I don't think the victims want to be memorialized.

As for Joe and his likeness around Penn State, it is a very tough call. Over the years, he did a lot of good for an awful lot of people. But that can never offset what his inaction with Sandusky has caused. I think taking it slow and measured is the way to proceed. No one views Joe the same anymore, so much like it took years to build his legacy, lets see how it proceeds over the new few years. Maybe removing some items will work for now.

Joe did a lot of good, but.....he erased the legacy of those good deeds covering up the sins of his long-time friend and associate. Joe is dead to me. Oh yeah. He is really dead.

Paint it all black..same as him POS!

Joe... Pat--er--no!

Erase this psychopath from history...and all of the other Penn State pigskin fetishists.

They need to melt his bronze statue & sell it for scrap.

I changed my avatar to a sculpture called "Sanctuary of the Abused Child." If they are going to melt down Paterno's statue, this one will make excellent use of the bronze.

The football program should get the death penalty from the NCAA. They did it to SMU for under the table payments to players and recruiting violations. SMU's suspension was for way less than raping children and covering it up. Since SMU esentially got a two year no football suspension PSU should get 3 years.

He should be completely removed from the mural. No amount of good he did could ever make up for the horrendous crimes he helped cover up!

He wished there were classes on sexual abuse?! Are you fu**ing kidding me? You needed a class to understand what your evil sociopath freak assistant coach was doing? You are as responsible as the evil sociopath freak Sandusky and everyone else that sat back and let it happen! Shame on you all!!

And to paint a blue ribbon on Paterno is wrong and blasphemy!

A fitting tribute to Joe Inferno...

3 monkeys...see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

JS in SD: What about the emails?

Hopeful, I could not agree with you more. There is no good that will come from memorializing Joe Paterno. He's a joke and an awful person to do what he did not do - help a bunch of kids. Paterno taught some young men how to play a game. And he taught MILLIONS how NOT to be a man. Tear down his statue, stick it on Sandusky's front lawn with the finger pointing at the front door for Dottie to see every day she goes outside to visit her sick husband. This whole story is awful. Those kids deserved sanctuary at Penn State. That is what they were there hoping to get. Instead, they got this????? WTF!!!!!

He needed a class on sexual abuse?!

He needed to be taught that pedophiles raping little boys ~ and not so little boys ~ is vile?

What sort of Catholicism did he practice?

By the way, no human being deserves a halo. We all make mistakes.

catmandu: They had a halo on the man's damned head. He was the hierarchy. The 1998 incident likely came as no suprise to Paterno. He knew of it and still chose to do nothing in 2001.

"We all make mistakes."

There's a difference between mistakes and criminal cover-ups.

JS and catmandu... Are you guys Catholic Bishops or what? Here is the statement which negates any pardon.

" About the only thing that anyone could say negative about Joe Paterno is that he did not go to the outside authorities, but the reality is that this would have been a violation of university policy."

Penn State does not make the laws, The Pennsylvania State Legislature makes the laws. It's not a university's policy on criminal behavior which holds clout with the courts. The other people who get arrested for similar crimes, or found to be miscreants of society, can't say to the court, " The Penn State University policy on child abuse, murder, rape, arson, whatever..." THE PEOPLE YOU GO TO ARE THE OUTSIDE AUTHORITIES. Those powers of authority are granted by the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, not Penn State.

This is the same line of BS offered up by the churches, " Church Policy ". This is a SECULAR COUNTRY not a theocracy. Not everyone is a Penn State alumni, nor does everyone hold the same religious beliefs. What's Penn State's policy on sexual abuse of minors, " If it doesn't happen in the football arena it is prosecuted, or if it happens at Auburn we won't cover it up." I hate to be the one to inform you, but sprinkling a layer of kitty litter on this pile isn't going to make it go away.

Not only do you go to universities to study law, you go to universities to study ethics. There is not one primal ethical principal that I see Joe Paterno exhibiting since his knowledge of 1998.

Put horns on his head instead.

@JS in SD....you must be retired with all the posts and all the words...........

Paterno continues to embarrass and undermine Penn State's credibility from the grave.

What a pathetic waste of a human being. Nothing he did can compensate for his sniveling cowardice.

" I felt it was appropriate to give him the blue ribbon"

I'd feel better if a dog painted into the chair. How about the riot damage - did the Penn State children fix any of that out of pocket?

"Over the years, he did a lot of good for an awful lot of people."

I believe that too but that's said about every crooked abusive cop who finally gets sent off to jail - and their damage is never undone.

