OT: Paterno statue to stay for now, per ESPN

Submitted by vablue on

Per the below ESPN article the Paterno statue at PSU is going to stay, for now.  Personally, I think that is a huge mistake.  I have a lot of family that are big PSU fans and I understand the love for the guy.  But, I think the Trustees (ironic name in this case) is in for a bit of a shock when they realize that every televised game is going to start with them showing the statue and talking about what Joe did, or did not do.  Essentially, every time your University is put on TV it is going to be shown how they still praise a guy who at the very least enabled a child molester.  Yeah, that is just the way I would want my University represented.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8166643/joe-paterno-statue-remain-penn-state-sources-say

 

 

Bryan

July 14th, 2012 at 8:19 PM ^

Is exactly the image I have had in my head since discussion about the statue started. 

Saddam was a bad dude that did a lot of deplorabe things to the Iraqi peope, but I bet he wouldn't have let Sandusky get away with it for as long as Joe Paterno did. 

Hokemadness27

July 14th, 2012 at 7:10 PM ^

Shocked that will stay up! This statue should of went down when the freeh report came out. This is a shame and a horrible situation there. Though I don't respect anyone who still sticks up for Joe, he is just as bad as Sandusky

MGoSoftball

July 15th, 2012 at 6:51 PM ^

Sandusky is a sick f*ck and he needs help.  But for the Penn State 4 should have forced him to get help after victim #1.  However, they ALLOWED (silence equals permission) Sandusky to continue raping little boys.  They all should be tried and given the death penalty. 

JoePa is in hell and that is where he should be.  Maybe we can fry the other 3, and send them to hell quickly.

MGJS SuperKick Party

July 14th, 2012 at 7:21 PM ^

I agree with Bobby Bowden, when people see the statue of Joe Paterno it's going to be a discussion point and it's not going to be a good discussion. I personally would want to have it removed, but if they want to think about it, the could get something to surround the statue so people don't see it [and keep it safe from vandalism] , like the wooden panels at the Mall so you can't see in new stores.



It is sad that the trustees don't want to make a "rash decision" like they did in November... Oh when you fired JoePa and the guys who were covering it up... There are some members of the Penn State community who act totally oblivious to what happened... Disgusting



Let the parents and the victims decide what to do with the statue, considering they are going to be getting A LOT of money from the university.

 

Champeen

July 14th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^

I am more curious to know what will happen to the University.  Will they get anywhere near the SMU death penalty?

Have to feel sorry for the PSU fans.  Michigan basketball fans know what it feels like.

MGJS SuperKick Party

July 14th, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^

Although you are correct about the Death Penalty, something extreme will have to be done by the NCAA in my opinion. I think if there isnt a punishment that is near death penalty, the NCAA will lose what control they do have.

If Penn State does not get a punishment, I would expect to see violations increase, because honestly if Penn State gets away with this, what stops Program W from playing Players X, Y, and Z with tattoos, golden dablooms, or a Lambo? I think the NCAA will lose a lot of credibility.

If they do hit Penn State with the hammer, I think it will enforce to teams that have violations that break laws (hopefully nothing like this ever again) to put the victims ahead of the football/basketball/baseball/etc program or there will be no more football/basketball/baseball/etc program.

wile_e8

July 14th, 2012 at 10:02 PM ^

If they do hit Penn State with the hammer, I think it will enforce to teams that have violations that break laws (hopefully nothing like this ever again) to put the victims ahead of the football/basketball/baseball/etc program or there will be no more football/basketball/baseball/etc program.

Doesn't the threat of jail time already do this? Once that's on the table, I don't think the threat of NCAA penalties will affect the violators.

MGJS SuperKick Party

July 14th, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^

I think it really depends on the program or the person.

I think the punishment of jail would deter a lot of people, but even with that punishment, there are still people willing to do the crime.

I think back on what my high school driver education teacher said, " there are severe punishments for drinking and driving, people still do it. If the punishment were the death penalty, there would be a lot less."

