Penn State Plans To Take Down The Paterno Statue This Weekend (school, colleges)

[KatWag]

He was once a good man who did a lot for PSU. And he was once an outstanding coach. In the end, he apparently chose protecting his legacy over protecting innocent children. By doing that he, and several others involved, enabled child rape.

Enough said.

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by KatWag

He was once a good man who did a lot for PSU. And he was once an outstanding coach. In the end, he apparently chose protecting his legacy over protecting innocent children. By doing that he, and several others involved, enabled child rape.

Enough said.

Exactly. All this "he admitted he should have done more" and "he didn't understand what was happening, he was from a different era" are complete ** excuses to me. I bought off on that before I saw the e-mail chain -- even though I found it inexcusable that he could've kicked the problem up the ladder after hearing the direct eyewitness account from McQueary.

I am sick about how the victims have been lost in all this concern and outrage about a statue and football. I think the fact that the victims were NOT "Little Billy" from up the street, but were troubled kids from broken and dysfunctional homes, who continued to have contact with the pedophile, and didn't come forward in some cases for years, has allowed people to somehow overlook the horror of the cover-up and place more priority on a winning football record. I wonder how they would feel if it were their son or grandson who was preyed upon by Sandusky in all those years that he wasn't reported.

[faeryedark]

Just heard on the news from one of the attnys. of one of the victims. the victims are a bit miffed (rightly so, I think) that they were not even asked their opinion about the statue or any of it, from either the NCAA or Penn State

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by faeryedark

Just heard on the news from one of the attnys. of one of the victims. the victims are a bit miffed (rightly so, I think) that they were not even asked their opinion about the statue or any of it, from either the NCAA or Penn State

Yes, I agree...it is amazing, how POWER goes to one's head, and how utterly unthinking their decissions were.

If you ask me, and no one is, however, I think if any board members who were on the board them, should be fired, no benifits what-so-ever. The kids that are playing football now, shouldn't have to suffer for a mistake that happened years ago, period, that to me, is senseless.

I believe they are forgetting, Sandusky is the Perp here, and while Paterno was wrong, the press, and people and those powers that be, are taking this way to far, and treating everything and everyone else like they are the perps...and they are not. Was Paterno wrong, yes indeed he was, but Sandusky is the Sicko, lest we forget, Paterno did an awful lot of good for that college and for a lot of kids...I'm just saying, in my opinion those who have already punished Penn State, were looking to hang someone, so it looked like they were doing something to appease the public...

and the public, enough is enough now...you want to go for the jugler, then scream loud and hard to make tougher laws on child molesters. I swear, when you look back and study history, humans, are so quick to blame someone, they hang an innocent person, and that is what they are doing here....not saying Paterno is innocent, he is not, however, Sandusky is the one who molested those kids and since no one can get to him, the public is screaming for revenge...so they took even the statue of the the players down behind Paterno's statue????????? And what about the athletic director that Paterno reported this to?

[maf763]

Consider the message that would be sent if there had been no or minimal sanctions placed on the football team by the NCAA.

Sandusky has been brought to justice, tried and convicted, and he won't see the outside of prison ever again. That's a start, and the state has fulfilled it's criminal obligation in his case, albeit much later than it should have (expect to hear more about this during the next gubernatorial election cycle). The NCAA is not punishing Penn State for Sandusky per se, they are punishing Penn State for the inaction and decision-making of the school and athletic leaders. For people who are angry at the media and the public for the NCAA sanctions - your anger is misguided. You should be angry at Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley, a hands-off board of directors, and anyone else involved in covering this up. They are the reasons for the sanctions, not the media or the public. Closing ranks around any or all of these administrative parties only makes you look like you're excusing their actions. The damage to the PSU program and reputation is because of them, and them alone. Trying to minimize their responsibility because they have also done good things for the school sends a horrible message about what is valued.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by maf763

Consider the message that would be sent if there had been no or minimal sanctions placed on the football team by the NCAA.

