Joe Paterno Scandal
On November 5, 2011 former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts relating to sexual abuse of eight young boys over a 15-year period, including alleged incidents that occurred at Penn State. Joe Paterno, the former Penn State Coach was fired as the Head Coach of Penn State, which resulted in him announcing his retirement after this season. This video here raises a few questions. Did the board make the right decision in firing Paterno as the head coach? Did the people respond to this situation the right way? Were the riots justified, riots in which a news van was overturned? Did the media make this situation worse for Paterno than it actually was? What role did the media play in this situation?
I read the news on ABCnews.com.Instead of reporting the incident to a superior, Joe Paterno should have reported to police what his assistant (the eyewtiness) had told him.The board made the right decision in firing him. I understand that people love him, and that he had been the head coach of a football team for more than 40 years, but the riots were unjustified, especially that they were violent, and that Paterno made a horrible mistake by letting the pervert get away with it. Those who were unhappy with the way Paterno got fired and how he was treated clearly need to get their priorities straight.
ReplyDeleteI think the board did the right decision in firing Paterno. He definitely should have gone to the police first thing after hearing about the scandal. Obviously the people at Penn State weren't going to respond in a positive way when their head football coach for four and a half decades was fired, but I don't think violent rioting is ever justified. The media's role was making this situation huge. When it first went public, the story was being shown on every sports channel and most general news channels, making it almost impossible to not find out what Paterno did.
ReplyDeleteI think that the board was justified in firing Paterno, although I believe he was owed a bit more respect. However, I feel that the situation was not handled properly. The story seemed to take over the media and definitely had a hand in increasing the emotions of the viewers. Although I understand the students reactions to the firing, the riots definitely got out of control.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the board was justified in firing Joe Paterno. He announced that this would be his last season prior and as respect to his legacy, the board should have let him finish his last season as head coach. Yes, he didn't fulfill his moral obligations but he was in a sticky situation and the people who didn't inform the police, the athletic department, ignored it as well. I think that the media heightened the situation a lot and if it weren't for them, the students wouldn't have rioted as they did.
ReplyDeletePaterno admits himself that he SHOULD have done more. Meaning that because the result of the whole situation was that the illegal activities continued, he didn't do enough to stop it. He did what he was supposed to do and reported it to the AD, so his obligations stopped there. Because he is an honest man and feels he could have done more, the buck stopped with him. He took the blame because he didn't see this thing through to the end. Personally I feel a little saddened that these allegations will tarnish his unbelieveable career as a coach of a Big 10 team.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is only fair for the NCAA to treat Penn State's situation even more so than they did ours. Jim Tressel broke the rules...but over something as simple as a tattoo. Paterno had knowledge of something much more serious...a statutory felony. He even admits he should have done more for the situation, so as a result, he was fired. I think that there is some deeper meaning in all these actions that the NCAA are putting out. Believe it or not, the NCAA is making money off of all this publicity, just as they did off of Ohio State's scandal. Something that many people don't know is that LSU, currently ranked number 1 in the nation for football, had an issue with synthetic marijuana use on the team, and the NCAA did not do anything to touch them, because they are making so much money off of LSU's victories. The whole season has turned into a market, rather than a passion for the leaders of it. They will do whatever to make the extra money.
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