Paterno speaks for 1st time since Penn State firing ("didn't know which way to go")

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120114/SPORTS/701149867/1001#paterno-speaks-for-1st-time-since-penn-state-firing

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno says he "didn't know which way to go" after an assistant coach came to him in 2002 saying he had seen retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing a boy.

In his first public comments since being fired two months ago, Paterno told The Washington Post that assistant Mike McQueary "didn't want to get specific" about details in his 2002 allegation involving Sandusky, who he claimed was showering with a boy in the Penn State football facility.

The Post reported Saturday that Paterno was hesitant to make follow-up calls because he didn't want to be seen as trying to exert influence either for or against Sandusky.

"I didn't know which way to go ... And rather than get in there and make a mistake," he told the Post before trailing off.

[PavePusher]

1. "didn't know which way to go"?!?!

To the police, you vile fuck.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. +1

[Critters2]

5. Precisely. It seems failry simple--dial 911.

I'll join you.

[Zoeisright]

22. Plus one billion.

That phrase, right there, is why Paterno should be in jail. Anyone with a brain knows you go to the police. And anyone in a position of authority is morally and in most cases, legally obligated to go to the police.

[sir pball]

24. Yeah, the police. Like they gave a sh!*.

The University/State Police and Centre County DA knew about Sandusky in 1998 and did nothing. Why would they have done anything later?

I'm not trying to whitewash JoePa; I kind of suspect he did know the police wouldn't have done a damn thing but that doesn't excuse failing to do SOMETHING - go directly to the DPW, call the Feds, hell, hold an independent press conference with the victims speaking, anything to get the word out. The only point I'm trying to make is that it's easy to soley crucify him, the most public figure in the case, but the failings coverups go all the way to Harrisburg.

[alp227]

2. For a coach of one of the toughest sports around, a COWARD.

He deserves to get an extremely loud rebuke in a civil suit like he threw an interception in the end zone and lost a game.

[riderinthestorm]

3. So difficult! Protect a pedo or call the police! What a choice. Disgusting. nt

[emilyg]

6. When in doubt do the decent thing.

[Monk06]

7. College and high school football is up there with to the Catholic church if you are a pedophile.

[CoffeeCat]

8. You either enable pedophiles or you don't...

Please, Mr. Paterno--let's not cloud the issue and get mired down in your excuses and
rationalizations.

It's really quite simple.

You either enable pedophiles. Or you don't.

And you did. Now you carry all of the stigma, shame and baggage that comes with making
such a disgusting and obviously sickening decision.

[MADem]

9. How about straight to the police? Seems pretty straightforward to me...! nt

[SunSeeker]

10. Wow, Paterno's worse than I thought...

I figured he'd come up with some sort of convoluted excuse about how he thought he was reporting it to the police when he notified campus security, blah blah blah. Nope, he just comes right out and says his concern was that he didn't want to be seen as against Sandusky.

[BanzaiBonnie]

48. He should probably shut up now

SunSeeker, you are right on!

[RainDog]

11. He didn't care about a poor kid. That's what it comes down to

It was too much bother and might make his fucking football program look bad.

That's what he cannot admit to himself.

[hang a left]

12. No way is he going to be able to cleanse himself...

No friggin way. 03 wasn't the first time he heard of these accusations. There was a conspiracy to protect Penn State's name. It is completely unacceptable tHat Paterno or any of the other highly placed individuals to claim ignorance. Not just the big wheels at the school, but highly placed individuals at the Second Mile, and cops, investigators, DAs and Judges. They will never, ever rid themselves of the stench of propagating ritual child abuse.
May they all burn in hell!

[greyghost]

13. AMEN, the NCAA needs to impose the Death Penalty. eom

[hang a left]

14. You are a riot

/sarcasm

[hang a left]

15. Furthermore...

What the hell does this issue have to do with the NCAA??

[AngryOldDem]

27. I think it's referencing the NCAA's ability to ban a school from all competition for at least a year

And the more I think about it, that isn't a bad idea.

I don't know what other kind of penalty the Big Ten could exact -- like expelling PSU from the conference -- but that should be looked into as well, IMO.

[greyghost]

38. Penn State is in clear violation of the ethnics rules in the NCAA

bylaws. The NCAA has the power to suspend Penn State indefinitely from competition, and there is a VERY GOOD chance they will. They call that the Death Penalty BTW.

[Ruby the Liberal]

39. That would be huge.

I wasn't aware that this was underway. It will kill their rebuilding efforts, but the players can always transfer to other schools.

This would send one hella message about priorities. Glad to hear it.

[greyghost]

40. An NCAA investigation into a school violations generally take a few

months to come to a conclusion. The Penn State investigation is well underway. Penn State is not going to escape NCAA sanctions.

