Yesterday I was eavesdropping on two guys passionately talking about the sanctions levied against Penn State, just staring straight ahead and sipping a Mountain Dew Severe while secretly listening to their conversation. And almost everything they said was wrong.
I’m not talking about their opinions, I mean the “facts” they were discussing. One of them said the football program has been completely shut-down for four years, which isn’t true. And the other one said the NCAA ordered the Joe Paterno statue removed from campus.
They went on and on with their jumbled understanding of events, and I sat there with no expression on my face, thinking, “How could two people be so lacking in comprehension skills?” Seriously. I don’t give a single dingle about college football, and only have a passing interest in this story, but know the basic facts of what happened. These two fancied themselves informed, and had everything slightly wrong.
Yes, they’re a politician’s best friend: sloppy with the details, driven by emotion, and easily manipulated.
Of course their opinions were a little questionable, as well. They were twisting themselves into pretzels trying to excuse Paterno and Penn State of everything. All the while repeating, “I’m certainly not condoning what happened…” Of course not.
And I love it when folks try to excuse bad behavior by bringing up other bad behavior. “Yeah, I did that, but what about him? He did bad things too!” It doesn’t change what you did, shitlips. What are you, nine years old?
But none of this is surprising, it happens every time. I remember when Pete Rose got caught betting on baseball, and the way people defended him.
Gambling nearly killed the sport, during the early 1900s, and is not tolerated. Everybody knows that Major League Baseball will drop a goddamn atom bomb on any player or coach involved with it. The players themselves know it better than anyone… And Pete Rose had been around professional ball since 1960. He knew the rules, and how serious an issue it was, but went ahead and broke them anyway.
And when he was banned from the sport for life, Pete Rose fans everywhere began contorting themselves and pointing to other bad behavior, like a sombitch. I loved the Reds and Pete Rose, but come on. There was no defending this. I don’t care how big of an asshole Ty Cobb was, or how Rogers Hornsby beat up a whore in 1921, or whatever. Pete Rose still bet on baseball.
The same thing is happening now. I heard someone say that Penn State and Joe Paterno didn’t “technically” break any rules. But is that really the route you want to take? A loophole defense, on the anal rape of boys?
No, the whole thing is ugly and horrible, and it’s best to just accept the consequences. And it might not hurt to learn the facts, as well.
I don’t like to write about things that are in the news here. This ain’t the Huffington Post. But I can’t stop thinking about those two guys yesterday, so we’ll suspend regular programming for a day.
What do you think about all this? Use the comments link below.
And I’ll see you guys again tomorrow.
Now playing in the bunker
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A loophole defense, on the anal rape of boys.
I can’t believe those two got their facts all wrong. It’s not like we have to wait for the morning paper, or catch the story on the evening news for information. We have this remarkable new-fangled thing called “the internet,” which as we all know, was invented by Al Gore!
I sincerely hope that there is a TV in hell so Joe Pa could have taken a break from smoking his never-ending pile of moist dog turds and watched his statue being torn down.
Boys were raped for years and someone is worried about the goddamn football program? Fuck Penn State. Fuck their fans too. Fuck JoPa.
Fuck them.
Fuck them forcefully in the ass.
F JoPa indeed. Say no more.
Dontcha mean a poophole defense?
My brother-in-law is a high school football coach and over the weekend he was saying that Paterno shouldn’t have had any flack from this, because “he’s not the one who did it”. When it was pointed out (pretty heavily from other family) that he didn’t do anything to stop it, he insisted, saying that good ol’ Joe had the best interest of the team in mind and couldn’t be “bothered” with info like that.
I was outta my mind crazy hearing him talk like this. I asked him if he’d feel the same if it were his son (who is 11 now) who was abused, if he found out Paterno couldn’t be “bothered” with it. He tried to say that he wouldn’t put his kid in that situation, so it wouldn’t happen. Uh-huh. Now this is the parents’ fault. I see.
I’ve heard enough of the situation to know that Joe P. was just as guilty as Sandusky. Frankly, I think the Assistant Coach who ran home to call Daddy instead of helping a young boy is also a numbnut who deserves a nice spot in hell for his actions, too. These guys have a lot of guilt on their shoulders and I could care less what the NCAA did/does to Penn State. I know it is not the fault of the players and students now, so I’m glad to see they are giving them options to transfer, but the whole establishment (and don’t get me started on high-profile alumni who probably have a hand to play in the cover-up) deserved all the punishment they could get.
I could give a damn what good ol’ Joe’s legacy will be left as.
Rant Over.
