrote in his book - that if Joe knew anything like that was going on, he’d have walked to the police station without question.
So then what are you doing about Sandy Hook??? Are you beating the door of the police department, the news media, the FBI??? Hmmmmm???