STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier amid the growing furor over how the school handled sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach.http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7214380/joe-paterno-president-graham-spanier-penn-state
The massive shakeup Wednesday night came hours after Paterno announced that he planned to retire at the end of his 46th season.
But the outcry following the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on molestation charges proved too much for the board to ignore.
Speaking at his house to a couple of dozen students, Paterno said, "Right now, I'm not the football coach. And I've got to get used to that. After 61 years, I've got to get used to it. I appreciate it. Let me think it through."
He shook hands with many of the students, some of whom were crying.
Other students were upset. A large crowd descended on the administration building, shouting "We want Joe back!" then headed to Beaver Stadium.
One key question has been why Paterno and other top school officials didn't go to police in 2002 after being told a graduate assistant saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in a school shower.
Paterno says he should have done more. Spanier has said he was not told the details of the attack.
Sandusky has denied the charges.
They're rioting in State College, PA. smh
CHINATOWN
(http://cdn.wwtdd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ashton_kutcher_supports_paterno.jpg)
edit: I'm being snarky cause this feels like one of those episodes where everyone gets to feel good for denouncing something that's obviously wrong, but on second thought (remembering reactions to the Polanski case), there's probably a non-negligible number of people ready to defend JoePa on this.
(http://i.imgur.com/C5LVs.png)
http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/sports/mark_madden/madden-sandusky-a-state-secret/article_863d3c82-5e6f-11e0-9ae5-001a4bcf6878.html
It's really sad it has come to this. But the fact is that Joe looked away to protect a life long friend and it's time to face the music. I'm a huge PSU fan. My whole family is so it's extremely weird to see this all unfold.
It's also crazy timing for it to all fall apart a week after becoming the winningest college football coach.
Yeah, I can't wait for everyone to find something else to be outraged about and move on. The amount of coverage this is getting reminds me of those tragic news stories which get posted on GAF and then balloon to 50-page threads in a day
So the janitor who actually saw the shower incident never got around to making a report, due to fear about their job?
Are we supposed to despise this person less, because they are poor? It's a tough spot to be put in but man, that's pretty fucking vile.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11311/1188149-143.stm
This morning on my way to work, one of our local sports radio cannels was talking about an article out of Pittsburgh six months ago that talked about Sandusky using his charity organization to pimp out little kids to donors. That is still a rumor, but the same article discussed things that have come to light in the last week.
It just doesn't seem like there's a whole lot to discuss here beyond O WHAT LENGTHS GREED CAN PUSH MAN TO. You even summed up the who, what, and why all in one sentence.Yeah, I can't wait for everyone to find something else to be outraged about and move on. The amount of coverage this is getting reminds me of those tragic news stories which get posted on GAF and then balloon to 50-page threads in a day
It's not a "human interest" story of the week...it's an entire organization that covered up child rape because they were READY FOR SOME college FOOTBALL. By it's nature it's not just an isolated case only fit for tabloid journalism.
Up until today, I have posted virtually every one of my tweets on my own, but clearly the platform has become too big to be managed by a single individual. When I started using twitter, it was a communication platform that people could say what they were thinking in real time and if their facts were wrong the community would quickly and helpfully reframe an opinion. It was a conversation, a community driven education tool, and opinion center that encouraged healthy debate. It seems that today that twitter has grown into a mass publishing platform, where ones tweets quickly become news that is broadcast around the world and misinformation becomes volatile fodder for critics.
Last night after returning home from work, I walked by the television and simply saw a headline that Joe Paterno had been fired. Having no more information than that, I assumed that he had been fired due to poor performance as an aging coach. As a football fan and someone who had watched Joe's career move from that of legend/innovator to a head coach that fulfilled his duty in the booth, I assumed that the university had let him go due to football related issues. With that assumption (how dare I assume) I posted a tweet defending his career. I then when about my evening, had some dinner, did a little work, and about an hour later turned on ESPN where I got the full story. I quickly went back on my twitter account and found a hailstorm of responses calling me an "idiot" and several other expletives that I've become accustom to hearing for almost anything I post. I quickly retracted and deleted my previous post; however, that didn't seem enough to satisfy people’s outrage at my misinformed post. I am truly sorry. And moreover am going to take action to ensure that it doesn't happen again. And as an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more deeply saddened by the events at Penn State.