Sandusky has been brought to justice, tried and convicted, and he won't see the outside of prison ever again. That's a start, and the state has fulfilled it's criminal obligation in his case, albeit much later than it should have (expect to hear more about this during the next gubernatorial election cycle). The NCAA is not punishing Penn State for Sandusky per se, they are punishing Penn State for the inaction and decision-making of the school and athletic leaders. For people who are angry at the media and the public for the NCAA sanctions - your anger is misguided. You should be angry at Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley, a hands-off board of directors, and anyone else involved in covering this up. They are the reasons for the sanctions, not the media or the public. Closing ranks around any or all of these administrative parties only makes you look like you're excusing their actions. The damage to the PSU program and reputation is because of them, and them alone. Trying to minimize their responsibility because they have also done good things for the school sends a horrible message about what is valued.

then punish the athletic directors, and not the kids....this is ludicrist to me...I'm not trying to minimize their responsilbility in the least, but go after them and don't take away from the kids by trying to get to them, fire them...fire them, fire them and take away any benefits they were to recieve, period. I am a victim, and let me tell you this, Not nearly half the kids that he raped, came forward, and sorry, but it is a rape to me....Sandsusky was the perp here...not Paterno, although Paterno was wrong, people are going crazy and are acting like Paterno was the Perp! Coulda shoulda woulda, is far past...
I cannot believe how angry people get and then act out on that anger in the wrong way.
What about all the hundreds of kids that get sexually abused every single day that you never hear about...and I'm saying, every male child molester, usually rapes between 25 - 75 kids in his lifetime, so lets get these animals off the streets, period. Take that anger and energize it in something WE CAN DO...!!! Yanno what I think, all those priests that molested all thos kids didn't get this much attention and they should...Americans need to wake up...and see what is going on, and instead of reacting in a stupid way, go for the jugular on the perps!!!!!! Get them off the streets before they rape and possible distroy another child, and I don't give a rats ars if they are priests...priest are men, not GODS as they assume they are?

OH, and by the way, did they even consider asking every one of those people who were molested by Sandusky what should be done????????????????????????????????????????????? NOPE, they didn't even consider it?????????????????????????

[Gil3]

Trying to minimize their responsibility because they have also done good things for the school sends a horrible message about what is valued.

I agree. I personally feel Paterno took a lot to the grave with him and there are probably things that will never be known. Frankly, I think the last place on earth he wanted to be was in that courtroom.

As mentioned thousands of times before, the victims are being overlooked in this whole situation.

[James420]

Originally Posted by faeryedark

Just heard on the news from one of the attnys. of one of the victims. the victims are a bit miffed (rightly so, I think) that they were not even asked their opinion about the statue or any of it, from either the NCAA or Penn State

I agree, how does it help the victims by taking away scholarships either. So some poor kid now has a less of a chance of playing college football because of the sexual abuse and cover up of sexual abuse. This isn't a fan base or faculty or even students that benefited from national championships because of paying players. Now the baseball team suffers, the field hockey team suffers, and what does the NCAA tell players on those teams that may want to leave Penn St, can they leave without penalty or is it only the football team?

The NCAA IMHO overstepped their authority in this case, this was criminal and negligence, does the NCAA want his name off the library as well? Do they recommend the burning down of the library that Paterno donated millions to build. The only people who deserve the so called death penalty are Sandusky and the others that helped cover it up. Execute them all for all I care,but don't destroy a Univerisity over something a sick as this.

[pcity]

Originally Posted by maf763

For people who are angry at the media and the public for the NCAA sanctions - your anger is misguided. You should be angry at Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley, a hands-off board of directors, and anyone else involved in covering this up. They are the reasons for the sanctions, not the media or the public. Closing ranks around any or all of these administrative parties only makes you look like you're excusing their actions. The damage to the PSU program and reputation is because of them, and them alone. Trying to minimize their responsibility because they have also done good things for the school sends a horrible message about what is valued.

I AM angry at Paterno, Spanier, Schultz, Curley, the Trustees, and of course, most of all, at Sandusky himself.

But they weren't the ones who decided that the sanctions had to punish the current group of kids that had nothing to do with the scandal. This was an administrative scandal, not a football scandal- nothing that anyone did gave PSU an unfair advantage on the field. No NCAA rules were broken. The NCAA had to go outside its own rules to punish PSU.

[maf763]

I'll agree that this is unfair to many. Current (and past) players are facing consequences not of their doing. But having the NCAA merely give the university a slap on the wrist would be a head-in-the-sand response. The sanctions administered send the message that football is not above the law or common decency, no matter how popular or profitable it is. The current players are screwed up to a point (they can transfer without penalty if they choose), but that is the fault of the university leaders, not the NCAA, the media or the public. As far as removing future scholarships, kids that are good enough to get a scholarship at Penn State, are good enough to get one almost anywhere else, and they can choose to go elsewhere. It's not like PSU is their only option.

If a volleyball coach (for example) was the molester, this would have been handled far differently. It was covered up to the extent it was because of football's high profile, which is why the football program has to pay the price. In the opinion of many, the inconveniences faced by current players doesn't negate the need for such punishment.