Phil Knight's eulogy for Paterno
Did anyone hear Phil Knight's eulogy just now? He ripped the PSU board of trustees, prased Paterno for never once complaining through the whole process, and for deliverine one message through the whole unjust ordeal: "We are Penn State." This was followed by about a minute long standing ovation. I just don't get it. I'm glad Michigan is with Adidas.
quick edit: Knight was choked up the whole time. He also said when his wife told him the news that "Joe had passed" he said, through tears, "Who will be my hero now?!!"
January 26th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
Child labor? Check. Inner city children getting beat up and even killed for wearing his brand, which they likely couldn't afford in the first place? Check. Ugly ass CFB uni's? Check. He's just another rich prick that proves that money can't buy a fucking clue. He should be more focused on the the shit storm that is going to befall his *ahem*, Mullens' football program.
January 26th, 2012 at 11:34 PM ^
...is just as loathesome when it comes to labor rights. The only thing that they have over Nike is that their CEO doesn't shoot off at the mouth.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:51 AM ^
January 26th, 2012 at 4:39 PM ^
It contains a quote from the speech which I find interesting:
"Commenting on those events, Knight said, "it turns out (Paterno) gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation."
Except I would add that not following up to make sure the matter is being pursued makes you part of the problem, especially if you are in control of a department, program, project, etc....One of the things I am beginning to find out in management is that anything that happens on my watch is something that I, by default, take at least partial ownership of, and if a date is missed or information is not fully reported, they don't blame the individual contributors. They go after management.
Because Paterno apparently knew, and these things happened under his watch and with a former employee of his, you have to take ownership of the issue and pursue it somehow even in the knowledge that your superiors have a vested interest in keeping the whole thing quiet. In a moment where he could have demonstrated awesome leadership skill, Paterno did not. I am not shocked at all that Knight glossed over that.
January 26th, 2012 at 6:46 PM ^
And of course the truth of the matter is that JoePa had no superiors at PSU. He didn't pass it up the chain of command, he passed it down to his underlings, for all practical purposes. Does anybody believe If Joe had said something along the lines of "I've heard some really disturbing things about Sandusky; you check into, and if there's any truth at all you make sure that s.o.b is in jail and never sets foot on campus again" that it would have been swept under the rug in the first place?
January 26th, 2012 at 11:35 PM ^
Joe had superiors. If he didn't, he would have died as head coach. Apparently his power in Happy Valley wasn't as iron-clad as suspected.
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January 26th, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^
No matter how the PSU faithful or others spin away, the true and real lesson to be learned here for everyone, including all of us is to just always ask yourself in any situation:
WWBD
WHAT WOULD BO DO?
You know damn well what Bo would have done, and you can rest assured that path will never leave you in Joe Pa's situation.
January 26th, 2012 at 4:49 PM ^
Maybe that is just one more thing that makes this so hard for Penn Staters. Their normal response in tough situations might well have been "What would Joe Pa do"?
January 26th, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^
But NONE of us can know for certainty that Bo would have reacted differently unless a former assistant had been accused and Bo not only notified the AD, but the police.
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<br>Your statement is no different than what PSU fans are still dealing with.
January 26th, 2012 at 4:44 PM ^
Phil Knight is all that is wrong with the world.
January 26th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
The backlash is coming. Penn State just doesn't learn.
January 26th, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
Yeah I'll be curious to see how Phil Knight's words are vetted by the rest of the country in the coming days.
January 26th, 2012 at 5:22 PM ^
Unfortunately nothing of consequence will happen. He will continue to pay American athletes outrageous sums to help sell his shoes made overseas by extremely cheap labor at obscene prices. And we will continue to pay him to do so.
January 26th, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
two posts!
January 26th, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
Its really fucking disgusting. I understand you want to highlight the good of Joe at his funeral but to go off like that is in extremely poor taste. How many additional kids got raped by Sandusky since Paterno decided to protect Penn State rather than do the moral thing?
January 26th, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
I've been reading a lot of these Paterno obits. Many of them seem to use the phrase 'he wasn't a perfect man but' blah blah blah. Well, I don't think anyone expected Joe Pa to be a 'perfect man'. All they expected of him was to do the right thing...and Paterno clearly failed.
January 26th, 2012 at 5:18 PM ^
Having Phil Knight eulogize Paterno is on par with Ahmadinejad addressing the UN on Holocaust facts. Do they treat for irony chemically in Happy Valley?
January 26th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
January 26th, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
The fact that he said it means it isn't true. #Denial
January 26th, 2012 at 5:46 PM ^
The fact that this story got gigantic right after JoePa finally got win #409 creeps me out. They knew. They all knew, and they waited for the coach to reach the pinnacle of his career before all this came out. They waited 10 freaking years.
January 26th, 2012 at 6:50 PM ^
Perhaps Knight achieved what he was really after. At BS Diaries they're really lapping it up with several saying they're going to run out and buy Nike products or never buy another brand of shoes ever again, or as one poster put it, "after that speech i will wear a thong with a swoosh on it to court if he says so"
January 26th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^
Hopefully the other 49 states will buy other brands.
January 27th, 2012 at 3:26 AM ^
Lot of judgmental stuff here.
The man is dead. Give the blame a rest. Learn from it and move on.
January 28th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^
For the idiots that say things like "I hope JoePa rots in hell".
Joe Paterno always saw himself as an Indian in the grand scheme of things and not a chief. He may have been one of the most powerful people in sports and even in his state but he did not really get that. That is what made him what he was--humble to a fault. Some of the statements on this blog are downright disgusting. He reported what he knew to the police and University officials immediately. The county DA (Ray Gricar, who has been missing for several years BTW and declared legally dead last year) wanted to prosecute Sandusky and did not have enough evidence. Everyone of us would wish they had done more in retrospect. For all those who have nothing but criticism for Joe because of this, your next course of action is to donate all your worldly possessions to a "feed the children" or similar child welfare group fund and dedicate the rest of your lives to preventing children from dying of disease and hunger. After all you know those things occur and are largely preventable and since you demand that Joe Paterno had to use every fiber of his being to stop a terrible thing, you must practice what you expected of him to avoid being a flaming hypocrite. After all if you demand that from JoePa the world has every right to expect nothing less from you. But I'm sure you won't do that. Like I said you disgust me.............