I feel sorry for Jay Paterno. He's trying to spin something that he'll never be able to spin.
Jay Paterno, the son of Joe Paterno, is trying to defend his late father's role in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case. Nobody, except some relatives, are buying what the younger Paterno is selling.
With one bad decision, Joe Paterno wiped out whatever legacy he had created in his stellar career in Happy Valley. Nobody is going to remember all the great things he did in his career, how he made Penn State into a football powerhouse.
All he's going to remembered for is making the decision to not turn former assistant Sandusky into the police when he became aware of the problem.
Yet his son continues to fight the good fight; to stick up for his dad. Jay, I understand why you are doing it, but when are you going to admit defeat. Your dad screwed up big time, and if he'd been alive I would think he should have been arrested
Paterno, who was the most powerful man on the Penn State campus, didn't turn Sandusky in because he didn't want the negative publicity for his friend or for his program. Nothing more, nothing less. It was a horrible cover-up, the worst kind imaginable.
This wasn't covering up an arrested football player or a player with grade problems. This was covering up a grown man molesting innocent children. Sandusky, in all likelihood, will probably die in prison, and he deserves that.
After this cover-up, you start to wonder what other things that Paterno may have been able to keep out of the press because of his power at the school. He had too much power, and in this case, he obviously abused it. It's an indictment of Penn State and all schools where football gets too big; gets too powerful. Many people get lost in the fact that these are learning institutions, first and foremost.
Now, there is an outcry for the school to remove the statue of Paterno outside Beaver Stadium. Some have suggested that it be moved to a different place on campus. Some of the talking heads said they worry that the statue might be defaced if it's left up.
What do I think?
Remove it.
People say one bad decision shouldn't define a person. However, this one will. I wouldn't go as far as Paterno's alma mater, Brown, did by taking his name out of its record book for ever coaching the team. I hope Penn State doesn't do that. He was a highly successful coach who ran a clean program and led the program to hundreds of wins. That shouldn't change. He should get credit for all to see.
I also hope that the NCAA doesn't sanction Penn State for stuff that happened many years ago. The school didn't break any NCAA rules that I know of, and there is no reason to punish the current players or coaching staffs.
