Penn State football officials implicated in covering up on campus child rape by coach

[afc wimbledon]

I aint saying it is sensible but this prick was using his position at the school to prey on kids, he still had an office there, they would have got sued and sued big no matter what they did, and the revalation that they had a skinner on the payroll would have crippled the program in terms of raising money and recruiting players.

I'm not condoning it in any way I just suspect when the enormity of how bad things were going to get hit them they just covered it up.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I aint saying it is sensible but this prick was using his position at the school to prey on kids, he still had an office there, they would have got sued and sued big no matter what they did, and the revalation that they had a skinner on the payroll would have crippled the program in terms of raising money and recruiting players.

I'm not condoning it in any way I just suspect when the enormity of how bad things were going to get hit them they just covered it up.

I don't know how bad the lawsuits would have been, there are a lot of variables there but companies aren't always held responsible for the actions of employees when they had no reason to suspect anything. Courts don't expect you to anticipate or prevent things that you have no ability to predict or prevent.

And honestly I think you're overestimating what it would have done to the program. It may have hurt recruiting in the short term, but even that I'm not so sure about. I don't think fundraising would have been hurt that much. Again, this was something that nobody could have expected and I see the scorn falling on the perpetrator, not the whole program.

With the way it's turned now, I'd expect PSU is going to be in for some rough days. This is a program issue now. They made it one.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by valo403

I don't know how bad the lawsuits would have been, there are a lot of variables there but companies aren't always held responsible for the actions of employees when they had no reason to suspect anything. Courts don't expect you to anticipate or prevent things that you have no ability to predict or prevent.

And honestly I think you're overestimating what it would have done to the program. It may have hurt recruiting in the short term, but even that I'm not so sure about. I don't think fundraising would have been hurt that much. Again, this was something that nobody could have expected and I see the scorn falling on the perpetrator, not the whole program.

With the way it's turned now, I'd expect PSU is going to be in for some rough days. This is a program issue now. They made it one.

The trouble is these programs are so important to the schools so they have traditionally turned a blind eye to all kinds of unpleasentness, I have no doubt the amount of sexual assault allegations against top level college players that get buried must run into thousands.

[gargamel]

Mike McQueary should have taken matters into his own hands when he saw the locker room rape, both by beating the crap out of Sandusky and by calling the cops immediately. Instead, he waited a day to tell anyone anything, and now everyone assumes that he told Paterno the full story and that he sounded credible while doing it. I'm sure he said something to Paterno, but there's a big difference between "I saw Sandusky with a kid and it looked like he might have been doing something inappropriate," and "I saw Sandusky anally raping a boy." Who knows which it was, but I can't imagine him being too forthcoming with the fact that he saw a child being raped and quietly walked away so that Sandusky could finish the deed. Of corse, now McQueary claims that he told the full story, but he'd say that to cover his ass whether he did or not.

Some people will say that no matter what Paterno knew, he should have reported the incident to the police. If he believed McQueary, then I agree. But if McQueary just said that it didn't look appropriate, I don't blame Paterno for following protocol, especially if he talked to Sandusky and found his story to be more believable that McQueary's version of events.


If someone came to you with a story about one of your office friends behaving in appropriately with a child, are you going to call the cops, or are you going to report it to the boss and talk to your friend? It probably depends on the details of what you were told, how much you trust the accuser, how much you trust the accused and how much faith you have in your boss to thoroughly investigate the claim and go to the police if appropriate. We don't know any of that here and university isn't allowing Paterno to tell his side of the story, but rather than wait for the facts to come out, every idiot with a newspaper column is calling for him to be fired.

[socalwingfan]

The Board of Directors is allowing Paterno to retire at the end of the season - what a bunch of cowards!!! There is no way he didn't know what Sandusky was doing and still let that piece of #### bring children to the practices. If Paterno had any guts he would have stepped down immediately

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by socalwingfan

There is no way he didn't know what Sandusky was doing and still let that piece of #### bring children to the practices.

We don't know that yet, but why wait for facts when we can destroy the someone's reputation today?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by gargamel

We don't know that yet, but why wait for facts when we can destroy the someone's reputation today?

Sandusky was seen raping children in the locker room. You don't think word spread?

Quote from the NYT article.

A grand jury said that when Mr. Paterno learned of one allegation of abuse in 2002, he immediately reported it to Mr. Curley. The grand jury did not implicate Mr. Paterno in any wrongdoing, though it was unclear if he ever followed up on his initial conversation with Mr. Curley or tried to alert the authorities himself.

