the rix mix

Paterno, president out in Penn State abuse scandal

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Famed U.S. college football coach Joe Paterno and the president of Penn State University were fired on Wednesday over allegations that a former assistant coach sexually abused young boys for years.

"Graham Spanier is no longer president of the university," John Surma, vice chairman of trustees, told a news conference. "Joe Paterno is no longer the head football coach, effective immediately."

Joe Paterno hired a PR firm & on Wednesday issued a statement written for him by the firm  saying he would resign at the end of the season. It was not an official statement from Penn State. In the afternoon he had a tearful meeting with his players. He still believed he could stay ahead of the scandal rapidly enveloping him.

Paterno, also known as "Joe Pa" & "Papa Joe," & occasionally as "The Pope," is 84, coached from the press box without headphones. He no longer went  on recruiting trips.He was head coach at Penn State since 1966, on the coaching staff since 1950.

So it happened that a football program once modeled on Notre Dame became one resembling the Archdiocese of Boston.
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It will get worse. The number of a serial child molester's victims can run into the many dozens. Pedophilia is a lifestyle, a driving obsession, & Sandusky, if he did as alleged, structured his life to bring him into contact with hundreds of boys. He created a large charitable organization that could deliver  troubled, fatherless boys to his doorstep - & not only his.  He  had a bedroom set aside for them in his basement. He took in foster children. He had the cover of his coach status & later "coach emeritus"  privileges at  Penn State; the insularity of the football program & sacrosanct reputation of a  head coach who looked in the mirror & saw a legend instead of a person;  the use of the school's sports facilities, & a knowledge of when they would be deserted.  A pedophile with this kind of system is certainly tempted to share it with other pedophiles. Especially other powerful men whose perverted needs would push them toward Sandusky.  You don't have to be an investigative reporter to look at Sandusky & Penn State & suspect the existence of a "network."

It's not an overstatement to suggest that this scandal could become  the worst to ever befall an American  college campus or a sports program.

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