MGJS SuperKick Party

July 14th, 2012 at 10:36 PM ^

I think to a lot of people, jail time is more than sufficient penalty. But if you want to make sure that a program would report a major crime if it happened again, you impact a major revenue generating activity.



It will be interesting to see what actually happens. This is honestly the first situation to this magnitude, and it's going to change the landscape no matter what the NCAA decides to do or what not to do.

MGJS SuperKick Party

July 14th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^

No not at all.

I am not saying that at all. I think the most important thing, besides for these people to get the punishment that they deserve, legally of course, is the importance of reporting any crime, especually crimes that involves children and their safety. If I gave off a different message, I apologize, because I was not going for that message at all.

 

markinmsp

July 15th, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^

 Actually, PSU needs to worry even more about the Dept. of Education. The Clery Act (a violation being failure to report a crime on or in the near vicinity of campus), which you hear mentioned often in the report is a DOE enforced mandate. If they are deemed punishable, the DOE can eliminate PSU or it’s students from receiving federal funds. The ceiling being eliminating students from Pell Grants and other federal student aid, and/or the eligibility of the university research awards, stipends, grants, etc., ANY Federal money!! In the last Top 100 Institutions in Federally Financed R&D Expenditures report, PSU is listed in the top 20 for institutions receiving federal research dollars.

 Any or all of it could go “Bye-bye”, if DOE feels it should be enforced.

M-Dog

July 15th, 2012 at 9:14 PM ^

Agreed.  But it will be a Goddamn circus.  

They don't have enough roads into State College to accomodate the media horde that will show up, three quarters of which will have nothing to do with college football.

LSAClassOf2000

July 14th, 2012 at 7:42 PM ^

"The trustees' reluctance to remove the statue is motivated, in part, by a desire not to offend alumni and students who adore the late coach despite the damning findings of his role in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse cover-up detailed in the Freeh report, the sources said."

How very thoughtful of them.

They are going through straight denial, minimization and projection all at once in  State College. The basic message that the Board Of Trustees is sending is that Joe Paterno lives even though he lives no longer and that his program still means more than those whose abuse he helped enable. It will be a long time before they even get to "anger" in DABDA.

Again, it provides some evidence that few people if anyone in power at PSU is going to be able to make an objective decision about this issue right now, just when they desperately need someone to be doing this this very thing. 

I am sure that they are aware of how much his presence meant financially and emotionally to this school and it seems that, solely because of some misguided sentiment, they decided that the legacy of Joe Paterno warrants a sort of commemoration. The sentiment seems to carry more weight than the reality of what happened. 

They don't want to offend alumni and students who are also going through similar denial, but really, the  only way they are going to heal (if they want to heal) as a school and program is to do these little things which begin to dissociate themselves from Paterno - it will still take years. The new culture begins without the image of a bespectacled man guiding a team onto the field - it will be a while, I imagine, before they can omit a certain man from this image. 

triangle_M

July 14th, 2012 at 7:52 PM ^

I'm so tired of this story.  I find myself agreeing with the harshest penalties.  Fines, prison, death penalty, removal from the B1G.  I understand this an emotional reaction to the situation - abhorrence.  I don't  buy the "don't punish the players" mantra, because as some have said on this board, that's like not imprisoning a murderer because its going to adversely affect his children.    Unfortunately, its STILL all about the money.  PSU athletic department donations were the second highest ever this year.   

Edward Khil

July 14th, 2012 at 11:12 PM ^

All the players should be allowed to leave the school and enroll elsewhere without sitting out a year. Unfortunately, most schools' rosters/scholarships are full at this point (I'm guessing). So this policy should remain in place after the 2012 season, as well, to give players time to reach such an important decision.

big john lives on 67

July 14th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^

Agree.

Amazingly, it still seems like this institution still cannot bring itself to consider the victims first in all of this.  They are worried about offending everybody now, except the victims.

I want to show some mercy to JoePa, but the victims should become the primary concern, and never allowing this to happen again a very close second.

