Posted on 07/11/2012 3:02:15 PM PDT by dead
Joe Paterno defended his football program's integrity in a 7-month-old letter released Wednesday, a day ahead of a report that could forever mar his legacy.
In the letter, written shortly before his death and confirmed as legitimate by his family, Paterno rejected the notion that Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of boys amounted to a ''football scandal'' or in any way tarnished the accomplishments of his players or Penn State's reputation as a whole.
The results of Penn State's internal investigation into the Sandusky scandal are set to be released Thursday in a report that should answer many of the troubling questions swirling around one of the worst scandals in sports history.
A team led by former FBI ex-director Louis Freeh interviewed hundreds of people to learn how the university responded to warning signs that its once-revered former assistant football coach - a man who helped Paterno win two national titles for a university that touted ''success with honor'' - was a serial child molester...
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Eight months after Sandusky's arrest, it remains unclear how top university officials handled reports dating back at least 14 years that Sandusky was behaving inappropriately with boys he met through his charity, bringing them on campus and forcing them into sex acts...
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'Over and over again, I have heard Penn State officials decrying the influence of football and have heard such ignorant comments like Penn State will no longer be a 'football factory' and we are going to 'start' focusing on integrity in athletics,'' Paterno wrote. ''These statements are simply unsupported by the five decades of evidence to the contrary - and succeed only in unfairly besmirching both a great university and the players and alumni of the football program who have given of themselves to help make it great.''
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
“...’start’ focusing on integrity in athletics,...”
Bwahahahahahahahah...for any university out there.
Gimme a break.
We are talking the only set of folk dumber than the liberal arts facilty.......
Oops, guess I’m in that “dumber” group. Cannot even spell “faculty”.
It’s Bush’s fault.
Maybe if you’d done a little research, you’d find that this letter was sent to his ex-players. It was meant for THEM, not us.
The family released it in an effort to stop the media’s non-stop effort to lay blame for this scandal where it doesn’t belong.
Tomorrow the Freeh report will be released and for $12 million, they didn’t interview McQueary, Schultz, Spanier, Curley, or any member of the Paterno family.
But because there are certainly a number of Freepers who didn’t like Joe before, now they will take whatever Freeh says as gospel. Did they believe a word he ever said about Waco? Why start now unless it conveniently already fits into your preconceived notions and conclusions?
I think it's really funny that he talked about the ignorance of his detractors, which is exactly the word Michael Jackson always uses on South Park when people bring up his molestation activities.
Wow you are a Joe Paterno cultist, I'm grew up in the West PA region and I will tell you one of the best moments in sports history was when WVU beat Penn State on Halloween, 1984.
I didn't need to do "research" - it's in the article. I have no idea what that has to do with anything though.
But because there are certainly a number of Freepers who didn’t like Joe before, now they will take whatever Freeh says as gospel. Did they believe a word he ever said about Waco? Why start now unless it conveniently already fits into your preconceived notions and conclusions?
The Freeh report is not even out yet, and Joe's defenders are already insinuating it's a pack of lies. I guess you've not much faith that it may exonerate him.
I don't need to read the Freeh report, which will probably only fill in some details.
The bottom line for me is this, when McQueary told Joe Paterno (and Joe Paterno later told other Penn State officials) that Sandusky was anally raping a young boy in the showers, all the Penn State officials worried about the repercussions for the program. Not a single Penn State official, including Joe Paterno, ever made any effort to find out if that poor boy needed help or was even still alive.
Not concern one for him, or all the other victims of Sandusky.
Joe Paterno, FOS! His name should go down in infamy for what he covered up for his own sake and for the sake of his “beloved football program.” He had no values or morals. He was an empty shirt who should be remembered as such!
“But because there are certainly a number of Freepers who didn’t like Joe before, now they will take whatever Freeh says as gospel. “
I call BS!!! I didn’t know Joe Paterno from a lump of coal before this scandal exploded. I call em the way I see em! And I don’t need that worthless hump Louie Freeh to do his $12million coverup. Paterno is not a man of character if he allowed Sandusky to take a pass. I hope in the future that people spit when they hear his name!
...and stories like this that continue to focus on a dead man ignore the fact that Graham Spanier is still tenured faculty at the Universtiy and has not been charged despite documented proof that he knew of and supported the cover up of Sandusky’s abuse.
It was all about the football program, Paterno's reputation, and the $.
BTW, where has Nancy Pelosi been on this. Didn't she run in 2006 on a Florida R congressperson Mark somebody e-mailing a page.
Don't know, maybe jerry Sandusky was a contributor to nancy pelosi.
Not concern one for him, or all the other victims of Sandusky.
When the news finally was made public and the friends and relatives of the officials whispered questions to them, they could all say, "Oh sure, I've known about that for years! It's not news to me."
Bulldoze the entire place.
I was hoping that JoPa would also be led to jail to spend time in prison jammies, but the good Lord wanted to chat with him.
I’ve never had any use for this “integrity in sports” guy, And his allowing Sandusky to personally sodomize all those kids proves my point.
His legacy is already forever marred. Joe's job was coaching football. Other than recognizing signs of abuse and passing information received from his employees, Joe was not trained or paid to deal directly with child abuse.
People who interact with young folks are told to inform their superiors if they suspect physical or sexual abuse. It is up to those with the training and expertise to take appropriate action. I do not think that Joe Paterno should be condemned because a lot of people did not like him. I come down hard on Joe's superiors whose jobs were to administer a large athletic program, a university, and to ensure the safety and security of all the people who had contact with the university and its programs.
They are the ones with the power and responsibility to deal with such matters. They failed, not Joe Paterno.
“WVU beat Penn State on Halloween, 1984.
Those memories are fleeting. Hold on.
This story should have ended 20 minutes after the report describing the abuse. You find the child -ask if it happened - coach goes on leave - facts are checked...end of story.
There was more to his involvement than Paterno would ever put in any record. He surely had no problem with ignoring Sanduskys’ actions. His reaction to the McQuery accusation was nothing short of criminal coverup.
The family released it in an effort to stop the media’s non-stop effort to lay blame for this scandal where it doesn’t belong.
Lay blame where it does belong, would have been correct. You can worship this old pervert if you like, but, he was scum from the get go to the end.Sandusky and Penn St aren’t the only perverts in sports. It is rampant. These folks aren’t banned from sports as they are in the BSA
“You find the child -ask if it happened”
Do you know they have never identified the child? Those were the only charges dropped.
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