[Angry Dragon]

16. what a weak person

[DallasNE]

17. Hey Paterno, What About The Boy?

You're still not thinking about the boy so you still don't know which way to go Paterno. Instead, you were just thinking about yourself and the Penn State football program. Why didn't your father instincts cause you to focus on the boy and how to best protect him. Obviously it was the next day when you found out so calling 911 was a little late. Since you weren't a witness you just needed to instruct McQueary to go to the police and tell them everything you saw and then report back following that meeting and let events play out.

[johnlal]

45. Right on.

It's easy to know which way to go if you know the difference between right and wrong.

[DallasNE]

49. So True

And especially when it is so clear cut as this because there is no grey area here at all. None.

[DCKit]

18. Boyfucking is always a winner.

An institution as large as Penn State doesn't have to proffer an apology. It's just assumed.

[BR_Parkway]

19. What a fucking loser - you go to the cops. In fact, with your clout you could have made sure

that something was done to protect the kids more than anyone else on that campus.

And you chose to turn a blind eye to protect your precious legacy and sport. That now lays on the ground in tatters around you, covered in the sewage you chose.

[tabasco]

23. Precisely.

Paterno = SCUMBAG.

[Bonhomme Richard]

20. At the very least he could have said.......

I don't want this guy working for me. Get rid of him. He didn't.

[steel4ever]

21. As te Parent of a Sexually Abused Young Child (Boy)

Many elderly "normal" men have a rough time conceiving of this type of abuse. The idea so disgusts them, they immediately go into complete denial rather than deal with it. (Which is why Sandusky's mild disclaimer, when interviewed, is so suspect. The falsely accused would never give a mild response.) Not that Paterno should be excused. If any good comes from this, it has exposed the issue to a Middle America who really doesn't want to know about it.

[renate]

33. I'm so sorry for what your child and your family went through

And I'm amazed and impressed that you can be more understanding of what may have been going through Paterno's mind than many of those of us who haven't had an experience like that.

[fascisthunter]

25. what a disgusting person

he placed his career ambitions over people. Weak.

[AngryOldDem]

26. That's kind of what I figured.

He is of such an age and from such a time where this kind of thing just never happened, so to that end his confusion about what to do is easy to imagine.

I am totally convinced that, in his mind, all he felt that he needed to do was inform his superiors. But it was most definitely his responsibility to follow up with those superiors to see that something was being done, especially in his position as head coach. There, I don't agree with Paterno's idea that he would be trying to "exert influence" in the matter.

Just a confused (and now sick) old man.

[Marnie]

29. Bull shit it never happened. It was just never acknowledged because

women and children had not legal rights.

[AngryOldDem]

37. Within his frame of reference, and within a lot of his contemporaries' frames of reference...

...I truly don't think they can comprehend something as heinous as this. Of course I'm not saying sexual abuse of women or minors never happened. But to him, I think it was so incomprehensible that he did the only thing he knew to do: Tell his superiors and trust that they would take care of it. They didn't; he obviously did not follow up, so he shares in some of the blame here.

My mother, for instance, was just a few years older than Paterno, and she could never seem to get her head around certain realities that did not mesh with her perceptions of that reality. No matter how long or how hard people tried to get her to see how things were.

So, no, I am neither excusing nor defending Paterno. I'm just not surprised that this is the explanation he is giving.

[LuckyLib]

36. It was happening all the time. No one was talking, certainly not threatened and

abused children. Or in many cases their mothers.

[Skittles]

47. "this kind of thing" has ALWAYS happenened

but people, like Paterno, did not speak out

[Marnie]

28. Dear Joe. It ain't hard. You, as a presumptive adult,

protect the child by what ever means available.

It the cops or child welfare of the child's parents don't come to mind how about a dull straight edged razor. You are or were in the business of violence, mano a mano, that image should have come easily to you.

[beac]

30. "And rather than get in there and make a mistake"

Unreal that, even now, he can't admit he made a HUGE mistake. A mistake he's only recently started to pay for but for which a number of innocent children having being paying for years.

"JoePa" gets no sympathy from me. The price he's paid is miniscule in comparison to the suffering he enabled and he has no one to blame but himself.

[BlueIris]

31. Obscene. It's amazing to me that anyone could 'get confused' over 'which way to go...there.'

Enabler. Insane.

[City Lights]

32. "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who,

in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

Coward.

[ladjf]

34. What a lame cop out! nt

[roody]

35. When these men open their mouths,

they come off as even worse than we thought.

[greyghost]

42. True that! eom

[progressoid]

41. "I couldn't decide which was more importatant - my football program or kids getting raped"

[Doctor_J]

43. Sounds like he's admitting to abetting

ouch. An entire lifetime of character and admiration flushed away

[dballance]

44. How lame.

When a coach sees another coach fucking a boy there is really no question of which way to go. Go to the police. It's pretty simple. To do anything else is negligent and abhorrent. How dare you make excuses Paterno. You should be so ashamed.

[Skittles]

46. I think he is disgusting

it is obvious he was more worried about Penn and its sports elite than the welfare of children