[NU Sports] Paterno

[Weinbaum, Willie]

With all due respect and with mostly admiration for Joe Paterno's body of work and impact, HE said he regretted his inaction about Sandusky.  Perhaps he was wracked with guilt and sadness, rather than bitterness and blame of others, as he coped with a relentless disease.  

As for how he handled players' transgressions, there is extensive evidence that he and his program knew of and tolerated numerous sordid episodes without redressing wrongs in a meaningful way.

As with anybody, there are many aspects to Paterno's life.  He exemplified magnanimity and had a profound and wonderful effect on people and institutions, but that's not the whole story.  And recognizing and discussing perceived mistakes and misjudgments isn't evil, it's enlightening and educational.  Two aims I believe the late Mr. Paterno would endorse.

As a journalist, a consumer and someone who met Paterno a couple of times, I'd like to see news outlets do a strong job of providing perspective and thorough reporting about Paterno.  Those are the same attributes I'd like to see in the reporting of any subject.  We should neither build people up as saints nor bring 'em down with inhumane glee.

The reporting, like the people covered, is usually far from perfect.   

----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis W. Brandt [mailto:tbng at comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 12:48 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Paterno

I had a aunt who was active into her 86th year.  Always an upbeat person,
she was, always positive, always living a moral life.  She had nursed her
husband through a lengthy demise with Altzheimer's until his death finally
freed her to live the rest of her life unburdened.  One day, she could a
full laundry basket up the cellar stares without breathing hard.  The next
day - literally - she could not move her legs.  Cancer got her and overnight
destroyed all functionality to her lower extremities.  No pain; she just
couldn't stand or walk anymore.  After a few weeks of treatment revealed
that she would be forever wheelchair-bound, all spirit vanished from her.  I
tried to cheer her, to see a spark of her old self, but she told me in a
defeated voice I had never heard her use, "I just want to die."  A month
later, she got her wish.  The official cause of death was cancer.  The real
cause was that she had simply given up the desire to live.

JoePa gave up living too.  All that he had been was stripped from him
overnight and ignominy put it its place.  For six decades he was a man to be
admired.  He ran a clean program, and his players had damned well go to
class.  I know.  I have a friend who was one of his linebackers.  JoePa
accomplished his mission.  Penn State is the only Big Ten university to
match Northwestern's graduation rate and has consistently been
head-and-shoulders above other state universities.  He brooked no nonsense
from his players and swiftly dealt with issues when they arose, and there
was never a whiff of scandal surrounding the program.  Then, suddenly, he
was a pariah.  It didn't matter that JoePa had broken no laws.  Indeed, he
had followed them to the letter.  It didn't matter that nothing in his past
ever hinted that he would tolerate what Sandusky allegedly had done.  And,
of course, Sandusky has been convicted of nothing to this point, guily as he
looks in the press.

The holier-than-thous so perfect that they throw stones with a clear
conscience have gotten their wish.  JoePa is dead, and they killed him as
surely as if they had shot him in the head.  I hope they enjoy his absence.
The rest of the world won't.



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