Jay Paterno quote:

Donate To GopherHole
R

ruppertflywheel

Banned
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
12,226
Reaction score
0
Points
36
"Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience" I seriously find that hard to believe.
 

I believe it. Joe Paterno didn't molest any kids, didn't witness any kids being molested, and passed a secondhand report of possible molestation to his superiors.

I doubt that on his deathbed he was agonizing over it.
 

He spoke about himself in the third person? Who does he think he is?
 




ruppertflywheel said:
"Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience" I seriously find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...
He walked around with the possibility that his friend/colleague was a child rapist in his head for 10+ years and that never seemed to bother him. I'd say he has a pretty extreme sense of cognitive dissonance.
 

Gopherprof said:
He walked around with the possibility that his friend/colleague was a child rapist in his head for 10+ years and that never seemed to bother him. I'd say he has a pretty extreme sense of cognitive dissonance.
Click to expand...

Spot on.


"I believe it. Joe Paterno didn't molest any kids, didn't witness any kids being molested, and passed a secondhand report of possible molestation to his superiors. I doubt that on his deathbed he was agonizing over it."

Paterno was god almighty in hapless valley and, therefore, he should have done something about it. It's not like he got some secondhand report that a kid stole a pack of gum. We're talking about the sickest of crimes and he stood by and did next to nothing. If he didn't agonize over it, Gopherprof just hit the nail on the head. This crime and Paterno's lack of addressing it overshadows any good he may have done and therefore it is rightfully his legacy.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
Spot on.


"I believe it. Joe Paterno didn't molest any kids, didn't witness any kids being molested, and passed a secondhand report of possible molestation to his superiors. I doubt that on his deathbed he was agonizing over it."

Paterno was god almighty in hapless valley and, therefore, he should have done something about it. It's not like he got some secondhand report that a kid stole a pack of gum. We're talking about the sickest of crimes and he stood by and did next to nothing. If he didn't agonize over it, Gopherprof just hit the nail on the head. This crime and Paterno's lack of addressing it overshadows any good he may have done and therefore it is rightfully his legacy.
Click to expand...
To be the devil's advocate, he did do something about it. He heard a report from some younger guy that a good friend of his was doing some disgusting things with kids. He reported it to the president of the school and the head of the campus police.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
We're talking about the sickest of crimes and he stood by and did next to nothing.
Click to expand...

Not saying you're wrong, but you have absolutely no clue if this is the case or not. We know he went to his superiors, but we have no idea what he heard in response. For all we know, they told him that they did an investigation and found nothing. Again, we have no idea.

There are lots of sickening things about this case; one of them is how quick people are to judge without knowing the whole story.
 



ruppertflywheel said:
"Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience" I seriously find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

How many of us really do leave the world with a clear conscience?

We all have skeletons in our closet, every single one of us. JoePa's (apparent/alleged) transgression was that he didn't follow up. A colossal mistake, one that could have helped nip it in the bud a long time ago, I agree, but I refuse to condemn a man who by all accounts lived an admirable life 99.9% of his days on earth. The way this whole thing has been reported by the lion's share of the media, if one didn't know any better you'd think JoePa was the one molesting kids. Joe Paterno was not a scumbag. Jerry Sandusky is a scumbag, but that pretty much got lost in this whole thing with the focus on JoePa.

A fallen legend -- someone the common man can revel in seeing them fall from grace -- sells more newspapers than a perverted, sick, dirtbag pedophile.

R.I.P., JoePa.
 

RIP Joe Pa

Lots of piling on and heresay in this thread.
The guy did much more right than wrong in his life, his one major wrong was not doing 2 rights(reporting it AND following up on it)

His superiors and the board of regents deserve more blame than him IMO.
I can't believe Sandusky was worth protecting like this, something else, above Joe Pa was in play. I'll continue to believe that until it's proven Joe Pa was in on covering it up.
Maybe donors were involved, maybe a regent or two were sharing kids with Sandusky, maybe there was dirt beyond this that Sandusky knew about, something worse.
I don't know. Paterno should have done more, but he didn't deserve to be the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter he ended up as. Every member of the board of regents should resign, every administration member involved, every support staff involved, etc if Joe Pa was expected to resign. I might even call for the current governor's head, since he was on the board at the time.
Just ranting here, any thoughts?
I will always respect Paterno like he was pre-scandal until proven he was "in" on it all.
 

SelectionSunday said:
How many of us really do leave the world with a clear conscience?

We all have skeletons in our closet, every single one of us. JoePa's (apparent/alleged) transgression was that he didn't follow up. A colossal mistake, one that could have helped nip it in the bud a long time ago, I agree, but I refuse to condemn a man who by all accounts lived an admirable life 99.9% of his days on earth. The way this whole thing has been reported by the lion's share of the media, if one didn't know any better you'd think JoePa was the one molesting kids. Joe Paterno was not a scumbag. Jerry Sandusky is a scumbag, but that pretty much got lost in this whole thing with the focus on JoePa.

