This is Your Only Penn State Thread

Submitted by Zone Left on

This is your Penn State Thread for the next couple of days. The following items should not be posted in a new thread anymore and will be deleted:

1. Any media personality's opinion on the scandal

2. An article about the scandal

3. "WTF this is whack" reactions

4. Basically anything else about the controversy

Here's the deal--Paterno is out at the end of the year. Everyone else is getting fired or "resigning." The accusations are appalling and now that there are rumors of Federal involvement, the sledgehammer that is the criminal justice system is going to exact very angry revenge in the coming months.

As I type this, 40% of board topics are about this topic. The obvious lessons are to never forget and always do the right thing--even when it is incredibly hard. Please do so in your personal life going forward.

I'm not doing this to be a jerk. We just need to try and control the chaos.

MGoBoard
Joe Paterno
Penn State
Jerry Sandusky

AFMich

November 9th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^

I am really glad the first talking head that ESPN had on actually had the balls to say the trustees did the right thing for the university. I was expecting him to be on the Paterno bandwagon. He even kept the perspective of separating this from sports and focusing on the victims.

Joined: 03/24/2011

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Mr Miggle

November 9th, 2011 at 10:46 PM ^

He writes a very nice post. I think it added to the discussion and was rightfully bumped to the front page. Dumping it in a big catchall thread would basically cause it to get lost. I think you're underestimating how huge this story is and that it's quickly evolving. Trying to consolidate everything about PSU into one thread feels like you're just trying to kill the discussion. It's like sticking yoour finger in a dike. This is THE story in college football, when has one been bigger? Having 40% of the board topics on it sounds very reasonable to me. That'll change Saturday on its own, if not before.

 

Joined: 10/07/2010

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turtleboy

November 9th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^

rest of the season will play out like with the DCoordinator coaching ad-interum. Think the offense could do any worse? Nebraska has been surprised by a few good defenses and I think PSU might still have the ability to contain them to a degree for their last home game of the year. Ohios and Wiscos offenses have been all over the map as well and I think watching PSU's defensive efforts will give us a good measuring stick as we could potentially face their three remaining opponents the week after PSU does in succession.

Joined: 04/22/2011

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Steve in PA

November 9th, 2011 at 10:49 PM ^

You cannot, nor will you ever be able to convince me that they did not sit on this until the PSU bye week.  

 

The bye week that happened to come right after his magical xxx win.  What if they hadn't won against Illinois?  Would the university really have cut loose the guy that is one win short of the magical xxx win?

Joined: 08/10/2009

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george11

November 9th, 2011 at 10:49 PM ^

Is this the rumored scandal that was to bring down a major college program?  I seem to remember that it was concerning a program that no one would ever expect.  I'm sorry that I don't have the time to go back through all of the old threads to research.  Just a thought.

Joined: 01/08/2011

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HighSociety

November 9th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^

Sandusky for years after they all knew about him.  Apparently there's a picture out of him standing on the sideline next to Mcqueary in 2007 or something.

And the thing about him being at the gym there last week, it's like they were all "there's goes that nutty Jerry who likes to fuck kids", just real weird the whole thing.

Joined: 09/02/2011

MGoPoints: -386

ItsaDamnGame

November 9th, 2011 at 11:45 PM ^

I was a teacher for 7 years but...  I've always felt that teachers live an insulated life - never leaving the school year and Summer vacation mindset.  I believe whole-heartedly that professors and coaches that live in a small college town are separated from reality.  In 2002, JoePa was 70-something, (no offense to older MgoCitizens -I'm 39) but I would suggest that JoePa was too old and too insulated to respond properly to his assistant's report in 2002.  In the end, those of us who live in corporate America had to step up and take over the situation. 

This is a part of his legacy.