I abhor people like your brother-in-law. And lord knows, my family is full of ’em! Which explains why I don’t spend much time with them, now that I think about it.
This sort of person is very frustrating, because they are so convinced of their “facts” that they cannot be made to see that they are wrong. I find it’s usually not worth the effort of trying.
Quietly drinking your Mountain Dew was probably the best choice.
It would have been great if that quiet drinking was followed up by a swift, violent kick to the nuts.
Well I can dream, can’t I?
“Yes, they’re a politician’s best friend: sloppy with the details, driven by emotion, and easily manipulated.” – gonna quote you on that.
I heard a Penn State player whining on the news last night, “… not fair… because of just one person…” one person–bullshit.
Wow. I guess I misjudged Walt Whitman.
Yep, he was almost like that guy in the “Dos Equis” commercials!
I’m not reading this as a comment on a news story, so don’t worry about being gobbled up by Ariana Huffington.
I think it’s a great commentary on the way millions of registered voters think and act. Yep, we’ve put the handle on the handbasket and we’re about to tip over into the abyss.
The statue of Joe Paterno is gone, and in its place are all the fucks I give.
I think the statue was torn down because of all the fucks that were given.
Behave. It was way too early for me to laugh about this.
The JoePa and PSU fans who keep saying that “it was not school’s/Joe’s/anybody in Happy Valley’s” responsibility to stop the actions of Sandusky are all asshats. If you saw a child being raped on the street would you stop it? unless of course it would affect the win/loss record of your team. I am a huge college football fan, and the hero worship lavished upon coaches and others is what causes these problems. I read one major sportswriter arguing against the sanctions because the town needs the revenue derived from fall football saturdays to survive. They shoulda thought o that when the kids were getting ass fucked. And the vacated wins “oh my god how can you desecrate the man’s rep after he is dead?” Fuck him, he did nothing to stop child abuse for 13 or so years. Take ALL his wins.
ok i’m done….thanks
What Dave said.
Exactly. Some of these people have got severe tunnel vision.
So, who is Penn State’s biggest rival?
Michael Jackson
That is terrible. I love it.
Don’t you mean “was”?
How do you spell dead fag? M-I-C-H-A-E-L J-A-C-K-S-O-N. (Hustler reference)
Penn State should have been fined by the NCAA long ago because of their team’s stupid name. The “Nittany Lions”? What the hell is that? Just thinking about it makes my face scrunch.
As far as the fines go, that’s just the beginning of the financial fallout Penn State is going to suffer from this. That university is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, and now that the investigation has pointed specifically to Paterno, and other Penn State officials, it’s time for them to open their goddamn checkbooks. Every one of those victims are going to walk into civil court with their hands out, and Penn State is going to have to pay up. It’ll be beautiful.
I always wondered how a nitney lion was different from a regular lion.
As for those alumni boosters who are outraged that PS should be punished, they ought to be opening their own checkbooks to make contributions for legal defense, reparations, etc. And eating every meal in some State College restaurant.
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“Nittany Lions” … apparently there’s a ‘mount’ around there called Mount Nittany and at one time there were mountain lions there. They are all gone now deciding to leave having been degraded by a ridiculous name and mascot.
I saw Pete Rose in one of the sports memorabilia shops in the (Vegas) Caesar’s Palace shopping mall this past January. He kinda looked pathetic and gave me a weak little nod as I passed the little folding table that he was sitting behind, as there was no one in the store asking for an autograph or anything from him. It just occurred to me what a sad-sack he appeared to be.
As for JoePa and Penn State: Maybe we should sic Walt Whitman on the whole lot of them.
Pete looks like your typical butch dyke.
How about Penn State just does what a college is supposed to do – educate people – and not act as if they live and die based on if they have a goddamn football program?
That’s been the basis of my intense dislike of college athletics pretty much forever.
People take football very seriously. I don’t follow it, yet I live in a town where it is like religion.
I saw a website out there somewhere yesterday that had a collection of people’s posts on the subject by way of Twitter. It was pretty shocking.
This entire story nauseates me but the red haired motha fucka who SAW a rape taking place and didn’t do jack shit deserves a special place on Satan’s BBQ spit. Hey, how about if Sandusky was choking the shit out of the kid? Would you step in? Or would you say “Gee, I thought he was just washing his neck?’
Here’s a huge FUCK YOU to all those neaderthals who covered up this mess. There is nothing more vile than ANY kind of crime committed against a child, an animal or the elderly – any group that can’t defend themselves.
After the statue came down, they should have just annilated the football field and bombed the shower room.
I heard the red haired motha fucka didn’t do anything during the rape because the kid was wearing a Pitt jersey.