A collection of over 8 million followers is not to be taken for granted. I feel responsible to deliver informed opinions and not spread gossip or rumors through my twitter feed. While I feel that running this feed myself gives me a closer relationship to my friends and fans I've come to realize that it has grown into more than a fun tool to communicate with people. While I will continue to express myself through @Aplusk, I'm going to turn the management of the feed over to my team at Katalyst as a secondary editorial measure, to ensure the quality of its content. My sincere apologies to anyone who I offended. It was a mistake that will not happen again.
Some nuance here, from Paterno's biographer:
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/11/10/the-end-of-paterno/
meh, I don't know the guy from Adam :)
I'm only following this case cause i'm a Catholic and Paterno seems likely to be the next Pope
meh, I don't know the guy from Adam :)
I'm only following this case cause i'm a Catholic and Paterno seems likely to be the next Pope
especially now amirite
oh wait that's the joke isn't it
More conspiracy fodder: the DA who didn't charge Sandusky [despite having a confession] has been missing and presumed dead for 6-7 years.
More conspiracy fodder: the DA who didn't charge Sandusky [despite having a confession] has been missing and presumed dead for 6-7 years.
I heard that somewhere as well. Not that he's dead per se, but that no one has seen him in years.
Ray Gricar was the long-time district attorney of Centre County, the home of Penn State's main campus. He was months from retirement when he simply vanished on his way home to Bellefonte, Pa.
The mystery surrounding Gricar's disappearance in 2005 was the subject of several national TV shows and an effort involving the FBI and state investigators.
The attorney's car was found in Lewisburg, Pa., about 60 miles east of Bellefonte, about 12 hours after he called home. Several months later, his laptop computer and a destroyed hard drive were found.
But no one found Gricar's body.
Making good movies is also more important than anally raping a teenage girl to some people.
It's sad, but not surprising. People have seriously messed up priorities in life.
Hey, that guy is a pedophile. Sandusky needs to fire his fucking defense attorney. I've never listened to anything more incriminating in my life.
If Sandusky is innocent, then McQueary and that old janitor are fucking assholes.
If Sandusky is innocent, then McQueary and that old janitor are fucking assholes.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The lawyer for accused child molester Jerry Sandusky apparently likes his women young.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola, 63, representing Sandusky in the sexual molestation case roiling Penn State and Joe Paterno’s legendary football program, impregnated a teenager and later married her, The Daily has learned.
According to documents filed with Centre County Courthouse, Amendola served as the attorney for Mary Iavasile’s emancipation petition on Sept. 3, 1996, just weeks before her 17th birthday.
The emancipation request said Mary graduated from high school in two years with a 3.69 grade point average and maintained a full-time job — but makes no mention of any special relationship between her and her lawyer.
Roughly around the same time, however, Iavasile became pregnant with Amendola’s child, and gave birth before she turned 18, her mother, Janet Iavasile, alleged in an interview with The Daily.
He was born in 1948 and was around 49 at the time.
“At the time, I didn’t know the extent of the relationship,” said Janet of when her daughter first began spending time with the attorney. Amendola seemed more like Mary’s “mentor,” she added.
“She met him through the school district; she was interested in the law,” Janet said.
Court records show the two were married on Feb. 8, 2003, around the time her mother says their second child was born. They are now separated, but she has kept his surname.
Amendola served as the attorney for Mary Iavasile’s emancipation petition on Sept. 3, 1996, just weeks before her 17th birthday.
What does "horsing around" even mean? When I was a kid, horsing around was something I did with my brothers to my parents and grandparent's disdain: being loud, running around, hitting each other, running up and down the stairs, etc.
It never occurred to me that it's also a euphemism for playing slip n slide in the showers with an old man, being a pedophile, etc
"horsing around" always meant playfighting to me.
Legal experts were shocked Jerry Sandusky's lawyer allowed him to be interviewed by Bob Costas on NBC's "Rock Center" Monday night, pointing out that his words are sure to be used against him in court.
But while Costas's interview was forceful and compelling, the full transcript of what Sandusky said wasn't aired until it appeared Tuesday morning on "Today."
...
BOB COSTAS:
18:58:59:00: "But you're a man who by his own admission has showered with young boys, highly inappropriate. Who has continually put himself in the presence of young boys, volunteer high school coach, volunteer at a small local college, even after -- you were largely disassociated from Penn State. Multiple reports of you getting into bed with young boys who stayed at your house in a room in the basement. How do you account for these things? And if you're not a pedophile, then what are you?"
