Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno is near death, and his family has summoned close friends to the hospital for final goodbyes, according to The Citizens' Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Paterno, 85, was fired Nov. 9 in the wake of a child sexual-abuse scandal surrounding former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. He was diagnosed with lung cancer Nov. 18. "Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement Saturday to The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious. "His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time." Sandusky was charged with dozens of child sex abuse counts four days before Paterno was pushed out. The head coach had testified before a state grand jury about a 2002 allegation against Sandusky that was passed on to him by a graduate assistant. Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation, but his lack of further action—he waited a day to relay a report by then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary that he'd seen Sandusky in the shower with a young boy to university officials—spurred the calls for his firing. In an exclusive interview with the Washington Post, Paterno, in a wheelchair and barely audible, spoke passionately about his image in the wake of the investigation. “I’m not 31 years old trying to prove something to anybody,” he said. “I know where I am.” Penn State trustees said earlier this week they decided to oust Paterno in part because he didn't meet a moral obligation to do more to alert authorities about the allegations against Sandusky. "There's an obligation, a moral responsibility, for all adults to watch out for children, either your own or someone else," trustee Mark Dambly said. "It was in our opinion that Joe Paterno did not meet his moral obligation and for that reason—me, personally for that reason, I felt he could no longer lead the university and it was unanimous." Nittany Lions linebacker Nick Sukay, playing at the East-West Shrine Game, told the Tampa Bay Tribune: "He was a great leader for all of us." In a statement the morning of Nov. 9 that caught the school off-guard, Paterno announced he was retiring effective the end of the year. At the time, Paterno said he was devastated by the case, and that the trustees should "not spend a single minute discussing my status" and had more important matters to address. "This is a tragedy," Paterno said then. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." Paterno, who was hired as Penn State's head coach in 1966, is a two-time national champion and holds the record for victories by a Division-I coach with 409. Its kinda annoying that they cant resist mentioning the sex scandal even when the guy is on his death bed Death smiles at us, all a man can do is smile back
A few sources are saying he's dead, but apparently his family is saying he's not? A little confusing.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Joe Paterno's doctors and family say the former Penn State coach's condition has become "serious" after he experienced complications from lung cancer in recent days, but that he has not died, despite national news reports that indicated otherwise. Read more: http://journalstar.com/sports/footb...58d-5244-a88f-ae311de6f22d.html#ixzz1k9Mfrdqm Ive oonly found one article saying he is dead, the rest say he is alive Zombie JoPa?
Sadly, JoePa's legacy will be stained by the Sandusky scandal. There's no way to pretty that up. I'm not going to condemn for his failures, but I do think his failures simply can't be ignored. By the same token I also hope that his enormous accomplishments will be remembered as well. As it stands now, I see him as a great example of college sports at it's best and worst.
If Sandusky were dying, I'd say he can burn in hell, and my only regret would be that he didn't stand trial. I'm not sure how to feel about Paterno yet.
Reminds me of Smyrna-Clayton Little League opening day a few years ago at the Jim Vaughn Stadium. Vaughn (a state senator I think) died a few years ago and from what I've been told, he was quite a character- and not in a good way. While the politicians (Delaware is probably the only state in the Union where a US Senator will show up for a Little League opening day) were waxing about how "Jim Vaughn was looking down on us today" my church treasurer, who lived in that area most of his life and knew Vaughn personally, looked at me and said "He really means 'looking up at us today'."
Too bad. You know what's really annoying? Getting raped in the ass repeatedly while JoPa looked the other way. Someone tell me when he's dead, so I can make an "I'm glad he's dead" post. I'd also like to be alerted whenever the Pope is sick.
Why would you not condemn him for his failures? No accomplishments that involve playing a fucking game matter in the slightest in the real world, especially in relation to the crimes he covered up.
Skin refuses to be referred to as JoCa. Any of you does that, Skin will hunt you down and beat you with a frozen turkey.
His failures certainly should be condemned. Condemnation of JoePa (and most anyone else for that matter) I am happy to leave to Someone Else.
Since I could do nothing about it I would say no. Don't try to paint me as a JoePa apologist. The Sandusky scandal is so horrifying it's off the charts. However, the blame for it goes further than JoePa. Yes he could have done more to stop it, but JoePa's own position was enabled by people who could have done more as well. The reach of the Sandusky scandal is so great that no one person can be entirely blamed for it. FWIW I have argued that the entire program should be shut down for at least two years, but then again maybe that would make it too easy to forget what happened.
There is a pretty big difference between what MikeH is doing -- leaving condemnation for already-known acts to someone else, which doesn't really hurt anyone -- and failing to report the ongoing rape of little kids, which very much does.
Then it'll be a frozen ham. Skin's got a first and last name, and Skin expects you to use 'em both even after he's a household name.
Fuck him and may he burn in hell. Seriously. His response to a child being ass raped was "gee, this might effect my fund raising so I better hide it." Burn in hell, Joe, burn in hell.
No, you're just happy to look the other way. That's sooo much better. Oh, come on. Nothing anyone else did or didn't do excuses covering up years of sexual abuse. That others might also be guilty doesn't make JoPa any less guilty.
A guy was interviewing with Goldman Saches and during the interview they asked him what his goal in life was. He said "To be listed in the obituary section of The Economist". They hired him.
Poynter has a good timeline on how this got falsely reported (started by a student news website). I tried cutting and pasting the article, but due to all the Tweets in it, the formatting is fucked up. How false reports of Joe Paterno’s death were spread and debunked
Sorry if I'm not judgmental enough. I guess me being appalled, outraged and aghast at the Sandusky scandal isn't enough for you. Passing moral judgments is something I don't do (with the exception of Osama bin Laden and a few select others) I guess I just don't feel morally superior enough to do that. And no I am not happy to look the other way. Penn State has given me and other southern football fans a royal (figurative) pain in the ass for decades with their claims of moral superiority and pussy scheduling, while trying to claim they were a national power on the field. JoePa made the biggest mistake a man can make and then repeatedly compounded it, but corruption on that scale doesn't happen in a vacuum. He should have been fired years ago and maybe, just maybe some of this could have been stopped, but there wasn't enough moral courage at Penn State as an institution to do what should have been done. JoePa sold his soul, but there were plenty of others who did too.
It's not. What's the line for you? Why Bin Laden but not JoPa? Is it one of those things where you'd condemn Hitler, but not other high-ranking Nazis? Like I said, there's nothing anyone else did that makes that JoPa did any less worthy of condemnation.
Because he wasn't the only person to blame, so you're not gong to bother condemning him? Why not condemn him and the others?
*Raises hand* I do. I'm better than Stalin, Bin Laden, Manson, Sandusky, Paterno, the lot. Sweatlessly. If not, I should kill myself. And if something happens to my fucking brain, where I get turned into one of them, and can't kill myself, I want one of you to fucking kill me. But start on that path, by not defending me like a goddamned weakling. Eviscerate me. It'd be the only true way to honor what I used to be, and stand for.