If Pete Rose didn’t rape those boys, Joe Paterno would still be alive, and his statue would be peeing fresh spring water. So fuck Pete Rose.
Pete did win one bet though. When JoePa shit his pants during a game in 2009, Pete racked up by betting the diarrhea spread.
Meh–here’s the one thing. Joe Pa’s dead. Shit, he was probably damn near dead when he first learned about this, so….that being said, he should’ve took things into his own hands, considering how powerful he was. Hell, even I knew him on sight, and I give less than a flying fuck about college ANYTHING, much less football.
Insurance fraud (“Hey, I can’t afford this car, so I’ll leave it at the corner of Crack and Meth Blvd.), stealing white-out pens, Steinway piano benches “suddenly” landing in someone’s home is one thing. Condoning rape (underage male/femaie, of age anyone) is a whole ‘nother fuckup. These are the kinds of issues that get me all twitchy, and that ol’ twitch in my trigger finger could cause Sandusky to suddenly have a hole where his genitals used to be.
Everybody who said “What if it was YOUR child?” is damn right. Turn it around, and I bet ol’ Joe would’ve put some 80-plus-year old justice on him, no lie. And isn’t Paterno an Italian name? Shit, put some stereotypical Italian heat on Sandusky…have him “do a Hoffa” or something, and no one’s the wiser.
But then again, I don’t/didn’t run a college program of any kind. I know this shit happens in the arts (that’s what I’m used to) so I can only imagine what happens in programs that are REAL moneymakers.
Dammit! “Female”! I’m so pissed, I can’t even spell!
Paterno knew and did nothing. There aren’t enough sanctions on this earth for Penn State.
I hope their program NEVER recovers–because several young mens’ futures were stolen by Jerry Sandusky!
ANYONE who knew about it and did nothing should be charged with, at the very least, complicity!
The whole thing just makes me sick, quite frankly. Makes you wonder what we’ve become as a society…
By way of nothing, it appears that Sherman Hemsley (George Jefferson himself) has gone on to that “de-luxe apartment in the sky.”
(Yeah, I’m sure I’m the first one to think of that when I read the news….)
Damn, that’s a shame. My respect for the man increased by several orders of magnitude when I learned that he was a Gentle Giant fan.
Regarding Penn State…
First, that kind of football culture is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to avoid when I looked for a college that had no big-time sports.
Second, I heard some sound bites on the news where people were complaining that everyone was being punished for the actions of a few. All I can say is, welcome to the real world. People get punished for others’ actions all the time. Finding examples is left as an exercise for the student, but it won’t take but a minute.
Third, some of those same sound bites were of various assholes making the same arguments articulated by certain in-laws quoted above: old Joe didn’t do the crime, etc. Well, the fact is that old Joe was the captain of that ship: what happened was his responsibility, period. He had the DUTY to first confront, and then turn in, Sandusky, the minute he got wind of the evildoing. By failing in this, he ruined a lot of kids’ lives – not to mention their families – and may have destroyed the football kingdom he spent so much time building up.
If there is a hell, Uncle Joe is receiving an endless series of forearm-sized boners even as we speak. Hopefully without lube.
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Pete did fuck up big time. He’ll most likely never make it into “The Hall”. His numbers will stand and players will always be compared to “Charlie Hustle”. The roid asterisk guys when/ if they make it in won’t be used as a comparison model. Notice how no one says…”He could be the next Roger Clemens…or Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds” ?…. Hate to say it but Pete fucked up! I still like they guy and the way he played ball.
I too would have just stared straight ahead while I listened to those two rub their intellectual dicks together. That whole Penn State “Ivory Tower Fandango” keeps me shaking my head like I have Parkinson’s.
I must say that I’m so proud of my fellow WV Surfers and assorted, esteemed Reporters for voicing the type of morals and fortitude that should be required of people entrusted with our precious children (teachers, doctors, coaches, babysitters, dentists, day carers, etc.), the future of our world! Sandusky should “accidentally” be put in the general population for a short time, then shovel up what’s left and feed it to the sea gulls at the local dump.
Meanwhile, in hell, Paterno should be treated to faux home movies of Sandusky violating his (JoePa’s) grandsons repeatedly and con mucho gusto before he moves on to the granddaughters.
Evil against the most innocent and helpless of this planet (as stated earlier: children, elderly and animals) are absolutely inexcusable and I truly cannot think of a punishment anywhere near harsh enough for the perpetrators of those actions! Perhaps being skinned alive and having a lovely full-bodied sitz bath whilst awaiting sentencing is a start.