A graduate assistant for the team told the grand jury he alerted Mr. Paterno in 2002 that he had seen Mr. Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the shower at the Lasch Football Building on the Penn State campus. The graduate student told the grand jury he went to Mr. Paterno’s home the next day and described what he had seen. Mr. Paterno, in turn, told Mr. Curley.

That is evidence enough to me that Paterno needs to step down and possibly much, much worse.

This was a man who was Paterno's friend, whom Paterno gave an office to on campus after he retired.

When it comes to children getting raped I'm all for jumping to conclusions based on the evidence provided in that article. Eff Paterno. He's a POS just like every other person who knew about this and didn't act.

[gargamel]

The assistant (McQueary) claims that he told Paterno what he saw. I'm still skeptical about his story considering that he witnessed a rape in progress, quietly walked away, never called the cops and waited a day to contact Paterno. McQueary should be fired for sure and Sandusky needs to swallow a bullet, but can't we wait for some facts before condemning Paterno?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by gargamel

The assistant (McQueary) claims that he told Paterno what he saw. I'm still skeptical about his story considering that he witnessed a rape in progress, quietly walked away, never called the cops and waited a day to contact Paterno. McQueary should be fired for sure and Sandusky needs to swallow a bullet, but can't we wait for some facts before condemning Paterno?

That doesn't address anything in my post, especially the grad student who went to Paterno's home.

[gargamel]

McQueary is the graduate assistant who went to Paterno's house. I'm skeptical that he told Paterno the full story.

[fundmark19]

You guys are forgetting that McQueary told his dad first I believe that night then next day him and his dad went to Pateno's home. The McQueary's Paterno's and Sandusky's are all long time family friends. All their kids grew up playing sports together it would be like seeing your best friends dad rape a child. So I can understand some initial shock.

He still should have ran into that shower and beat the piss out of Sandusky. And after that he should have told the cops then his dad then went to Paterno's. Instead of nothing happening and multiple more children being abused.

This is truly sickening

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by gargamel

McQueary is the graduate assistant who went to Paterno's house. I'm skeptical that he told Paterno the full story.

Oh, my apologies, I didn't realize they were the same person.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by gargamel

We don't know that yet, but why wait for facts when we can destroy the someone's reputation today?

You seem quite willing to do that to McQueary despite not knowing all the facts

[CaptainCrunch]

So we know the college needs to investigate this, but is there going to be a NCAA investigation into the football program as well?

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So we know the college needs to investigate this, but is there going to be a NCAA investigation into the football program as well?

I don't know that this falls into the realm of the NCAA

[CaptainCrunch]

You would think it would, this is a possible major misconduct by an assistant coach with a possible coverup.

If the allegations are true its a major black eye.

[oilyfan]

How McQueary could live with himself after seeing that and it not resulting in Sandusky getting justice is beyond me. He absolves himself by saying that he informed Paterno, that is the biggest save my ass behaviour I can imagine. Disgusting.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

How McQueary could live with himself after seeing that and it not resulting in Sandusky getting justice is beyond me. He absolves himself by saying that he informed Paterno, that is the biggest save my ass behaviour I can imagine. Disgusting.

You also have to remember he's the lowest guy on the totem pole there and just trying to start his career. It's easy for us to sit here and say he should have done x or y but the reality is he was in a very tough situation. I'm not defending his actions or lack thereof, just saying that it's pretty easy to vilify someone from afar, especially when they weren't in a position of power. That's the difference with Paterno, he had nothing to fear.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by valo403

You seem quite willing to do that to McQueary despite not knowing all the facts

I've read the grand jury report and I'm judging McQueary on his own admissions of witnessing the rape, not stopping it and not reporting it to the police. We haven't heard anything substantive from Paterno yet, so I'll withhold judgment on him for now. Maybe Paterno knew everything and deserves to go down with the rest of them. Maybe not. But in the age of the 24 hour news cycle, he'll have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion long before we ever know the truth.

Originally Posted by valo403

That's the difference with Paterno, he had nothing to fear.

The other difference is that Paterno had no no way of knowing that the accusations were true. McQueary did.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by gargamel

I've read the grand jury report and I'm judging McQueary on his own admissions of witnessing the rape, not stopping it and not reporting it to the police. We haven't heard anything substantive from Paterno yet, so I'll withhold judgment on him for now. Maybe Paterno knew everything and deserves to go down with the rest of them. Maybe not. But in the age of the 24 hour news cycle, he'll have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion long before we ever know the truth.

I just don't get how you can make a definitive judgement on one person based on a grand jury report and withhold judgement on another despite their testimony also appearing in that same report. A bit of a double standard is it not?