A fallen legend -- someone the common man can revel in seeing them fall from grace -- sells more newspapers than a perverted, sick, dirtbag pedophile.

R.I.P., JoePa.
Click to expand...

+1
 

To Be Named Later said:
For all we know, they told him that they did an investigation and found nothing. Again, we have no idea.
Click to expand...

It could be true, but then why did they not allow him to bring kids on campus anymore? To me that means they think something may have happened. If that's the case, why was Sandusky allowed to be around the program still? To me they essentially said, we have enough information that we don't want you with kids on campus anymore, but since you nothing will be happening here, it's ok for you to be around the program still. Something is just not right.
 



SelectionSunday said:
How many of us really do leave the world with a clear conscience?

We all have skeletons in our closet, every single one of us. JoePa's (apparent/alleged) transgression was that he didn't follow up. A colossal mistake, one that could have helped nip it in the bud a long time ago, I agree, but I refuse to condemn a man who by all accounts lived an admirable life 99.9% of his days on earth. The way this whole thing has been reported by the lion's share of the media, if one didn't know any better you'd think JoePa was the one molesting kids. Joe Paterno was not a scumbag. Jerry Sandusky is a scumbag, but that pretty much got lost in this whole thing with the focus on JoePa.

A fallen legend -- someone the common man can revel in seeing them fall from grace -- sells more newspapers than a perverted, sick, dirtbag pedophile.

R.I.P., JoePa.
Click to expand...
There's not much to report on Sandusky. Everyone universally agrees that he's a scumbag and until he goes to trial, there's really nothing to say unless he pops up and gives another creepy interview.

Paterno is/was in the news in part because he's more famous, but also because his fanboys keep glorifying him like a deity, bringing it into the public attention the insanely misguided priorities in our society. For example, they didn't have to hold that ridiculous procession that was his funeral. They chose to make a public statement about his death, and keep him in the news.
 


MNfootballfan said:
To be the devil's advocate, he did do something about it. He heard a report from some younger guy that a good friend of his was doing some disgusting things with kids. He reported it to the president of the school and the head of the campus police.
Click to expand...
And then.....he washed his hands of it. Many more rapes could have been prevented if he just followed up on a very serious issue that was handed to him.
 

Unregistered User said:
Sounds like you want to unburden yourself. You're among friends. Please share...you'll feel better.
Click to expand...

Ohhhhh this could be good Gophehole fodder! Selection Sunday?
 


To Be Named Later said:
Not saying you're wrong, but you have absolutely no clue if this is the case or not. We know he went to his superiors, but we have no idea what he heard in response. For all we know, they told him that they did an investigation and found nothing. Again, we have no idea.

There are lots of sickening things about this case; one of them is how quick people are to judge without knowing the whole story.
Click to expand...

This. I'm amazed at the number of people who assume they know all the facts and what transpired.

I also like the people who stick out their chest and say what they would have done to Sandusky if THEY were the one that walked in on him that day in the shower instead of McQueary. Sure, it's easy to say days, weeks, months after the fact what you WOULD have done. The guy walked in on something he could not POSSIBLY have ever fathomed seeing, in that setting, at that time, involving that person. I think it's laughable to assume you know EXACTLY how you would have responded at that particular instant in time when faced with that situation. Sure, everybody could have and should have done more. Obviously.

Nothing that came from this even remotely overshadows the half a century of good things JoePa did. It's ridiculous to even suggest that.

Time to let this go and move on...
 

I think JoePa probably tried to do more good than bad. However, if he really died with clear conscience, that's disgusting.

Think of all of the things in your past where you thought, "god, if I only could have done more..." For me, those regrets surround circumstances where friends made bad decisions (got DWI), and things like that.

If I was in JoePa's shoes and I knew a situation that I could easily have done more and I didn't, and the ramification was another decade of children being molested....I wouldn't have a clear conscience and no normal human would. I think that quote was not only inaccurate, but offensive.

Put it all aside, put all of the trying to distribute the blame between the President, McQuery, and JoePa aside.....he made a mistake and as a result of that mistake atrocities happened for a decade.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This. I'm amazed at the number of people who assume they know all the facts and what transpired.

I also like the people who stick out their chest and say what they would have done to Sandusky if THEY were the one that walked in on him that day in the shower instead of McQueary. Sure, it's easy to say days, weeks, months after the fact what you WOULD have done. The guy walked in on something he could not POSSIBLY have ever fathomed seeing, in that setting, at that time, involving that person. I think it's laughable to assume you know EXACTLY how you would have responded at that particular instant in time when faced with that situation. Sure, everybody could have and should have done more. Obviously.

