Looks like the locals in Centre County believe that Jerry Sandusky is guilty (State College: fit in, credit)

[Craziaskowboi]

Remember how everybody outside of Pennsylvania began to assume that Jerry Sandusky would be acquitted simply because some of the jury members have ties to Penn State, and that anybody who's even remotely associated with Penn State or State College is "out of touch with reality"? Well, ironically, they're the ones who are out of touch with reality, because the reality is that almost everybody in Centre County believes that Jerry Sandusky is guilty and wants to see him go to prison for the rest of his life. What a huge chasm between perception and reality!

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Remember how everybody outside of Pennsylvania began to assume that Jerry Sandusky would be acquitted simply because some of the jury members have ties to Penn State,

Personally I think having people associated with Penn State on the jury is not a benefit for Sandusky, it's the exact opposite. Most are going to want him hanged.

[maf763]

I don't remember everybody outside of PA thinking he would walk. Maybe a comment here and there, but that's it.

[thecoalman]

There is certainly a segment of society that thinks he's going to walk, this was just posted a few hours ago in the political forum:

Originally Posted by Savoir Faire

Makes sense, I don't see how any judge or jury (unless it's all Penn State football fans) can find him not guilty.

They think the anger over what happened to Paterno and people defending Paterno somehow carries over to Sandusky which couldn't be farther than the truth.

[Avalon08]

I was just thinking about this today -- the city of Sandusky, Ohio, where I worked for a time in the 80's. That poor city is probably so mad that he has sullied the town name.

I recently talked to a lady who lives in State College and one who grew up there. Both know people associated with Penn State and Sandusky. Neither one of them defended him. Honestly, I haven't heard anyone defend him (outside of court) other than his wife and the neighbor. There's no way that 10 boys (or maybe men by this time) would have any reason to make that stuff up. I feel awful for them and hope they can find some peace when this guy is convicted.

[yti2002]

This thing was over before it started. When he went talking to every media outlet on the street after the news broke, he killed any chance.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[2nd trick op]

One issue which, I believe, has still not been addressed is the possibility of resentment on Sandusky's part for Paterno's refusal to pursue a "normal" retirement and turn the reins over (presumably to Sandusky) around 1991, when JoePa turned 65.

As one who was an undergraduate when the story began, I can identify with some of Paterno's frustration. The man had a legitimate claim to as many as five National Championships, but was credited with only two, in part due to the anti-East Coast prejudices of a sportswriting clique who, at the time, didn't always distinguish between Penn and Penn State.

One thing that seems certain: the unique, home-grown-and-developed character that separated Penn State football from the also-rans has been totally destroyed -- thanks mostly to the actions of one completly amoral fool and a leadership too niave to read between the lines, but also due to a spineless Board of Trustees too much in synch with the stupidity called Political Correctness to separate the actions of one wrongdoer from an institution which was lynched in the media (with help from the Nanny-mentality) within a few hours after the story broke.

Sorry, but a Penn State head coach imported from (Massachusetts??) just doesn't ring true here in CoalCracker country.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

One issue which, I believe, has still not been addressed is the possibility of resentment on Sandusky's part for Paterno's refusal to pursue a "normal" retirement and turn the reins over (presumably to Sandusky) around 1991, when JoePa turned 65.

As one who was an undergraduate when the story began, I can identify with some of Paterno's frustration. The man had a legitimate claim to as many as five National Championships, but was credited with only two, in part due to the anti-East Coast prejudices of a sportswriting clique who, at the time, didn't always distinguish between Penn and Penn State.

One thing that seems certain: the unique, home-grown-and-developed character that separated Penn State football from the also-rans has been totally destroyed -- thanks mostly to the actions of one completly amoral fool and a leadership too niave to read between the lines, but also due to a spineless Board of Trustees too much in synch with the stupidity called Political Correctness to separate the actions of one wrongdoer from an institution which was lynched in the media (with help from the Nanny-mentality) within a few hours after the story broke.

Sorry, but a Penn State head coach imported from (Massachusetts??) just doesn't ring true here in CoalCracker country.

Disagree!

[Geeo]

The interesting thing about this whole trial is that it exposed the Penn State mentality - nobody would say anything, they wanted to protect Sandusky (be "humane" to him), and not jeoparize the "Program." Nobody was going to believe a bunch of troubled kids over this God Sandusky. He and Paterno were the avenue to the Good Life up there, which was football. Plus anybody who would have come forward with any information would have been ostracized for harming the Program, casting a bad light on Paterno, and generally sullying the reputation of Happy Valley and the Program, which to them is above religion. Now it's all irretrievable broken and will never be the way it was before, which is probably a good thing.
It's a small town up there and jobs would have been lost and people would have jeopardized their careers for talking.

[2nd trick op]

Originally Posted by Geeo

The interesting thing about this whole trial is that it exposed the Penn State mentality --- the Program, which to them is above religion. Now it's all irretrievable broken and will never be the way it was before, which is probably a good thing.

Your point is a fair one, but it oversimplifies -- many of the people who joined the lynch mob were sympathetic to the radical feminist, socialist, pro-Nannyism mentality which is every bit as much a "perfect enemy" to the Culture of Sport as the Religious Right is to Gay Liberation.

I don't have an answer to this; A handful of docrtrinal Lefties are symbolically "high-fiving" each other, while in some, probably equally alienated corners, the paranoia among some people who see anyone not in full agreement with the perceived victors (and almost invariably portrayed as a nature male) as in further need of "re-education" will continue to fester.

The American view of sport --- especially when contrasted to the European, provides some tantalizing clues with regard to attitudes within the two societies. Many Americans (and I readily admit to being one of them) view soccer, for example, as an exercise in frustration -- we prefer baseball where a game can, in theory at least, go on forever, or American football, where a couple of breaks can quickly change things. Soccer, on the other hand, is about elaborate defenses and endless mediocrity in the name of "team play" -- perhaps that's why it sparks the occasional rioting among the losers who can never fit in.

As for the rest, I'll just invoke the memory of the snti-American, anti-Western sentiment that poisoned the 1972 Olympic Games, left to the fulmination of the senile Avery Brundage, and culminating in mass murder.

There are natural limits to radical egalitarianism and zealous Political Correctness. That's why the ads for Huggies and Pampers don't run on ESPN.