Wednesday, July 18, 2012

James defends Paterno

I am happy to see that Bill James has the guts to defend Joe Paterno. Nearly everyone blames Paterno, but no one can explain what he did wrong. I am unimpressed with the Freeh report.

Sandusky was caught showering with a boy in 1998, and the incident was reported to police who decided that no crime was committed. Paterno had Sandusky fired anyway. McQueary reported another shower incident in 2001 to Paterno, who passed the report to higher authorities. There is no witness or document at the time saying that McQueary saw a crime. Penn State banned Sandusky from bringing kids on campus anyway.

In Paterno's 2011 testimony, he appeared to not remember the 1998 incident, but he may not have been lying because he was not asked directly about it.

In retrospect, many argue that it should have been obvious that Sandusky fit the profile of a homosexual child molester. Maybe so, but why was that Paterno's responsibility? There were 100s of people who knew Sandusky better than Paterno, and none of them could figure it out. That includes police, district attorneys, parents, and social service workers. Paterno was just a college football coach.

I believe that most people cannot think rationally when there is a mob attack on someone. The media is ganging up on Paterno, and it is fueled by (1) anti-homosexual child abuse hysteria, (2) lawyers suing because Penn State has deep pockets, and (3) leftist-feminists who think that football symbolizes the evil patriarchy.

James has been ordered by his employer to keep quiet about Paterno, so you will not hear any more defense of him.

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