 

Gordon

July 14th, 2012 at 7:44 PM ^

It'll be torn down in a couple weeks, over the course of one night, after the furor subsides.

Quietly, so no one can protest or make a scene at the demolition.

WingsNWolverines

July 14th, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^

I do agree it represents the good that he did with Penn State. However the fact he knew about this for possibly 14 years without going to the authorities makes my stomach turn. I just wish now I didn't idolize him so much when he was there...

Perkis-Size Me

July 14th, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^

I understand that it must be difficult to let go of an icon like Paterno. Regardless of the Sandusky situation, he did a lot for PSU, for football and the school itself. Its hard to overlook and simply forget about his service to the school. I get that. We can't lie to ourselves and say some of us wouldn't feel the same way if this kind of scandal occured under Schembechler. If you say something like "we're Michigan, that would never happen here," you are flat out naive, and just as much in denial as the PSU fans still in support of Paterno.

But the school needs a fresh start. Paterno needs to be purged from the school. I'm not a fan of the death penalty, but maybe it needs to happen. I'm no authority on that, but it would not be unreasonable to push this on PSU. I think SMU was nothing compared to this scandal.

1464

July 14th, 2012 at 8:34 PM ^

If I found out that Hoke, Carr, or Bo were enabling a child rapist to continue his craft unimpeded, I would hope they get the most severe punishment possible.  I would never, ever try to rationalize this.  I'd never lose my support for the football program at Michigan, but would completely disavow any positive feelings I had for anyone on staff that did something like this.

I wish Paterno were alive to see his fanbase erode.  Cancer was too nice a fate.  He did not make a mistake.  He made a continual decision to put his own reputation and that of his program over the safety of innocent children.

There is no discussion.  No back and forth.  That is it.  It is the end of the conversation.  I wish the worst fate to all those who knew but did nothing.  In a way, that is as pure evil as an obviously sick and twisted person carrying out something they cannot control.  Sandusky deserves to burn for all of this, but what normal person goes around raping children? He's chemically imbalanced and off his rocker.  What really turns the knife is that you had a group of 'normal' people decide that their little piece of the pie was worth more than the safety of kids.  That's as evil as it gets. 

You can hate on this post if you want, but you will never convince me otherwise. 

"Let's leave a statue of up that reminds everyone about how dozens of kids were raped, all while our highest ranking athletic officials were complacent." 

This makes Brandon look like a fuckin' genious for wanting a mascot...

Owl

July 14th, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^

"If I found out that Hoke, Carr, or Bo were enabling a child rapist to continue his craft unimpeded, I would hope they get the most severe punishment possible. I would never, ever try to rationalize this."

How do you know, though? I mean really, definitively know? That’s the truly scary part about this, because it deals so much with human nature and our ability to perpetrate or condone evil acts in deference to authority. Look up the Milgram obedience experiment if you don’t already know what that is. I don’t say any of this to rationalize the behavior of anyone involved or to somehow pretend like what happened wasn’t truly awful. It’s just that in our culture, there is an unhealthy level of adoration given to these people. People structure their entire lives around sports figures. That’s very dangerous, and not something we should so casually deny. (I’m sure you’re a good person, and I don’t mean to target you personally).

snarling wolverine

July 14th, 2012 at 9:05 PM ^

That's exactly why I want PSU to get slammed to pieces by the NCAA, sued for every penny, etc.  If human nature does not guarantee that we will instinctually do the right thing, then we need to make one hell of an example of this so anyone who even considers covering up will think, "We don't want to be another PSU."

1464

July 14th, 2012 at 9:07 PM ^

I think the segment of the population that is still defending Paterno is the same segment of the population that says tO$U, Spartina, or Meatchicken.  I think most of us on this board have a good perspective on things.  If PSU had an equivalent of MGoBlog, they would be in deep shame about the statue staying up...

I will never defend someone in this situation, regardless of prior allegiance.  I am confident of that.