First, I have no love for the NCAA. That they are a left-leaning organization is beyond question; they get their leadership from academia, the home of the far left. And they are also highly political, being very selective of who they target and who they do not. But as with all leftists, they are hypocrites. Big schools with big names and big money get a pass, little schools are shot like chipmunks.
But I digress. I don’t think Paterno got a raw deal so much as he was an old man who had been left on the job as a figurehead for far too long. He should have retired gracefully long before this story blew up. But he was in pursuit of a record, and so was his university. In so doing, he sold his soul. The family filing suit just proves that they don’t care about the institution or the victims of the monster Sandusky, they only care about that record that they thought they had, and has been taken from them.
I put all the blame for the crimes on Sandusky. But by looking the other way when they should have spoken out, the university and Paterno got what they deserved. You can’t tell me Joe Pa didn’t know. He knew, and that’s why Sandusky “retired.” All of college football knew; that’s why Sandusky never got mentioned at all when a coaching vacancy came up. Everyone knew and tried to brush it under the rug. But it couldn’t be hidden forever and eventually blew up in their faces.
From the younger assistant coach who saw with his own eyes what was Sandusky was doing to the one kid, and did nothing to stop what he saw occurring...instead had to go talk to his Dad about it and then tell the coach. To Paterno, who had to know what was going on and thought he had handled it with getting Sandusky to retire...but saw that blow up in his face and simply reported to the University what he was told rather than call the police like any sain individual would do.
It was a sick environment in which sick, perverted things were happening and people were turning the other eye to it in order to not tarnish a UNiversity that was already hopelessly tarnished.
IMHO, Paterno got what he deserved...as sad as it was and as much respect as I once had for him up to finding out about this. Turns out that respect was an illusion, perpetrated by a system that was seeking a "record," as it turns out, at any cost.
And now the family are trying to hold on to that illusion...and doing so in an unsightly and unbecoming way...when they should be doing all they can to help every victim of this tragedy.
I think Paterno knew about it, even early on. He changed his plans for a vacation during that time of the 1998 incident. He never changed his plans, but suddenly this time...he did.
Of course, with the ole boy gone...well, his secrets went with him. I have had my doubts about JoePa since I read this, and I revered the man before this:
http://deadspin.com/5912516/new-details-raise-new-questions-about-what-joe-paterno-might-have-known-about-jerry-sandusky-in-1998