And it probably didn't change your mind either.
That seems to be what a lot of people area saying. If you were staunchly in support of JoePa the entire time you still are, and you thought he didn't do enough then you also still think that.
Fortunately this all went down before I had this blog so I didn't have to write about it. But I thought, and still do think, that he didn't do enough.
Joe Paterno was the ruling patriarch of that entire campus. I really think that when it came to football nothing happened there without him knowing about it. So for them to say in this latest report that Paterno didn't know about this in 1998 or know that Sandusky was under investigation for something is unbelievable to me. Even if it is technically illegal for anyone to say anything about Sandusky being under investigation (according to Jay Paterno) I find it so unbelievable to think that Paterno didn't hear about it in some way.
The "he was just a naive old man who didn't know what child rape was" defense also doesn't do it for me. McQueary went to JoePa and told him he saw something in the shower. Jay Paterno today on various radio shows was saying JoePa didn't really understand what was happening because McQueary didn't specifically mention child anal rape. Really? Even if McQueary just said he saw Sandusky in the shower with a 10 year old... Is there ever a time where that doesn't immediately cause alarm?
Yes, Joe Paterno did what was legally required of him. The bare minimum. But I don't think as a human being that was enough. Couldn't he have at least notified the police? Or followed up with making sure Sandusky was completely gone from anything Penn State?
I also don't think the harsh penalties leveled at Penn State are too much. To look at it and say that they are punishing innocent bystanders, the football players is missing the point. Remember, every single football player on that team had the opportunity to leave Penn State and join any other football program they wanted to. Instead they chose to remain there, which is commendable. But they had the chance to leave. Secondly, those punishments are aimed at Penn State football as an institution. Remember when this first happened and there was a damn riot at Penn State because, "JoePa could never do any wrong, what about his 60 years of doing good"? Those punishments are necessary to show that there are more important things in life than football. I can never get past how people were literally rioting in the street to protect, not a child rape enabler, but someone who failed at the most basic responsibilities as a human being. Statues should be meant for real heroes who do good, not someone who failed miserably at the most critical time. If Jim Tressel or Urban Meyer ever was found to have been negligent of something like this you'd better believe I would be condemning it as hard as anyone else. I wouldn't be rioting on High Street shouting, "We are... Ohio State" or some bullshit in defense of my football hero.
No matter how much good a person does it can always be undone. And I think this incident was so bad, so awful that it will remain in the minds of most people long before they remember the library he built or whatever else he did.
It's understandable that Jay and Sue Paterno want to protect the legacy but I don't think releasing this report did any good. Like I said, it won't change anyone's minds they're already made up one way or the other. The only thing this did was reopen the scars for the victims of Jerry Sandusky.
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