JERRY SANDUSKY:
18:59:30:00: "Well I'm a person that has taken a strong interest. I'm a very passionate person in terms of trying to make a difference in the lives of some young people. I worked very hard to try to connect with them. To make them feel good about themselves. To -- be something significant in their lives. Maybe this gets misinterpreted, has gotten depending on -- I know a lot of young people where it hasn't. I have worked with many, many young people where there has been no misinterpretation of my actions and I have made a very significant difference in their lives."
BOB COSTAS:
19:00:28:00: "But isn't what you're just describing the classic MO of many pedophiles? And that is that they gain the trust of young people, they don't necessarily abuse every young person. There were hundreds, if not thousands of young boys you came into contact with, but there are allegations that at least eight of them were victimized. Many people believe there are more to come. So it's entirely possible that you could've helped young boy A in some way that was not objectionable while horribly taking advantage of young boy B, C, D, and E. Isn't that possible?"
JERRY SANDUSKY:
19:01:01:00: "Well -- you might think that. I don't know. (LAUGHS) In terms of -- my relationship with so many, many young people. I would-- I would guess that there are many young people who would come forward. Many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and-- and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life. And I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped. There are many that I didn't have-- I hardly had any contact with who I have helped in many, many ways."
Cut the guy some slack, I think he should be praised for showing some restraint and not raping every kid.
Cut the guy some slack, I think he should be praised for showing some restraint and not raping every kid.
just like you can't hug every cat
just like you can't hug every cat
just like you can't hug every cat
I accept your challenge.
I don't think you know how much I love cats..
Seriously, my wife gives me shit all the time about how much I love cats.
Sorry, I'm thinking about cats again.
spoiler (click to show/hide)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4NMoJcFd4[close]
I don't think you know how much I love cats..
Seriously, my wife gives me shit all the time about how much I love cats.
Sorry, I'm thinking about cats again.
http://deadspin.com/5860668/ncaa-football-12-on-penn-state+ohio-state-match+up-hide-the-children
:rofl
The better joke is, "doctors expect joe paterno to make a full recovery, demonstrating the importance of catching things early before they get worse"I... guess. Still got loads of people to laugh at mine, though.
The better joke is, "doctors expect joe paterno to make a full recovery, demonstrating the importance of catching things early before they get worse"
The better joke is, "doctors expect joe paterno to make a full recovery, demonstrating the importance of catching things early before they get worse"
The best joke is, "maybe having lung cancer is why Paterno wasn't able to blow the whistle on Sandusky"
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A former Penn State official charged with enforcing discipline at the school said Tuesday that Joe Paterno's players got in trouble more often than other students, and got special treatment compared to non-athletes.
Vicky Triponey, who resigned her post as the university's standards and conduct officer in 2007, confirmed that she sent a 2005 email to then-president Graham Spanier and others in which she expressed her concerns about how Penn State handled discipline cases involving football players. The Wall Street Journal published excerpts from the email on Tuesday.
Paterno "is insistent he knows best how to discipline his players ... and their status as a student when they commit violations of our standards should NOT be our concern ... and I think he was saying we should treat football players different from other students in this regard," Triponey wrote in the Aug. 12, 2005, email.
"Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code," she wrote, "despite any moral or legal obligation to do so."
In the latest twist to the Jerry Sandusky alleged child sex scandal, it appears that one of the two new sexual abuse allegations we told you about yesterday was made by a family member of the former Penn State football coach.
Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola told Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News that the one allegation stems from difficulties within the child’s immediate family, a statement he later confirmed to NBC News. He said the assault is alleged to have occurred prior to Sandusky’s arrest earlier this month, but was not brought to the authorities attention until after the former Penn State coach was charged.
To the Associated Press, Amendola characterized the second claim as an example of people trying to mimic other allegations.
"That doesn't surprise me because we believe there would be a number of copycat allegations, people who really maybe not even had direct contact with Jerry but...try to jump on the bandwagon."
If the accusations result in charges, Amendola said they'll be vigorously contested.