I too have released enough of a rant to function recognizably for a short span of time. You are all wonderful human beings so very worthy of the descriptor Humane humans. You’d also make decent parents!
Love,
Mommy
Umm… you do realize that we were talking about how to preserve dead hookers in the last post don’t you?
correction, two posts ago
Jesus Mommy. Your worked up about the whole thing and spout how precious the inocent are but they you say he should have to watch videos of sandusky doing it to his grandkids? Hell, there kids too! Bottom line, the school, football team, and reputations of some highly regarded people were more important than a handful of kids associated with a help program and nobody there gave a shit. It’s wrong and they are paying but it does nothing for the kids that were wronged.
I’m disappointed that “there” was used correctly once. It could have been a trifecta.
No criticism intended. Just sayin’…
Jerdog, she said FAUX grand kids. aka fake grand kids.
This began by one sick individual who has a sexual attraction to young boys and was ALLOWED to act out his perverted fantasy over and over by those closest to him. Why would he stop when eye witnesses turned a blind eye? That was fuel for his fire. Not only was each and every child demoralized, humiliated, and degraded by this man, these actions were trivialized by those who were also a trusted mentor at one time. I cannot imagine living in a world thinking there is not one…NOT ONE…decent person to go to for help and support. The sanctions levied on Penn State were nothing compared to what these kids now have to live with for the rest of their lives. God Bless them.
Well said Bikerchick and Mommywoman I’m sorry for jumping on your comment. I know you said faux video in your comments. Just worked up because all it takes it 1 time for a person in a position of control to F up a child and it aint right!
I came here to escape this and all of the other horrible things in the world. I need a fart joke stat! Whatever stat means.
I think “sta” means “statistically”. As in, the probability that I need a fart joke is 0.9982
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Well, duh, “stat” not “sta”. I am mentally deficient.
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We’re all mentally deficient. It’s part of what makes us special.
I went to college, I got a degree. Never had an athlete in my class, never went to a sporting event. I accomplished the purpose of college. I got a degree in higher education. Who gives a FUCK about football stats? I don’t get a better signing bonus because a bunch of black people I don;t know beat a different bunch of black people. Burn in hell you hypocritical fucks.
I’m goin against the grain here but Joe Pa IS the winningest coach in the history of the NCAA. He was raised and taught, according to his generation, that you go to your immediate superior with whatever info you have and no further than that. He reported it to whom he thought needed to be informed and stopped there. He told his “boss” what happened. It was the higher-ups that decided to not do anything about it. If he’s being damned for what he did then every wartime veteran should be considered a murderer because they were “doing what they were told”. It’s six of one half dozen of the other. By the way fuck the NCAA.
You apparently missed the part in the Freeh Report where his superiors were about to do something back in 1998 and Paterno ‘”urged” them to not do anything. Paterno had free reign at Penn State and, unfortunately, had no “superiors”.
I didn’t read the report front to back and YOU Bill know I don’t have cable so, admittedly, there are some things about the case I know that I’m not aware of. I did NOT know that.
Now you know. The guy was a dirty shit-sack and is likely nice and toasty right now.
“I was just following orders” is not a valid defense.
No, the winningest coach is now (again) Bobby Bowden….How ’bout dem Noles!
I apologize for the fact that three out of the last four words in this message are not in fact words at all.
Your statement is total bullshit. Paterno was the top of that food chain, the administrators did what he wanted done. They are all guilty of covering this up and Paterno as much if not more than anyone who knew. All they were concerned about was their almighty program, the university and money. They didn’t give a shit about those kids.
Your comparison to wartime veterans makes absolutely no fucking sense.
Fuck Paterno’s wins. It is a FUCKING GAME! A game, not something that will affect a bunch of kids lives.
And by your…I’m talking about you Skippy.
While we’re at it, Sandusky’s wife also needs to be brought up on charges, because she knew what was going on as well, and never said a word. Crazy fucking bitch!
Excellent, most all of ya. How reassuring to see that many are totally pissed off about what happened to some innocent children–who, btw, will pay for the rest of their lives for the psychological harm done to them. They were raped more than once–by the degenerate pervert who actually committed the acts, but also by the inhuman slimes who watched it happen and/or heard about it and did nothing except to cover their asses and “protect” the rep of their school and athletic program. And the point of all of these sanctions is that when something like this happens, not only the victims and their families, but all of society pays, and pays dearly. And if the only way Penn State can be held accountable for this occuring on their turf and trying to cover it up–and it’s obvious that nothing else was gonna hold them accountable–is in their pocketbook and in their pride–then so be it. Sorry for the athletes and students who have to pay now for something they weren’t in on, but sorrier still for all of them and us if the point is not made that this kind of behavior is not what we as human beings are about and that we will do what it takes and deal with the consequences to make sure that message rings out loud and clear. As a healthcare professional and a teacher, I know that many of those young men will probably need help to one degree or another for the rest of their lives. Child rape is not a one time thing. You don’t just “get over it.” It has physical and mental consequences. The victim’s brain is literally changed. Anybody who whines about what happened to Penn State and Paterno over it is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The man’s portrait had a halo over his head, for godsakes? Doesn’t anybody see out there how much trouble our society is in, and that these sanctions may be just a tiny positive step in the right direction?