How can you sit on that knowledge, for that many years? Wash your hands, because you told the "college administration", and walked away. Joe Paterno - Most Coaching games won - Huge Life loser.

JS in SD - while I agree that Paterno had no authority to ban Sandusky, you're argument is that "the reality is that this would have been a violation of university policy and been going around his boss and his bosses boss." The question I'd ask you is, "So what if he did?" Maybe not many people here would go around their management chain. But not many people here have the clout that Paterno did either, and that makes it a whole different ball game.

Paterno had enough clout that there wouldn't be a thing they could do to him if he told them he was going to the authorities. They would have had a rebellion on their hands if they fired him. And what would be the explanation for any firing or disciplinary action? "We fired him because he told the authorities we were covering up potential cases of child abuse"? As if that might happen!

Yes, people should read the report if they're going to make informed comments. But you also need to get a grip and admit that when someone of Paterno's stature blows the whistle, there ain't a thing anyone can do about it. Paterno would have been listened to. So all the more reason he should have taken the information to civil authorities as soon as it became apparent that Penn's administration was not acting.

Joe knew ! Joe knew ! The real question is DID HE PARTICIPATE ?

Tell me all of you who say Joe did a lot of good. Name one thing that he did that would be considered good and do not say scholarships or winning football games. All this comes down to is all about his GD sport and to win at all costs. It was about keeping the money flowing at Penn State so they could all shout, "we're number one." and do you really thing any other college would be different? Think again.

No way did Paterno warrant a halo!! Painting it off was the right decision. Had Paterno done the right thing back in 1998 when he learned Sandusky was a child molester (if not earlier), dozens of kids would have been spared the nighmare of abuse. Paterno bears a great deal of blame in letting that abuse continue for many more years.

It's a perfect example of the Edmund Burke saying, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

They need to remove his statue from the university grounds. Someone eventually will vandalize the place and destroy it.

1.1

Over the years, he did a lot of good for an awful lot of people.

Doing a lot of good would have meant stopping the entire program years ago at the very 1st whiff , hint, or question of inappropriate behavior...

He should have suspended Sandusky then, and INSISTED that all mis-conduct reports be investigated.

The very idea that there is a fear of inviting wrath from the "chain of command" because reporting something wrong...defeats our FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

However, Paterno was not that ethical....or "good".

instead, it evolved into a horrific, multi-case child abuse sexual, ongoing, degenerative abuse.

They should have altered the mural to show Joe looking the other way.

The Mural is about State College, NOT Penn State. This was poor reporting by MSNBC. There happens to be Penn State figures on the mural, but the majority of people have little to no affiliation with the school. Its about the town, not the school.

JSinSD: Your argument for Paterno is leakier than a submarine made of chicken wire. But, I guess enough people have already pointed that out to you so I will spare you any further embarrassment.

js in sd----your post is well thought out and reasonable but given the evidence already known paterno was part of the problem. i am assuming you too live in san diego. the charger football hero worshipers here in city hall support gutting school budget / city services / library hours to go into 800 million in debt for a new stadium for the chargers. i will never understand football fans. it seems all the public expects or wants from these teams is ''winning''. they can run dog fighting businesses, beat or kill their wives take drugs and all is forgiven or ignored if they can win games. nfl football has been getting a pass for too long. it is a violent dangerous ''game'' and using my tax dollars to provide a stadium for private industry to make enormous amounts of money is just plain wrong.

JS in SD, I've always liked your posts they are well thought out & make a lot of sense. This one I can't agree with though Mr. Paterno had to have known what was going on and chose to cover it up. It tarnished his legacy & what he lived his whole life for.

The problem in the first place was the idea that any human would be so revered and so elevated that s/he is treated as if s/he can do no wrong. It's football, and no matter how rabid fans would like to think, the reality is that coaches, players, administration, and staff are people and it is a game, not healing the sick and feeding the hungry. They are people who make mistakes, and just as entertainment celebrities do wrong, so do the sports figures and all of the rest of us. Any time you go around painting halos on people and covering up for them and making excuses for their behavior, what do you think will happen?

It's the culture of loyalty and royalty that causes these things to stay covered up and abuses to continue. He wasn't a saint any more than anyone reading this thread is, and neither are the priests, teachers, police, or anyone else. If we are ethical in life it is wonderful, but no halos. If we do illegal things that harm people we sure don't need to be excused. If I "only" allow the abuse of many children over many years, but I bring in money for a sports program and do some other nice things, does that cancel out the "only" allowing boys to be assaulted and traumatized? I don't think so, and I am amazed there was a halo in the first place. It isn't as if he started out covering it up and saw the error of his ways to go report it. He did it until he died.

They just need to remove that fugley mural altogether and put something up much nicer there.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see and hear so many people worshiping this pos Paterno. He chose money and fame over the safety of these children. The man is a pos. May he burn in hell if there is a hell.

Jeff1414 ...(#1.30).."The Mural is about State College, NOT Penn State. This was poor reporting by MSNBC. There happens to be Penn State figures on the mural, but the majority of people have little to no affiliation with the school. Its about the town, not the school."

Just dumb.....Without Penn State, there is no State College "town"....duh !!!...It wouldn't even come up to the level of a 1 Traffic Light intersection, blink and you drove through it......

EVERYTHING in that town is directly connected to Penn State....

Halo's should only be superimposed over the likes of a Mother Teresa...not a football coach.

You see, that's how powerful the power of money is. You can lure in even the best, most upstanding individuals in the community, and they will worship it.

This is a classic example of a man who became great among his own people, but wealth and it's power warped his mind into believing what is wrong is right.

That is why we always need to help our rich friends, and make sure that none of them lose their minds.

You people are so sick in the head! Jerry Sandusky did this! NOT JOE PATERNO! He had no legal responsibility to do anything. Mike McQueary, graduate assistant coach that actually caught Sandusky with kid in the showers is the one that had the responsibility to report what he saw to the police.

Instead he passed the buck. He is the coward. He should have done the right thing then and there.

He's the one that everyone should be exploding on! McQueary is the guilty party. What's his excuse?

You can't whitewash away what happened at Penn State by whitewashing him out of a mural. In fact, leaving him in the mural will serve as a constant reminder of what happened, which is not a bad thing. Remembering what happened will serve as a lesson to people that rise to positions of power in the future, and help prevent it from happening again. It is when people forget that is the problem.

Vgains, I wish I could agree with you, but you are wrong. Joe Paterno was the most powerfull man at Penn State, and he not only did nothing, but convinced others not to go to the police. Sandusky committed the crimes, but Paterno could have stopped him, and he didn't.

Vegains...you're dead wrong. If any educator of any level becomes aware of a potential child abuse, they are obligated by law to report it. ANYONE who knew about this and did nothing, is just as guilty as the person committing the abuse. McQueary was intimidated by the powerful Penn State brand name...Paterno was a huge part of that intimidation factor. Paterno should be burning in hell....yep, right about NOW!

So JS, if you report to your superiors that your subordinate is raping children, then your job is finished. And by the way, this is happening in a school. For the next 20 years you dont have to do a thing. Because you have a halo on your head. Nice to know. Thanks.

He plans to have all the handprints of all the victims of Sandusky added to the mural in the near future.

The whole thing is just too weird, and he's not a very good artist. I hope the mural isn't in a very prominent location.

Vegains, while I agree that McQeary totally dropped the ball (sorry for the pun), I would bet you wouldn't be saying that if your child was raped by a man and the man in charge of the football program...the one who was famous for being THE one in charge... covered up when this person did to your son for many years and allowed him to have access to more children to abuse. It's easier to say in the abstract that Paterno wasn't at fault, but that just isn't true if you think of what he could have done to help the victims all those years. He chose to participate in a conspiracy of tolerance and silence, and while McQeary is definitely responsible as well, he IS responsible.

I know countless people who have committed countless, thankless hours to help out children, people, animals...you name it. None of them should be depicted with a halo.
Paterno may have helped a lot of people, but to be painted with a halo just shows how disturbed a world we actually live in. Again, sports is king, and where the money is. Who cares if I can save your family from fire, start your heart beating, arrest a rapist that has hurt countless women. Let's give all the money to the jocks who can throw a ball down the field, act like children when they lose, fight like children when they disagree and put a halo on the head of the man who leads them all. SICK!

95 percent of you people are all on the outside looking in. a lot of mad angry people. you have no idea what psu is really like there, stupid comments about they should do this they should do that and the artist isn't very good, etc. This whole incident has been devastating to the town and people there, and they will deal with it. Not you idiots so good at pointing fingers and ranting hidden over the internet.

Removed halo, repainted shower area, told victims will settle out of court. This is their correction to what happen..might as well rename it Penis State University

They will be sued for hundreds of millions no doubt.

Daniel: #1.46 ...they will deal with it. Not you idiots so good at pointing fingers and ranting hidden over the internet.

