I'm not omniscient ... in fact, I don't even know what the term sodomy means!
Posted on 08/18/2012 5:29:01 AM PDT by Zakeet
Joe Paterno had to be prodded by his family to read the grand jury report regarding Jerry Sandusky and did not understand some of its graphic terminology, according to a new book.
The book, Paterno by Joe Posnanski, was purchased Friday by the Associated Press in advance of its release next week.
In the book, Posnanski describes a scene at Paterno's home, two days after Sandusky had been charged with child sex abuse last November. Paterno's family and a close adviser were trying to explain to the Penn State coach that there was a growing sentiment Paterno must have known for years about the accusations against Sandusky.
The book quotes Paterno as shouting "I'm not omniscient!"
The book also indicates Paterno didn't comprehend all the terms in the report, asking his son what sodomy meant.
According to the book, later that night Paterno's son, Scott, told his mother that she should brace herself for the possibility that Joe could be fired.
Sue Paterno responded, "Scotty, that will kill him."
Paterno was fired by school trustees two days later, on Nov. 9. He died in January at age 85 of cancer.
Sandusky, Paterno's longtime defensive coordinator, is jailed and awaiting sentencing after being convicted in June on 45 criminal counts involving 10 boys.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbssports.com ...
I'm not omniscient ... in fact, I don't even know what the term sodomy means!
No ill will towards Posnanski (I loved his book on the Big Red Machine) but his original plan was to ape ‘When Pride Still Mattered’ (Maraniss’ biography of Lombardi) and write a fairly hegemonic Paterno bio. In the middle of all that the Sandusky story exploded and Posnanski, while living a journalist’s dream in terms of being at the nexus of a story, had to abandon the Kindly Old Joe storyline in favor of the sordid truth.
I always assumed the creeps actions were never clearly explained to coach since the staff was in
Awe of the coach and just not capable of telling this dignified old gentleman the real facts here .
Is it possible that a person could be so wrapped up in a sport like football while leading a conservative family-oriented life, that he wouldn’t comprehend what was going on with Sandusky and little boys?
And if you believe that Paterno did not know what sodomy meant, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.
No. Not in today’s world.
WHO MADE YOU THE EXPERT ON PATERNO ?
You sound like a lib with that comment.
The guy was 86 and from a completely different era.
Paternos Big Obama supporters, shock.
Ihave some used toll booths you can put at the bridge.
I think leading a conservative family-oriented life would require an understanding of the evils out there and the necessity to protect children from them
It is naive to think this man did not know what sodomy is. The standard locker room language would have made him plenty aware of all nature of behavioral descriptions.
Had he never heard of child sexual abuse, of child sexual predators?
Pedophiles? Pedophile priests, for example?
He could have lived his entire life with blinders on, I suppose, when it comes to anything he didn’t want to know about.
But someone please tell me, how do you not know that there are people out there who sexually abuse children and that both girls and boys are victims of it?
The publicity of what happened in some quarters in the Catholic church, if nothing else got through to you, would scream to you that such things do exist.
I’m thinking it’s partly his sheltered life, or self-imposed ignorance, but that it’s MORE he did not want to admit the truth about Sandusky, so his mind refused to “go there”.
The same gay mafia wants to make this whole sorry series of incidents about PSU's football program to take the focus on what it should be about: the gay mafia takeover of a once highly respectable state university. Sandusky is only the tip of the iceberg.
It’s possible, but that sort of reasoning could “forgive” a lot of leaders who had this sort of scandal on their watch. For example, “Is it possible that a person could be so wrapped up in running an archdiocese while leading a conservative celibate life that he wouldn’t comprehend what was going on with the Father xxx and the little boys?”
Also, grown men showering with boys was frowned upon.
Since Curley and Schultz were going to report Sandusky back in ‘98, and then Curley changed his mind after talking to Paterno, I have a hard time believing Paterno was that naive.
Paterno was 85 when he died, and subsumed by football.
He didn’t live in the real world, much less “today’s world”.
Thirty-two years ago I attended the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, in California. I was in the U.S.Navy and stationed there between July 1980 - October 1981.
Later, I would discover that the enitre time I was there the Senior Chief in charge at the Navy barracks was soliciting sex from female recruits. I was totally oblivious to what was going on! It wasn’t until a couple years later that I read about it all while stationed overseas.
There was a time and place where sodomy was not discussed at all. Where the concept of ‘rape’ wrt men-men, was not understood....even in a locker room. We have become so desensitized that we forget.
Not if you read Free Republic.
I'm torn by this, though.
On the one hand, to keep such crimes out of your head, to not imagine that anyone could do such things, to avoid thinking of buggering a 9-year-old, seems honorable.
On the other hand, it's naive. But it's only naive, if you read the papers and understand that people actually do these things.
Unless you were in charge of the Defense Language Institute (very cool place BTW) with the authority to determine who worked there for 30+ years, the analogy does not hold up.
Paterno was operating on a big stage but in a very small world. Likely a circle of coaches, high level administrators and donors. Zero chance he didn’t know - especially when the acts were being committed by a close confidant in the facility where they both worked.
It’s a shame that Paterno isn’t in prison with his pal Sandusky.
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