These two new accusations are being investigated by the state's Children and Youth Services, which means the accusations are coming not from adults, but from children.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Sandusky-Family-Member-Made-Recent-Allegation-Attorney-134408003.html?drQuoteIn the latest twist to the Jerry Sandusky alleged child sex scandal, it appears that one of the two new sexual abuse allegations we told you about yesterday was made by a family member of the former Penn State football coach.
Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola told Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News that the one allegation stems from difficulties within the child’s immediate family, a statement he later confirmed to NBC News. He said the assault is alleged to have occurred prior to Sandusky’s arrest earlier this month, but was not brought to the authorities attention until after the former Penn State coach was charged.
To the Associated Press, Amendola characterized the second claim as an example of people trying to mimic other allegations.
"That doesn't surprise me because we believe there would be a number of copycat allegations, people who really maybe not even had direct contact with Jerry but...try to jump on the bandwagon."
If the accusations result in charges, Amendola said they'll be vigorously contested.
These two new accusations are being investigated by the state's Children and Youth Services, which means the accusations are coming not from adults, but from children.
(CNN) -- An attorney for a former Penn State football coach accused of sexually abusing young boys on Thursday claimed news media "somewhat exaggerated" and took "out of context" his comments about adults who "teach" children to shower.http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/15/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Karl Rominger recently joined the defense team of Jerry Sandusky, who prosecutors say sexually abused 10 young boys over a 14-year period. The 67-year-old former defensive coordinator has pleaded not guilty to more than 50 related charges.
Sandusky has admitted showering and having "horsed around" with boys, though he's denied any sexual activity with his accusers.
On Tuesday, Rominger brought up the idea of an adult showering with young children during an interview with CNN affiliate WHTM.
"Teaching a person to shower at the age of 12 or 14 would sound strange to some people, but actually people who work with troubled youth would tell you that there are a lot of juvenile delinquents or people who are dependent who have to be taught basic life skills, like how to put soap on your body," the lawyer said.
wat
WAT
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal
"I didn't know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was," he told The Post in an extensive interview at his home in State College, Pa. "So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn't work out that way."
"So I sat around. It was a Saturday. Waited till Sunday because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. And then I called my superiors and I said, 'Hey, we got a problem, I think. Would you guys look into it?' Cause I didn't know, you know. We never had, until that point, 58 years I think, I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn't feel adequate."
Paterno affirmed reports that McQueary was not specific in describing what he allegedly saw, and he told The Post that even if he did, "I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."
Joe Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday. He was 85.
His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."
"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Jesus, Gaborn is going full distinguished mentally-challenged fellow in the GAF thread on thisTroll gonna be trollin'
Can demi change "fired" to "dead", please?
great, now they're just gonna call his legacy "complicated" forever ::) burn in hell, scumbag
great, now they're just gonna call his legacy "complicated" forever ::) burn in hell, scumbag
No they won't. They'll praise his legacy.
The whole of his life renders the seismology of modern-day journalism moot. The facts of a 62-year coaching career were shaken. They did not topple over.
omg...That's not even the best worst part of the column:
A man's death demands that we look to his life -- not just the last 12 weeks, swollen and inflamed by the heat of the vengeful -- but 62 years of coaching young men at one university. A legacy covers more than 12 weeks.
There comes a time in the life cycle of every momentous news story when the coverage of it stops being about the subject. It happens after the news stops registering on the Richter scale. The basics are established. The tectonic plates stop shifting. If the facts change at all, they are subtle aftershocks, not of the degree that topple buildings, or political leaders, or iconic football coaches.
The Sandusky case has rubbed raw all of us who have children, or once were children.
Sadly, the boy rape shit erases whatever greatness his coaching had.
Sadly, the boy rape shit erases whatever greatness his coaching had.
Not according to ESPN and soon, sports fans in the US.
Ah, THAT'S how you get out of culpability.Sadly, the boy rape shit erases whatever greatness his coaching had.
Honestly, let's boil it down. They're excusing him letting a child rapist get away for several years because he told young men how to get a football passed other young men very well.
eh, he was a good football coach, and he seemed sorry for what he did. He didn't rape the kids. I'll let ESPN go on about his legacy. It's not like it wasn't predictable as hell. Plus, every time I turn on ESPN Radio they have made sure the public hasn't forgotten that he didn't report Sandusky assraping children.Knowing and doing not even the barest minimum about it isn't really any better than raping the kids.