Each poster is entitled to her/his opinion. These are opinions--and this is a forum for discussion, maybe you forgot. Calling people names (while you are "hidden over the internet") is not appropriate and is against the rules of this venue. Get a grip.

Pilato should be arrested.

I think the mural is right outside the public bathrooms.

We had a saying when I was in the Navy, One aw sh*t, wipes out a thousand attaboys!

@ mozzie-600:

"The whole thing is just too weird, and he's not a very good artist."

Yes, but he was a "good friend" of Joe and the Paterno family. Apparently that goes a long way in Happy Valley. The complete insensitivity of adding the blue ribbon after hearing of Paterno's "humane" approach to his friend, a known pedophile, is an insult to victims of child abuse everywhere. He's not just a mediocre painter, he's delusional.

Whitewash the entire mural is absolutely correct. The insult of placing a blue ribbon on Paterno's lapel is appauling as he KNEW and did nothing! Football program over children was his game! Years of abuse and countless victims could have been spared had Paterno been a "blue ribbon" guy! That this ribbon reflects attention to abuse of children is disgusting on his lapel! Get rid of the statue and the mural...................we are what our history reflects and his does not deserve either ,period.

Penn State Koolaid drinkers.

How about we let the victims post firing of Sandusky decide on the mural, the ones that would not exist if Joe had acted like a grown ass man instead of some demigod protecting his glorified sense of self.

Not helping abused children is probably 2 rings out from the center of hell where Sandusky will be, they will neighbors. Sandusky committed the crimes and Joe, by not interfering, allowed it to continue.

But keep telling yourself about all the good he did and them picture some little kid forced to play with Jerry while Joe worked tirelessly protecting his image. Crying and screaming and hoping someone would help him, that some adult would be a man and end the terror. Nope, 4 of Penn States more powerful men wanted to make sure Sandusky was treated humanely, and the little kids were fodder for Jerry's sick deviant needs.

But fear not, your glorious school will pay through the nose and the shrink into a shell of what it once was and you can go to sleep thanking Papa Joe for all he has done for the great Penn State.

JS in SD Comment collapsed by the community
While I do not think the halo was appropriate to start with, it seems obvious that the people commenting here have not bothered to actually read the report. I have, and there is really no evidence that Paterno did anything wrong...About the only thing that anyone could say negative about Paterno is that he did not go to outside authorities, but the reality is that this would have been a violation of university policy and been going around his boss and his bosses boss. How many peope here would do that. He passed along the information he received from McQueary to those responsible for investigating the matter and taking appropriate action. It is not fair to hold it against Paterno that those above him failed so miserably in their responsibilities.

He was the head coach and he kept him on the staff. Who is it that hires, fires or decides if an assistant's contract will be renewed?

This artist is the biggest hypocrite of all that I've seen in this whole Penn State mess!!!! How could you continue to associate with a man that helped cover up a similar crime to that which was committed against your own child?!

In December, emboldened by the victims in the Penn State scandal, Pilato's 16-year-old daughter, Skye, went public with the story of her own abuse — being raped by two men when she was 12, the local Centre Daily Times reported. The artist has dedicated a recent mural in State College to her and other victims of sexual abuse.

The fact that he wants to glorify Paterno's "awareness" (and subsequent lack of action) with the blue ribbon is disgusting. What if there had been someone involved in his own child's rape case that knew the abuser was raping girls and did nothing to stop it? Not only that, helped them cover it up!! Would he paint a blue ribbon on that person too??

"The last time I saw Joe in his home before he died, he said to me, 'I wish there were classes taught on sexual abuse,'" Pilato said. "The blue ribbon signifies awareness of the sexual abuse and knowing where Joe's thoughts were on this, I felt it was appropriate to give him the blue ribbon."

Give me a break. It shouldn't take a class for you to know that you go to the cops if you know it's happening or could happen. All it takes is common sense. SO Joe's attempt to plead ignorance is BS. This is just another case of a family friend trying to downplay Paterno's role.

White wash the whole damn mural and leave it at that.

Rabie El Hassani

I'd like to go to that mural and drill into that sled or whatever he's sitting on to insert a natural gas line - there should be a perpetual flame consuming Paterno's upper body to symbolize him frying in hell right now. The guy was guilty as hell and condoned and enabled that monster Jerry Sandusky. For those who regurgitate the standard Penn State brainwashed fan response that "Joe did a lot of good, but..." I call BS! How about "Joe Paterno did a lot of evil, but..." That's like saying "Michael Jackson did a lot of good with the kids at Neverland, but..." or "Teddy Kennedy was a good driver, but..." Oh well, I guess he brought a lot of money and a lot of football victories to State College, and that's all that matters, right?