Nothing that came from this even remotely overshadows the half a century of good things JoePa did. It's ridiculous to even suggest that.

Time to let this go and move on...
Click to expand...

First, I agree with you about the initial reaction from McQuery. It's impossible to guess what you would do when you are faced with that initial shocking scene.

However, I think it's pretty easy to guess what you would do after a couple days / weeks. I think most people can accurately guess if they could work with someone they had a really strong suspicion was molesting children.

Second, the Sandusky scandal absolutely overshadows anything to do with Penn State football. I love football but this was a legitimate tragedy. The repeated and systematic rape of juvenile boys for an additional decade is partially JoePa and Penn State's fault..
 

SelectionSunday said:
How many of us really do leave the world with a clear conscience?

We all have skeletons in our closet, every single one of us. JoePa's (apparent/alleged) transgression was that he didn't follow up. A colossal mistake, one that could have helped nip it in the bud a long time ago, I agree, but I refuse to condemn a man who by all accounts lived an admirable life 99.9% of his days on earth. The way this whole thing has been reported by the lion's share of the media, if one didn't know any better you'd think JoePa was the one molesting kids. Joe Paterno was not a scumbag. Jerry Sandusky is a scumbag, but that pretty much got lost in this whole thing with the focus on JoePa.

A fallen legend -- someone the common man can revel in seeing them fall from grace -- sells more newspapers than a perverted, sick, dirtbag pedophile.

R.I.P., JoePa.
Click to expand...

Who'd have guessed that one of the most reliable posters on the site would say something that makes sense. Joe Paterno is not the child rapist here, and for the most part, lived an honest life. He is still a hall of fame coach to me, and an admiral person all around.
 

stocker08 said:
Who'd have guessed that one of the most reliable posters on the site would say something that makes sense. Joe Paterno is not the child rapist here, and for the most part, lived an honest life. He is still a hall of fame coach to me, and an admiral person all around.
Click to expand...

No one ever accused him of being a child rapist here. They accused him of not doing enough to prevent the situation. If JoePa wasn't JoePa, I have a hard time believing anyone would be taking this stance. He was a likeable guy who did a lot of good things in his life and I really hope he does rest in peace, however, JoePa deserves all of the flak he is getting over this scandal.
 

The only way he died of a clear conscience is if he asked the LGA for forgiveness for not, in football terms taking the ball across the goal line and not fumbling on the 5 yd line.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Nothing that came from this even remotely overshadows the half a century of good things JoePa did. It's ridiculous to even suggest that.

Time to let this go and move on...
Click to expand...
Finally, someone is brave enough to push beyond distracting issues like child molestation and move on to more important things, like football.
 

Here's what we do know and this is what tips the scale against JoePa: these atrocities happened years ago. It only came to light when he got the record for wins. We don't know what really happened, but we do know it was covered up until he broke the record.

Very poor judgement on the part of the entire Penn State Administration.
 

I think that Joe was a class act in so many ways. I remember during Mason's era when we out played Penn State and Joe came into the Gopher locker room to tell the team that they deserved the win.

However, Joe's lack of appropriate action placed Penn State football and Penn State's reputation above the lives of children. That is simply not forgivable. We are talking lives and families and children versus sport. He and the university should have fired the bastard. They should have had him arrested. For Joe to say he never had to face something like that before so he did not know how to deal with disgusted me. Joe was one of the best at dealing with new issues that faced him 12 to 13 Saturdays of his adult life.

Do we forgive Bonds? How about Shoeless Joe? How about Pete Rose? Their crimes against human kind were minor compared to Joe's, in my humble opinion. Imagine if you were the parent of one of the 50 or more boys. Would you forgive Joe?
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This. I'm amazed at the number of people who assume they know all the facts and what transpired.

I also like the people who stick out their chest and say what they would have done to Sandusky if THEY were the one that walked in on him that day in the shower instead of McQueary. Sure, it's easy to say days, weeks, months after the fact what you WOULD have done. The guy walked in on something he could not POSSIBLY have ever fathomed seeing, in that setting, at that time, involving that person. I think it's laughable to assume you know EXACTLY how you would have responded at that particular instant in time when faced with that situation. Sure, everybody could have and should have done more. Obviously.

Nothing that came from this even remotely overshadows the half a century of good things JoePa did. It's ridiculous to even suggest that.

Time to let this go and move on...
Click to expand...

"Time to let this go and move on..." Tell that to the victims.
 

hey,we saw him bogging a kid,but why not let him have full access to the program with children in tow? Sorry folks, this does not pass the smell test. Joe should have at the very least banned the perv from the program
 

I'm not suggesting somebody with a uniform go to his grave, but the guy only thought of his legacy and not the safety of boys.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom