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http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/16/12768726-paterno-family-to-conduct-own-investigation-in-sandusky-sex-abuse-case?

This is sure to be unbiased. I guess they got bummed he lost his halo in that mural.

I am 100% certain it will be unbiased and honest, and will exonerate the great hero.

MrDwhitey wrote:I am 100% certain it will be unbiased and honest, and will exonerate the great hero.

Really? Accept the shame of your family and move on, or else the aprobum of the public will smash what remains of Paterno's legacy.

Plus they might start throwing bricks.

Your sarcasm detector is broken.

MrDwhitey wrote:Your sarcasm detector is broken.

Sorry my reply was not meant at you but at this action.

Ah right. It is a disgraceful situation.

I imagine they'll hire the same PIs that O.J. did after he was found "not guilty."

Do you guys realize there is a significant portion of the PSU fan base who thinks the Freeh report at best biased, and at worst a bunch of lies concocted to justify the evil board of trustees' decision to fire Saint Joe? I'm not kidding.

There are reasons why this stuff happened in "Happy Valley."

Out of curiosity, have any of you read the Freeh report? Because it pretty much reads as "Blame the coaches, and maybe mention the Board of Trustees a few times." Whether or not that's accurate is up for debate, but it should be noted that the Trustees commissioned the study.

Indeed, there's a point where the report takes statements of ignorance by the coaches, and immediately converts them to statements of malice without any sound evidence.

I skimmed it and read sections. While the Board likely wants their heineys covered, I also don't think they'd want to see the institution or football program damaged more than it needs to be. And the report was certainly highly damaging and worse than expected.

Just last night the president of the NCAA didn't rule out the "death" penalty or other significant penalties. I was surprised by that, actually. He could be posturing, but then if they were going to let PSU off lightly, you'd expect that he'd be setting the stage for that by talking about the limits of their jurisdiction, etc.

Realistically, of course there are going to be some biases when a hired gun is used. But I think the overall picture is fairly clear after the Sandusky trial and this report. The color in question is definitely a red and not a green, although it may be crimson, vermilion or carmine, if you follow my drift. The main actors in the story clearly had some knowledge...how much knowledge will be the main topic at their trials, I suppose.

The Second Mile also needs to be fully investigated, although I expect that any evidence has been mostly destroyed at this point. There are a lot of rumors about that charity that range from the illegal (funneling money back into the PSU program and paying players) to the horrific, which I won't go into other than to say that those sickos tend to operate in rings.

Their mission: To go where no Paterno has gone before. . .

I think the paterno family has sanctioned enough "probing" at this point.

I think they should go away and die quietly.

Step 1: Accuse someone of sanctioning a pedophile.

Step 2: Everyone agrees because not agreeing means actually having a conversation.

Step 3: Pretend Step 2 never took place.

dogma wrote:Step 1: Accuse someone of sanctioning a pedophile.

Step 2: Everyone agrees because not agreeing means actually having a conversation.

Step 3: Pretend Step 2 never took place.

That sounds like pedophile sanctioner talk...

Bromsy wrote:

dogma wrote:Step 1: Accuse someone of sanctioning a pedophile.

Step 2: Everyone agrees because not agreeing means actually having a conversation.

Step 3: Pretend Step 2 never took place.

That sounds like pedophile sanctioner talk...

BURN HIM!

I'm not sure why they are commissioning their own study. Jo is dead. The Penn State Football program is dead (Or will be once the NCAA gets done with it).

The family are risking further investigation uncovering even worse stuff and further tarnishing everyone involved. Just let it go.

Easy E wrote:I'm not sure why they are commissioning their own study.

Because the family and large numbers of people in that community that still want Joe to be sainted refuse to face reality.

CT GAMER wrote:

Easy E wrote:I'm not sure why they are commissioning their own study.

Because the family and large numbers of people in that community that still want Joe to be sainted refuse to face reality.

More likely because they find the Freeh report to be a perfect example of passing the buck and laying the majority of the blame at Paterno's feet.

Wasn't launching a probe the whole problem to begin with?

yea that was wrong...

Frazzled wrote:Wasn't launching a probe the whole problem to begin with?

yea that was wrong...

The Board of Trustees commissioning a probe to be launched is a big huge problem.

Especially when--surprise surprise--the majority of the probe's findings are "The coaches did it".

So how was the board to blame instead of the coaches?

And how does the board benefit by having the institution smeared and damaged even more, including the possible death penalty, which the NCAA president hasn't taken off the table per his interview? If Freeh was a puppet, the report shouldn't have been so damaging.

Easy E wrote:I'm not sure why they are commissioning their own study. Jo is dead.

Probably civil liability against his estate.

Kanluwen wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Wasn't launching a probe the whole problem to begin with?

yea that was wrong...

The Board of Trustees commissioning a probe to be launched is a big huge problem.

Especially when--surprise surprise--the majority of the probe's findings are "The coaches did it".

I think there earlier probing was the problem, actually.

gorgon wrote:So how was the board to blame instead of the coaches?

It isn't a matter of blaming either. It is a matter of Hanlon's Razor. The report attributes malice to what can easily be accounted for via stupidity or ignorance. This is especially important given the age of the coaches.

gorgon wrote:
And how does the board benefit by having the institution smeared and damaged even more, including the possible death penalty, which the NCAA president hasn't taken off the table per his interview? If Freeh was a puppet, the report shouldn't have been so damaging.

I don't think he was a puppet, I think he was a contractor.

I do this type of stuff for a living. If an organization is being accused of something like harboring a pedophile you have to, as a member or leader, accept some blame; you just make sure the majority is on someone else. As a contractor you are either told this quietly, or you accept it as a matter of course.

Or absent further guidance, these guys writing the paycheck get the benefit of the doubt.

Can we just eliminate the football program already and fire everyone who ever got an inkly of what was going on already? Is it that hard?

dogma wrote:
I do this type of stuff for a living.

I thought you were a personal trainer?

GG

generalgrog wrote:
I thought you were a personal trainer?

I was, and sort of am still.

If the report that led to accusations was funded by one of the parties accused why wasn't an independent investigation launched? (or was it?)

dogma wrote:

gorgon wrote:So how was the board to blame instead of the coaches?

It isn't a matter of blaming either. It is a matter of Hanlon's Razor. The report attributes malice to what can easily be accounted for via stupidity or ignorance. This is especially important given the age of the coaches.

Note however that there's only one coach mentioned in the report. Spanier was the university president, Curley was the athletic director, and Schultz was a VP. Sandusky was under their oversight and not the board's. It's hard to imagine that they were too stupid or senile to understand what they were dealing with. And if they were having conversations with Paterno, it isn't likely that he wasn't informed about what they were dealing with.

gorgon wrote:
And how does the board benefit by having the institution smeared and damaged even more, including the possible death penalty, which the NCAA president hasn't taken off the table per his interview? If Freeh was a puppet, the report shouldn't have been so damaging.

I don't think he was a puppet, I think he was a contractor.

I do this type of stuff for a living. If an organization is being accused of something like harboring a pedophile you have to, as a member or leader, accept some blame; you just make sure the majority is on someone else. As a contractor you are either told this quietly, or you accept it as a matter of course.

dogma wrote:

Easy E wrote:I'm not sure why they are commissioning their own study. Jo is dead.

Probably civil liability against his estate.

Now that makes sense.

From what I heard, the report also bashes the Leadership at Penn State pretty well too. People like the President, AD, and Vice-President. It just seems like the media doesn't focus on them too much because... well... they are NOT Jo Paterno.

gorgon wrote: It's hard to imagine that they were too stupid or senile to understand what they were dealing with.

Not that hard. The Catholic Church did it for years.

Keep in mind I'm not saying Paterno isn't culpable, I'm saying that the Freeh Report is a hatchet job.

gorgon wrote:
If the report was intended to close the door, I don't think it did a very good job of that.

It wasn't intended to close the matter, nothing would be capable of doing that. It was intended to give a version of events sympathetic to the people that commissioned it.