"Pilato and his family have been friends with the Paternos for many years so this decision was a tough one, he said"... um yeah, that was kinda obvious to me DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAD PAINTED A FREAKIN' HALO ON THE GUY'S HEAD!!! Removing a halo from his head and putting a child abuse awareness ribbon is disgusting to me, as if Paterno showed any kind of awareness at all (well, he was aware all right, but he didn't do a damn thing to stop this heinous crime). Lame attempt to try to make things right. That town (State College) and that campus (Penn State) and the sheep that inhabit it had better grow up and stop idolizing this criminal Paterno, who was every bit as evil as Sandusky. Kudos to the alumni, students, and faculty who have stood in unison against Paterno, but they seem to represent only a small minority of the brain-washed population. I hope NCAA pulls the plug on the Nittany Lions.

If anyone cares to remember doing things like removing the halo from Paterno was the job of the main character in 1984 - true revisionist history. THe mural should stand where it is as a reminder.

• Indeed, the NCAA imposes penalties on college sports programs for relatively minute items such as recruiting violations.... Since there is no question the cover-up was done in the interests of the school and it's football program, there has to be a commensurate response to these ghastly crimes. The football program should therefore be completely dismantled for many years. The victims deserve the opportunity to begin the healing process without any reminders of what went on there. It might be unfortunate for some whose entertainment and primordial tribal association and personal identity confirmation needs have been fulfilled by the football activities, but they will have to get over it. This action would also be beneficial for those shallow enough to object, as the vacuum created in their heads by the eradication of the program would no doubt leave them pondering the whole beastly affair, ....at least once a week during football season that is.

  Joe Paterno was a narcissistic coward, who put his football "legacy" ahead of the lives of those kids. This guy hung around long after he should have retired in pursuit of records which would immortalize him as the "greatest" .... It had nothing to do with football or "character" it was all about his ego. Yes. surely he just loved the statue and murals which glorified him, it was all part of the "legacy" that was so important for him to leave. The "legend" turned out to be a myth, a lie... nothing more than an illusion, a big fat lie.

  It will be a little hard to swallow, ... for those who unthinkably still revere the memory of this lily-livered malingerer. but again, it is also clearly in their best interests even though they will defend their pathetic little "hero" to the end.

  To all of the supporters of this entertainer, You appear to be in desperate need of intensive psycho-therapy. Your lack of identity, which you fill with cro-magnon tribal identification and hero worship rituals is affecting other areas of your brain that normally control basic thinking skills.

  Tear down the statue, melt it down and make a memorial to the people whose lives were destroyed under the protection of this sports program and the school it is a cancerous growth o

But not far enough.

As other have said, get rid of all images of him entirely

Putting aside the scandal for a moment...for the love of God, that is an ugly painting!

I'd have added horns as well...

now you're an art critic too? Oh my God, LOLOLOLOLOL

That is about the most idiotic comment I have heard. While it may be mostly true for basketball, in football, you are almost clueless as you enter college. Heck, most people even switch positions as they go into college, as they are just figuring out what they can really do.

This isn't about football. This is about a coach that was considered a legend and untouchable by the Penn State community, and his image has forever been tarnished by the discovery that he knowingly defended Sandusky from the authorities. He allowed children to be raped, and when he had the chance to report what was happening, he turned a blind eye to the situation.

You need to think before you post, because you sound like an idiot.

Also, I've heard the argument over the years that the "death penalty" should never be used again like it was used at SMU back in the '80s, but I think this case is highly exceptional. There's a difference between illegible athletes being allowed to play and players getting paid under the table, versus children being raped and university officials knowingly allowing it to continue. Penn State should have its football program wiped clean for at least 5 years, allow existing and incoming players to transfer while adding a year of eligibility to show they're not the ones being punished, and have that stadium dormant for years to come. They brought this on themselves, and anything less than that, and the NCAA has failed to bring a just punishment.

If this crap was allowed to go on for so long, imagine where else this is being done?

And do not think that this does not go on everywhere else people. The corruption and greed that is.

I never say: Well, I've heard it all because someone will inevitably come along say something stupid I have never before heard - you just did that!

Oops! My posting numbered 3.4 goes to Jim in #3 above.

You are right, Lynyrd. It does, and it shouldn't be tolerated anywhere else, either.

