So I’m driving home from work last week listening to 610 Sports…
And yes, they were talking about Penn State coach Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky case.
And the big question was, WHY DID JOE COVER IT UP?
That all this crap about the team’s legacy WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MUCH OF A FACTOR IN 1998 when this first came up. You simply fire the guy – Sandusky – and tell him don’t ever come back to this campus. You take away all his privileges and turn it over to the law.
End of story.
Then if Jerry turns out to be a child rape guy, you did all you could to stop it from happening again and Joe would not be blamed. End of story.
So why didn’t Joe just turn the guy in and kick his ass out?
And one caller made it come clear to people like me, realists. A guy called and said, “Hey obviously these two guys were tight. They worked together for years, hung out, went to dinner, traveled together, drank together and so on.”
AND SO SANDUSKY MUST HAVE HAD SOME BIG TIME DIRT ON JOE!!!!
The light bulb went off in my head. The caller guy was RIGHT.
He didn’t know what Sandusky may have had on Joe or have any evidence that he did, but it’s the only thing that makes any sense.
NOT THIS CRAP ABOUT PATERNO’S LEGACY.
That’s the bull crap media cover story because they have no idea what really happened.
So old Jerry had old Joe by the short hairs for sure.
Maybe on a little tax evasion. Maybe on cheating on his wife, who knows? Sandusky may have had some dirt on some of the other higher ups as well. Those who play together, know about each other.
And the higher in the tower you climb, the more grey area you step in and through.
Lord knows Joe had to have had some pretty big grey areas over all those years.
Maybe even a bunch of cheating moves for his penalty-free Penn State team. Again, who knows?
But there must have been a truck load of it to scare off Joe Paterno!
Like this caller, I have no other information. However I think the media – who loves this story second only to OJ and now the Cinemark Massacre in Colorado – needs to put a few reporters on this.
I have faith it’s the reason for the long coverup. Nothing else makes sense.
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
P.S. the Joe and Jerry story is way bigger than the Batman shootings. That leaves the news, uh, now. It’s not good for America to keep hearing how unsafe our movie theaters and malls are.
The powers to be kill those kind of stories fast. Like, how much have you heard lately about that big NFL cocaine bust? The one in which the busted NFL player said 20 more NFL players were involved. Or the serial killing story about one of our soldiers shooting women and children for no reason in the Middle East.
What was that guys name again?
See what I mean? But the Joe and Jerry story will live on.
Sandusky was found by a grand jury to be guilty on 45 out of 48 counts of sexual abuse dating from 1994 to 2009. School officials at the highest levels were charged with perjury, suspended, or dismissed for the cover up. Paterno was fired. Under pressure, university president Graham Spanier resigned.
The Freeh Report (In addition to numerous media sources by the end of the scandal’s inclusion in the 24 hour news cycle, still running…) found that Spanier and Paterno, as well as athletic director Tim Curley and school vice president Gary Schultz, knew of Sandusky’s child abuse as early as 1998, and failed to notify the proper authorities.
Glaze, I am not sure I think he had the goods on all those guys, and, probably more, I think it was in their self interest, for financial and status reasons, to cover up the horror.
JMO.
Chuck no doubt after all that time passed, yes you are right…however think about this again….back in 1998 none of that was on the table, it had just come to the attention of Paterno and a few others….Paterno ran the program and the likely the ‘law’ surrounding the program. AT that time he was really not protecting the ‘program’ or himself regarding Sandusky’s terrible acts. So if he dumped Jerry no real harm to program, Joe or anyone but Sandusky…thats the thing nobody is really looking at…all would have gone away long ago..but the cover up had no real reason at the time…THEY HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG, unlike Watergate…or other coverups…thats my point…why did they protect him in 1998?
Ok.
If you have never lived in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you cannot understand the power Penn State & Paterno held. The myth became fact and what happened in the real world never, ever surfaced.
Have to agree with Chuck. If you are caught molesting kids, threatening to rat on Paterno for stepping out on his wife or cheating on his taxes is pretty fuckin thin. Penn State was just fined 60 million. The fine is indicitive of how much money is involved in Penn State football. Money, power, greed, and Paterno’s reputation is what allowed them to look the other way.
Again as it turned out YES sure thats true…but for the last comment from me on this…in 1998 that was not the case. None of this would have taken place against Penn State, had Joe simply dumped the guy..he must have known this could at some point go down? However I have no evidence to say otherwise, maybe they were just that nuts and powerful and just didn’t care…
No secret in Happy Valley that Paterno knew people that knew people that could do things. If Jerry was threatening Joe with anything all Joe needed to do was make a call and Jerry Sandusky sleeps with the fishes. Capiche?
Didn’t the local District Attorney go to sleep with the fishes awhile back? Unsolved crime. His laptop dissapeared?
I’m not buying that Sandusky had anything on Joe Pa until after their cover up started. Once that was in play, than yes, Sandusky had them all by the balls so I can see how it all stretched out over such a long duration. An “I go down, you all go down” dynamic at that point. Nobody can speak to the kind of legacy and power that Joe Pa was trying to protect at that time than somebody in a similar situation, whether that be a politician or some corporate exec. Can’t put a price on that kind of stature. Losing or tarnishing an image like Joe Pa’s was to him a fate way worse than almost any indescretion than Sandusky could have held over him. It doesn’t makes sense to us normal folks as the cover up almost always ends up being worse than the crime, but it’s telling that this happens time and time again with people in power. In these situations, hubris and arrogance often overrides rational thought.
Chuck: Grand juries do not find guilt or innocence, They determine if there is enough evidence to indict someone for their alleged actions.
Thanks for the fix.
Simple answer its $$$$$. Between the not for profit, the university, the football program your talking millions. Paterno KNEW this kinda thing would ruin his reputation, ruin the charity, ruin the university, and the program. Penn state stands to loose 60 million but thanks to the coverup they’ve been able to rake in at least 10 times that amount. And lets not forget he told the Penn State brass they in turn didn’t do anything. What this amounts to is the run away fanatic nature of college athletics. Money out pacing common sense and decency. Ya know how that works right glaze..
This is the the stuff rumors are made of. I read all these “anti PSU” articles and never reply, only knowing that they are garbage, but this is the top of the pile. I can tell you that these two did not “hang” out together. Nothing is farther from the truth. If you can’t get the facts than don’t write it.
PSU guy, never said it was a fact, just food for thought, to pretend these two weren’t close is a strech….he did cover the guys butt for years, huh. It’s just a thought about why Joe didn’t dump this guy when it didn’t matter much? This cover the program back at that time is not true, if Jerry was found out shortly after 98, it would have not been that horrible for Penn State or Joe..waiting letting it continue is what ruined PSU and Joe. Sooo…I wonder why the wait? Joe is too smart…maybe old Jerry had some deep secrets on your guys, then again maybe not, they were just not smart about it….but neither was Nixon.
Just so you know, JoePa hated Jerry Sandusky. Read the new book by Joe Posnanski and you’ll see wha i mean.