This past week there was a thread on BWI titled "Completely absurd that people are claiming 'of a sexual nature' is equivalent to MM having conveyed that he just WITNESSED criminal sexual assault". I thought one person summed the whole thing up nicely essentially stating that "Previous accusation + naked + shower + 60 year old man + 12 year old boy = Police".
The responses are really sad as the fans just can't let it go and want to protect Coach Paterno. Here are some of them:
There are threads like this that happen at least once a week. Penn State fans are more than willing to through the administrators under the bus but still protect Joe. They blame the board and the governor more about the situation than the coach who was the face of the school for almost half a century and was the first person told of the incident.
- Paterno DID REPORT IT BY THE BOOK (i.e., PSU HR Manual) you blithering, obfuscating a-hole! Your full of crap that it isn't "relevant" -- MM went to Paterno to make an HR Report (Dr. Dranov's testimony confirms this quite clearly). He did not go to Paterno and allege seeing CRIMINAL sexual assault (i.e., it is impossible to allege WITNESSING criminal sexual assault without witnessing a sex act of any kind!). The people who screwed up "the investigation" were above Paterno and they absolutely had all THE FACTS they needed to make the correct decisions but still failed THEIR OBLIGATIONS!
- The text comes from a transcript of testimony that was transcribed unprofessionally. Simply read the two sentences of Joe's statement regarding this matter. Where he seems to contradict himself. Then have the sense to understand the first statement was a statement of incredulity or you could say a interrogatory in the form of a statement. Joe did this all the time... repeating what he was asked...then giving his response. The transcriber should have typed....something to the effect...."It was of a sexual nature(?)" Then Joe's supposedly contradictory response.... not: "It was of a sexual nature(.)" then Joe's response. It's not that damn complex.
- It is absurd for people to keep saying that "of a sexual nature" amounts to a de facto description of a CRIMINAL sexual assault (i.e., no internal investigation of the matter required????). Simply absurd.
- ["It seems to me that the only fair criticisms of Joe would be if he discouraged the administration from reporting the incident to DPW."] ---- Joe never changed anyone's mind. All Freeh would have had to have done was read Curley's 26 pages of Grand Jury testimony and put it together with the February 12th meeting that was documented between Curley and Schultz. Curley was asked over and over and over again in the Grand Jury as to how he came about making his decision, what it was based on, and who influenced him. Joe had nothing to do with it.
- Anybody saying that Joe was part of some conspiracy and was part and parcel to this whole thing is wrong. No sense trying to convince them otherwise more than trying to convince somebody the world is not flat. The only thing anybody can say about Joe is that being who he was and what he stood for and his ultimately high moral character, we wish he would have followed up a little harder with C/S/S on what the end outcome was.
If I look at this from an apologist angle I can understand how this happened. All you have to do is look at the amount of national publicity Pizza-Gate got this week in Columbus to see why Penn State acted as it did. Any top program is hesitant to release any information they aren't 100% sure because even small items becomes national news overnight. As a result, a culture of protection that has been built up over decades at many programs that includes players, coaches, administrators, alumni, fans and local media. If you view the scandal in that light it is easy to see what happened. In 1998, Sandusky was accused of molesting a child but the DA investigated and the case was dropped. Three years later Mike McQuery sees something that he thinks is of a sexual nature between Sandusky and a young boy.
When you face a harassment claim two things always muddy the issue, namely perception and reputation. The facts are rarely as clear cut as the initial discussion and most times can be resolved behind closed doors with a quick investigation and quick disciplinary action. One of the keys is most times it is kept entirely quiet. Imagine if every time a Fortune 500 company had a claim like this it was put in the Wall Street Journal. The reputation and stock price of that company would take a hit. The managers and the employee involved would be forever tainted and never able to work again even if the process proved that it was all a misunderstanding. That's why there is always a reluctance to speak in publicity situations.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying I agree with Penn State's actions I'm just saying that I understand how it could happen. They were faced with a situation where a man who had worked with children for over 20 years and had already been investigated once and nothing was found and again faced with an accusation. It is normal not to want deal with something like this because if nothing is found the accused, the victim, the whistleblower, the school, and the reputation of all involved is harmed forever and nothing you do can change it.
I want to restate that I know that Penn State made egregious mistakes. In any organization the first thing you do is get Human Resources/Legal involved. If it is criminal you get the police involved. If it is less than that you investigate and document your findings. Penn State did none of this because they wanted to protect the school and the reputation of a man that worked there from 30 years. In hindsight their actions are certainly wrong and in some cases, criminal.
The worst part of all this is Bill O'Brien has done a fantastic job of keeping his team focused as they are now 4-2 and undefeated in the Big Ten. It's the type of comeback story that Americans love but Penn State fan's focus on the past is making it impossible for anyone to root for their team.
I am well aware to paint all fans with a broad brush using posts from a website is unfair. If this happened at Ohio State I know the lunatic fringe on the O-Zone website would be saying similar things. For anyone who doubts that all you need to do is go back a year to the Jim Tressel scandal and see the posts regarding a simple case of him hiding/lying for his players when they broke NCAA rules. It took almost six months before the majority of posters accepted the truth but even today there is the occasional thread that claims that "Tressel took the hit for the university" or my personal favorite "Tressel is still working with the FBI in a sting operation and saying more would hurt an ongoing investigation."
This level of delusion happens at all big programs and it is what causes some fans to go too far and do things like poison your opponents trees. It's just sad to see what is happening in Happy Valley and I've got to force myself to stop reading the BWI website as it is not fun to watch them continue to mire in their delusion.
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