"

The NCAA, meanwhile, said Wednesday that it will decide on whether to take action at the "appropriate time." The governing body said it has already been collecting information from Freeh's probe, and that Penn State will have to formally respond to questions from NCAA President Mark Emmert after Freeh reveals his findings.

The NCAA is reviewing how Penn State exerted "institutional control" in relation to the Sandusky matter, and whether university officials complied with policies that pertain to honesty and ethical conduct. The NCAA could open a more formal investigation that may expose Penn State to sanctions."

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/19566114/paterno-defends-penn-state-football-in-recently-released-letter/rss

So far lookin' like FOOTBALL as usual at Penn State....The rest of the teams scheduled to play Penn State this year are most likely putting pressure on NCAA to NOT suspend.....They all lose money too if that happens....

yeah, and you might as well have gone to a community college rather then a great institution like psu, right?

(or much better than that, depending on what field you want, etc)

I agree..and all in the name of the game of football. Don't get me wrong I love football but not above any child's welfare. I think Penn State should erase any and all symbols of Paterno and his side kick.

Adding the blue ribbon to Paterno's lapel is particularly hypocritical.

I used to highly respect Joe Paterno for the tenure, the good will, and the sincerity he brought to college football and the coaching position. Now I seem him as a piece-of-sh!t that knowingly defended a child-raping freak.

I'm sick to my stomach about it, but I can't imagine how actual Penn State fans are feeling. This has to be the proverbial sword-in-their-guts kind of moment.

I do remember him for what he has done. That is the issue. Yeah, he coached football and probably did some nice things along the way, but I remember what he and so many others did that allowed an abuser to keep abusing. If he got credit for all the winning and "his" program, then he gets credit for not taking action.

CBRU, I figure Penn State football will start this fall without a hitch. Lawsuits will be paid to the victims and life will go on. Penn State will let this blow away and in time will be a forgotten memory. Money and power will put an end to this and to Penn State, the sooner the better.

Kent State. What does everyone think when they hear those words? That's right. Innocent students being shot and killed. Penn State will also forever be remembered for one thing - Child Rape.

no, he and psu are mainly remembered for providing a quality affordable education to millions of children who otherwise couldn't afford it. the reason why kent state resonated so with the public is that it was the us military killing the students at a rally, whereas this is a few weird and distorted individuals committing crimes. you can't suggest that there is a nationwide movement of the govt raping children, this is an isolated event. there were threats against the marches all over during the kent state period.

i live in PA and i am outraged by the actions from the officials of Penn State.

i hoenstly thing "giving the death penalty" is justified.

unless you live in the town you have no say in it. they'll do what they decide.

You could always do it.

Joe knew ! Joe knew ! The real question is DID HE PARTICIPATE ?

very few people are actually trying to defend paterno who like penn state. how the hell could you? every one of these articles that comes out you get about 10 messages in about spew in the showers (yesterday), putting handlebars on the floors of the showers in renovations, bulldozing the entire school, and you have to just stop reading. so i say, keep on writing your truth! talk about nuts.

I don't get it. He got a blue ribbon for child abuse AWARENESS???? Why not have just painted a blindfold on his face?

@SRM - a shower cap would have been appropriate as well!

Add a sign in front of him and that says "don't ask, don't tell".

nah! that wasn't a halo ,it was a giant CONDOM !!!

very ingenious comments!

Joe knew ! Joe knew ! The real question is DID HE PARTICIPATE ?

Intel2: Agreed! That was the crux of the issue for Paterno. Spare the program and try to or hope it would all go away. Paterno had an opportunity to do what was right - for the victims, an opportunity do what would have been right for humanity. Instead, he chose his team and his friendship and loyatly to a pedohile over making the tough choice and doing the right thing.

What irony! Had he done the right thing, he would would have become and even greater hero and icon, and he would have kept his halo. And his program would have survived. And his reputation would have been enhanced.

How about letting every college be about learning instead of football?

How about letting every college be about learning instead of football?

+1000 yesses to that. I see the fundamental issue of the whole Paterno scandal stemming from a completely @!$%#ed-up set of priorities. Most of us do not send our kids to college to @!$%#ing play football, and football is not a career I personally would ever want to imagine my kid going into . . . it's a career path that leaves most of its practitioners with lifelong, often crippling conditions. Hard to enjoy one's riches with permanent brain damage. Our glorification of this violent sport is blinding us to the cancerous damage it causes in almost every direction. Enough.

