Joe Paterno, 85, dies in State College

[MADem]

190. Well, I think he DID know. How could he not? He learns, from a subordinate he trusted,

(and he must have trusted the guy--he moved up in the organization, after all) that Sandusky is a child rapist.

He tells someone, his bosses at the school, but he doesn't bother to tell THE POLICE? Particularly after NOTHING happens to Sandusky? Please. And Sandusky--who was a coach emeritus since 1999 with an OFFICE in the school athletic complex, and therefore he had a continuous working relationship--even without an actual job or role-- with the head coach-- keeps showing up around campus, at the games, at the social events? And he doesn't wonder, WTF? The scenario of Paterno The Innocent defies credulity.

Are you telling me if his HOUSE was robbed, he'd tell the heads of the school first? And not involve the cops? And "let it go" if there was no effort to bring the perpetrators to justice? If McQueary told him that he was in the team locker room and saw a guy with a gun, would Paterno notify the school leadership? Or dial Nine One One?

A crime was committed, "JoPa" knew who did it, because a trusted subordinate told him who did it. He told the wrong people, and nothing was done. The criminal remained free. At that point, doncha think, he might have called the cops to be SURE that they had all the info they needed?

Or maybe, just maybe, he told the wrong people because he KNEW they would do the wrong thing, and cover up the mess? Maybe, just maybe, Saint JoPa didn't want any of that nasty "pervy" stuff besmirching "his" football program?

What you're doing is excusing the completely inexcusable. Paterno, through his deliberate and thoughtful INaction, covered up a violent crime, enabled a violent criminal, and is responsible for that criminal being allowed to continue to perpetrate his violent crimes against little children for a full decade after he KNEW. There's no vagueness, here. He did what he did, and more importantly, he DIDN'T do what he should have, and he owns that.

It's also a bit of a stretch (and insulting to the elderly, too) to suggest that "old people" (and he wasn't all that old when this shit went down, either--McQueary told him about that incident TEN YEARS ago, when he was in his mid-seventies) have a differing view of child molestation than people of other generations. That's as silly as saying they have a differing view of armed robbery. If anything, grandkids (all the fun and none of the poop) would make "old people" more lion-like when it comes to defense of the most innocent among us. Old people aren't stupid, even if they aren't as blunt and open in their conversations about such horrible things.

You can't use the geezer defense on the one hand, and ignore the fact that for the last ten years, since he was told Sandusky was a rapist, that he was able to coach football and use all or most of his marbles to so do. That bird just does not fly.