Excellent Post !!
One can still believe the NCAA sanctions were inappropriate, maybe even illegal and still hate what happened.
These sanctions are far from a positive step in the right direction. They are a hypocritical PR grab perpetrated by the very people who make the football-first culture responsible for what happened to those kids. For that bumbling bunch of dirt dealers (the NCAA) to think that they should have anything at all to do with punishing child rape is the height of arrogance. (and, as I mentioned earlier, shady, if not illegal.)
You and I feel largely the same about what happened (disgust, oturage, etc.,) but I was reading along and was suddenly accused of being part of the problem. For me, the cruelest part of these sanctions is it has many talking about fucking football and not talking about the victims. It’s a joke. Believe me, Penn State will get their just reward in civil court.
I firmly believe that a large portion of the population is straight up stupid.
Back in the early 80’s a Swedish Flyers goalie was killed in a car accident in his Porsche; I heard people say that he was used to driving fast on the autobahn cause you know he was European.
I have met several adults in their 30’s and 40’s who have never left their county and when I asked why they replied “what is there elsewhere that’s better than here?”
I have had journalists ask me the following questions:
“Do you know what makes stock prices go up and down?”
“How do you buy stocks” This was a business editor
“Why doesn’t the guy just plead guilty, it’s obvious he did it” Courts Reporter.
“We don’t have freedom of the press, the editor and publisher tell me what to write” A junior editor
These are all college graduates.
So the fact that a couple of regular guys can’t separate the nuanced layers of the Penn State story into logical segments doesn’t surprise me in the least. To quote the late Ernest Borgnine in Basketball ” People today have attention spans that can only be measured in nanoseconds!”
Another prime example of the prevailing ignorance of supposedly well-educated people: I once viewed a video made by an environmental education specialist wherein Harvard graduates (they were actually wearing their gowns and mortarboards, so I suppose that the video was made at a graduation ceremony) were handed a medium-sized log, and asked what it was made of. The correct answer is a simple, single word. They were invariably stumbling around to find a good answer and coming up with stuff like “nutrients” or “I really should know this, but I don’t”. Anyone on this comments forum care to take a shot at it?
Heh, I said ‘log’
Poop?
It’s been my experience that logs are made of … wood? Which means, they weigh about as much as a duck, so they float, and therefore, the Harvard grads are all witches.
That’s perfection right there. Perfection.
Agreed CADude…pretty cool Miss Q!
Oh, stop. Y’all are makin’ me blush!
“Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?”
girlgoyle, I don’t know if you meant county or country – but it amounts to the same thing. I know not everyone is able to travel, but I can’t imagine not *wanting* to.
As for education, it’s amazing how many people have a college degree or vendor certification in some subject, but in fact know nothing about it. I had a client one time where I – the audiovisual contractor – had to explain to their IT staff how DHCP works, what a subnet mask is for, and why they have to configure their routers. Sweet sainted mother of Vint Cerf.
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Other Pennsylvania Institutions protecting Child Rapists News:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20120725_Lynn_gets_prison_sentence_of_three_to_six_years.html
Basically the same story. Different uniforms. Halo on the boss too.
Starring Jo Pa as the Pope.
Ode to Faggotry
What’s a little anal rape in pursuit of a 6-5 season?
I have learned through hard experience that, when hanging around with the self-righteous, it is best to count my change twice and slip my wallet into my front pocket.
The crap at Penn State should make us more vigilant; instead, we feel more virtuous because WE would have acted more responsibly. Well, maybe.
jtb
Some damned good replies from the Surf Reporters. I have nothing to add, you guys and gals have your heads screwed on straight! Off for a beer soon…
JoPa walked past a publicly placed, life sized statue of himself on a regular basis. Let’s start there.
Speaking of sports, how come the 2012 London Olympics logo looks like Simpson incest. Check it out and you will see Bart and Lisa in a new light.
I thought we had a bad logo here in 96. Jeezus Christ on a Segway!
Jay
Can I have an “Amen?”