I'm sure there are those who will appeal to some vague quality of "leadership" we gain from glorifying sports, or "character," but obviously this is nonsense. Paterno is the poster child for cowardice and self-centered abuse of his position. He got that way because of a culture that flat-out refused to hold him accountable for anything other than winning games. It's a culture that needs to be vehemently dismantled, not just at Penn State, but probably everywhere. I have no doubt Paterno is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg.

busy: And +1,000 thumbs up to you. Excellent comment.

Howard Cosell wrote this in the prologue of his book, "I Never Played the Game" more than twenty-five years ago.

"I am writing this book because I am convinced that sports are out of whack in the American society; that the emphasis placed upon sports distorts the real values of life and often produces mass behavior patterns that are downright frightening; and that the frequently touted uplifting benefits of sports have become a murky blur in the morass of hypocrisy and contradiction that I call the Sports Syndrome.”

Our failing, bully-ridden school system is the result of the"jockocracy" he so eloquently described.

Thanks, busy. Although I think that exercise and playing sports are great for kids (and adults on the exercise) this is all out of whack and college needs to be about learning.

even if you cut the entire school in half it would still be bigger than most. they have the largest enrollment anywhere, mail order classes etc.

cunical: Great idea we can call it the Paterno plan after the man who lived his life enforcing this kind of ideology.

Paterno may have been a football coach but he was always focused on the fact that football was at the moment but a good education was necessary to make it through life. Even the night he was fired Paterno walked out his front door and told all the students to stop worrying about him and get back to studying because that was what mattered.

Paterno notified the authorities, in the report it even mentioned that he continuously bugged them for information and could not receive it because he was not a part of the case. What else can he do, he was not a witness, all he can do is report what he heard which he did. He has no proof that any of this actually happened and even if he did reporting it to the police is the proper procedure, the only problem is that it's jurisdiction is within a department that reports through PSU's top administrators and board of directors.

Probably. I'm acquainted with some Penn Staters and they are 1000% this is all some kind of evil plot to destroy Penn State and Coach's legacy.

Coach did that all by himself when he chose the football program's reputation and covered up for that disgusting pervert.

Blood money. PSU alumni trying to buy the love of the public. No need to be ashamed of your alma mater and the degrees you received there. But giving PSU money is wrong, maybe even evil. Kind of like giving hundred dollar bills to heroin addicts. Maybe that's a bit harsh but you get the idea.

A lot of folks who don't agree are the folks who have grown up with a similar background of power held over them. A grown man (assistant coach of some sort) witnesses a rape in a shower of a young boy, and his first reaction is to go home, talk to his dad, then decide to go talk to 'coach', who buried it. The rest of us would have either taken a swing at the guy or at least called the cops.

They need to get rid of the FOOTBALL PROGRAM, along with his halo. If they did that, I would assure you that within a year, all over the country, there would be 'coaches', 'managers', 'athletic directors' being let go and prosecuted just so other colleges don't suffer a similar fate. The stuff being covered up in the name of sports and money is probably staggering.

You might even see some weird results in the private business sector also.

Joe knew ! Joe knew ! The real question is DID HE PARTICIPATE ?

Josh, unless you have proof your repeated post is for dramatics.

I agree, Stunned.

They need to get rid of the FOOTBALL PROGRAM, along with his halo. If they did that, I would assure you that within a year, all over the country, there would be 'coaches', 'managers', 'athletic directors' being let go and prosecuted just so other colleges don't suffer a similar fate.

Unfortunately, Stunned, I don't think that is what would happen. It's human nature to write off Penn State as an aberration and piously declaim that those shenanigans would never happen at my alma mater/favorite school. If anything, I think the opposite would happen; anyone with something nefarious to hide will bury it even deeper to avoid being the next JoePa. And seeing the likely destruction of one of the most lucrative programs in all collegiate athletics will probably drive even more administrations to bury their bodies, so to speak, to keep the gravy train running...

I know the us military came out recently and said there were 19000 cases of sexual abuse or assault just last year? Maybe there is something weird with all these people wanting to be around so many of their own sex, working out, sweating, flexing buttocks. get rid of nfl, military, college sports.

Ram your unbridled love for a man who allowed a pedophile to operate on the campus when he KNEW what was going on is decidedly foolish at the best.

Will you recant your miserable comments when in the next release of info the authorities reveal the extent of Joe's involvement?

The new question is did Joe participate because of his close relationship with Sandusky.

That is the question you Joe lovers will find hard to take.