Joined: 01/06/2011

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Naked Bootlegger

November 10th, 2011 at 12:32 AM ^

Teachers have their own professional "reality".   Corporate america has their own professional "reality".   Crazy stuff happens in both the private and public sector for sometimes inexplicable reasons (e.g., the corporate culture at Lehman Bros. and Enron was a tad insulated and caused great societal harm).   I don't think you can entirely blame this unfortunate scandal solely on a perceived insulated small college town mindset.    

Joined: 01/28/2011

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buddhafrog

November 9th, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^

Is this only-one-PSU-post more enforceable than PSU telling Sandusky he couldn't come on campus with kids anymore?  B/c I already see another post with three times as many posts.

And that post is FAR more interesting.

Joined: 09/28/2009

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Agatha

November 10th, 2011 at 12:07 AM ^

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StephenRKass

November 10th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^

(Edit:  this post was written in response to a post taken down by the mods comparing PSU to Ohio, particularly in terms of how their PR teams handled things.)

 

It is questionable to compare the two. While I think the NCAA should punish Ohio, how can you even talk about free tattoos and the raping of boys in the same sentence?

Free tattoos and free swag and free money doesn't hurt others the same way that Sandusky's depravity did. One has to do with horrendous criminal activity. The other has to do with the by-laws of the NCAA.

Further, I really dislike when discussions go to PR and handling and press releases, etc. In fact, let's talk about another hypothetical on this very subject. What if the PR and handling from Happy Valley had been perfect? What if the President and the Coach had said all the right things in all the right ways? In my mind, it wouldn't matter a bit. If anything, it would be worse. Joe Paterno and most of the coaching staff knew what was going on for at least a dozen years, maybe longer. They did nothing about it. In the process, this monstrous predator was able to rape how many more boys? Ruin how many more lives? No amount PR will ever change this fact.

I actually believe that the clumsy handling of this matter was a blessing in disguise. It made it much easier for the Board of Directors to release the University President, and even more, to fire Joe Paterno. Given my understanding of the culture in Pennsylvania and Happy Valley, that was a very hard thing to do. I am glad that "good PR" didn't allow this to continue on any longer. Frankly, I am glad that the bad PR meant that Joe Paterno was fired yesterday.

As regards Ohio, they should be punished for what they did, even though it doesn't compare to PSU. If the connections between Gee and the AD with the NCAA brass allow them to skate, well, that is just another sad reflection of the insular good old boys club protecting their own. We saw how well that worked in (un) Happy Valley.

Joined: 07/15/2008

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jblaze

November 10th, 2011 at 10:59 AM ^

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/03/jerry_sandusky_former_penn_sta.html

From 3/31/11

"According to sources, the boy told Children and Youth Services that Sandusky had indecent contact with him several times over four years.

Children and Youth Services investigated the boy’s story and sent the case to Clinton County District Attorney Michael Salisbury. His office forwarded it to Centre County, where the incidents were alleged to have taken place.

Then-Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira transferred the case to then-state Attorney General Tom Corbett in March 2009. Corbett, now governor, declined comment through his spokesman."

This is not over in any way, shape or form.

Joined: 08/29/2008

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Gameboy

November 10th, 2011 at 12:30 PM ^

Here is something that I still don't understand.

As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we learned about this 5 days ago. But that is not the case with PSU. The grand jury investigation has been going on for YEARS and all the key players from the PSU administrations were deposed.

They had YEARS to prepare for what happened over last 5 days and this is the best they could do???

They had AMPLE time to hire investigators to find out what really happened, what their exposure was and prepare measures to ensure that fallout was going to be minimal.

But they did NOTHING of the sort. That is just baffling. They still had Sanduski accessing the facilities last week fergodsakes!

How is that people this successful could be this incompetent?

Joined: 11/28/2010

MGoPoints: 9656

triangle_M

November 10th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

they underestimated the backlash.   They live in a bubble, and the Paterno / local media / local police have been collusion for decades.

The story broke out of Harrisburg (?), because of the court location (I think) and hit the twitters pretty rapidly.  From there it was an unprecidented shitstorm.  

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