"So why is Paterno taking the biggest hit (other than Sandusky) from the public? Because Paterno is the man with the statue. He is the most admired and beloved -- and maybe feared -- person in the Penn State world. He is the man people entrust to set the standard for leadership and life conduct, and hold others to it. It's a role Paterno earned and embraced. With responsibility comes responsibility... Many others contributed to Paterno's 400-plus wins at Penn State, yet he got the statue. Many others contributed to a decade of freedom for a sex predator, yet Paterno will take much of the blame. That's how it goes."
-- Scott Ostler in a scathing piece in the San Francisco Chronicle on the immediate firing of Joe Paterno by the Penn State trustees
That really does just about sum it up, unfortunately.
By the way, at word of Paterno's firing, thousands of Penn State students swarmed the campus administration building at State College shouting, "We want Joe back!" Rocks and bottles were thrown. Windows were broken. A news van was overturned.
So to recap: The firing of Joe Paterno, a football coach, provokes a near-riot. A series of child rapes on the Penn State campus and the apparently criminal cover-up of it, not so much.
I get that our idols are our idols, but dammit.
Update: If this story turns out to be legit, Penn State's nightmare has just begun. You think Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier losing their jobs is a big deal? This is gonna be like a nuclear bomb detonated in the middle of Happy Valley. Holy hell.
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