I would gladly help put 1/2 of Congress on trial. Problem is getting the remaining 99% of people to stop voting for the 2 corrupt parties as if they are the only things available and deserve worship.

Worshipping football coaches is just about as stupid as worshipping poiliticans

if you hate it so much you can leave! You will not be missed.

G-177

Are you Sue Paterno or maybe Jay? Don't blame America for Paterno's senior moment/brain fart/hubris/man crush on Ol' Jer/whatever.

The man KNEW that his assistant was buggering little boys and you say we are "whining about the most inane subjects"? That's rich...

It's not about being told what sexual abuse is. It's about being educated about how abusers operate, manipulate, and systematically pull one over on everyone you'd normally expect to pick up on this sort of thing. The vast majority of us agree pedophilia is disgusting and wrong. Do you really think it would be as prevalent as it is if we all were well educated on the warning signs, and what to do in cases of suspected abuse?

Great real life example:

Your parents have rented out a giant beach house for the entire family. At breakfast, your daughter tells you in front of everyone that your beloved, all American, all around great guy, can do no wrong big brother came into her room last night and touched her private parts. Your radar goes on high alert, but your brother has a great explanation. She was having a bad dream. He heard her first, so he went in, got her tucked back in, and took care of everything so that you could sleep. He may have touched her accidentally, as he was fumbling around in the dark. For good measure, he looks your daughter dead in the eye, and earnestly tells her that she did the right thing by telling her parents. No one can ever touch your private parts without your express permission, etc.

Now tell me, after that, who in heaven's name is going to believe that their "great guy big brother" actually was a child molesting pedophile--especially when you're not aware of any prior history of such behavior?!

JoePA might have walked into that University Bookstore that had his picture painted on it and FOUND OUT some information on child abuse. I'm assuming Penn State also has a library that he had access to. In Washington State, knowledge of child abuse MUST be reported to the proper authorities by any medical worker, social worker or teacher that suspects or knows that it is occurring - what's wrong with Pennsylvania?

Actually Joe Paterno wishes that class was available so he himself could attend it. He might have taken Ol' Jer with him to that class. College educated men, indeed! What a joke.

Charlotte,

"...Who in heaven's name is going to believe that their 'great guy big brother' actually was a child-molesting pedophile..."

I'M going to believe.

So in other words you're saying that your brother is a child molester? You sound like you have experience with this. It's easy to read articles and react to them writing volumous texts, but isn't it kind of hard to think that a grown man in that place of Happy Valley would be doing such things? Can you remember when this news came out how shocking it was? The main concern in the town is that older men (above college age) will try to avail themselves of the multitudes of beautiful women students there, parties, etc. Not that people on the inside of psu power are trying to get kids.

never heard that one yet!!!

He didn't come up with any explanations for anything - He KNEW what was happening and knew it since before 1998. The Freeh report confirms all of that. BTW JoePoo was educated on pedophilia. He studied Classics and I'm here to tell you that man/boy sex abounds in Roman and Greek literature and history. It's just what Freeh said Joe Inferno "pimped" the boys, so to speak, for the football program. He's every bit as despicable as Sandusky. Erasing the halo is a start, but the blue ribbon is a cruel affront to all of the victims and and should be removed. Heck, by the time Pilato erases everyone involved there's not going to be much mural left.

Joe knew ! Joe knew ! The real question is DID HE PARTICIPATE ?

Another question is did Spanier participate? He was at the U of Nebraska when the Franklin Child Prostitution Ring Scandal broke. Among Spanier's close associates were people heavily involved in that ring. BTW a certain US Congressmans name also comes up when that scandal is mentioned.

With all due respect, I don't think you fully appreciate how over the top hard core football fans are. Penn State football is almost a religion to their most fervent fans. Personally, I think it's insane, but I don't understand the cult of the extreme athletic version any more than I do a religious cult.

Rick, When I was in high school, Jocks were kings. Girls would go out with jocks over guys that studied hard and had a job. Then when I was in college, the same thing happened. I am a Navy veteran and in a class I would describe my service (who I am). The girls would roll their eyes and sigh when I talked about my time in the Navy. When it came to the soccer jock, the girls would light up and ooh and aah about their soccer games. I was older than the jock who probably never worked hard a day in his life. I laughed so hard and thought these girls sure do not ask for much in a man. Sports has become a power and greed entitlement program. Cover-ups is their way of staying in power and hiding the truth. Whether it is the rape of women or children, sports need to change policies and I mean now.......

This point could not have been made better, Susaner...