The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Public sentiment? It still sucks.

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Filmmaker and blogger John Ziegler is working on a documentary called “Framing Paterno”, in connection with which, Ziegler interviewed the Tickle Monster in mid-March. Not wishing to allow a hefty bit of sensationalism like a Sandusky interview lie unexploited while languishing in the secular backwater of a pro-Penn State/pro-Paterno blog, producers of the TODAY Show latched onto Ziegler’s interview. Matt Lauer questioned Ziegler at length about it.

From this turkey’s perspective, there’s nothing very remarkable there, other than that Ziegler claims to have three-and-a-half hours of questions and answers with the erstwhile Tickle Monster. However, what I do find remarkable in a very negative sense, is that public sentiment, at least as expressed by the blow-hards who populate Internet comment streams, is just as irrationally anti-Penn State as ever. There are 468 comments to the TODAY article; the vast preponderance still are blind-ass castigation of Penn State and everyone even peripherally aligned with Penn State. Half of them are hiding behind the viccccccccccctimmmmmmmmmms; the other half are employing a non-sequitur to paint anyone who supports Penn State as a dirty, no good, yellow-bellied child molester.

Apparently, they didn’t get the message. Bob Costas is supposed to be their god, and they’re supposed to change their tune, just as he did. Costas even works for NBC and interviewed Sandusky himself. Oops, I guess no one is listening to St. Louie Bob.

The Paterno family and the University have distanced themselves from Ziegler and the Sandusky tapes.

We impatient types are going to have to wait some more before this public disdain recedes to any significant extent. That sucks.

 

 

How Joe Handled Meetings with Delany

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On a recent visit to her native Chicago, Artificially Sweetened grabbed a photo of Paterno’s Liquor Center. Conveniently located near Big Ten Headquarters, the Paterno family discount afforded Joe the opportunity to cheaply bolster himself with the Old Granddad anesthetic necessary for enduring extremely frustrating meetings with Jim Delany (see Skeleton in Delany’s Closet).

Paterno's Liquor Center
Paterno’s Liquor Center

Reading Eagle Joins Putz Patrol

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I don’t think John Fidler of the Reading Eagle quite gets it. He’s lining up with the legions of “journalists” who are excoriating Sue Paterno for seeking the truth. He begins his article with:

I’m not sure what Sue Paterno and her family had in mind when they began their recent media blitz armed with a report by a former attorney general and governor of Pennsylvania. Resurrect infamy? Force us to recall shameful behavior by a storied college football coach? Remind us all of the culture at Penn State that, according to last year’s report commissioned by Penn State, put football before everything else, including the safety of children?

If that was their goal, then mission accomplished.

There are people who decry any mention of the Holocaust using the same type of reasoning. It is shameful behavior to be buried in the annals of history, a human anomaly that is best forgotten.

“I wonder how someone could be as tone-deaf to the absolute need to protect children as Joe Paterno and his cadre of protectors of the Penn State brand.” —John Fidler, readingeagle.com

Wrong!

We need to remember these things lest they happen again. We need to face bitter truths and learn new lessons. We need to acknowledge that this is an imperfect and often cruel world.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Most of all, we cannot permit injustice to prevail simply because it is unpleasant to reopen old wounds. Sue Paterno and family knew they would be scorned for doing just that, but they damned the torpedoes. To this turkey, it is refreshing that there are people in this world who will stand on principle and seek justice. Whenever I see it happening, I applaud it. Writers can say what they will, but they’ll stick their scrawny necks out only so far; most will not take an unpopular stand. On the other hand, the Paterno family has put their money where their mouths are.

Sure, guys like Fidler can argue that the Paternos are employing their financial reserves to drag us all through the mud and by reopening those wounds, they further sully the image of the University we love. They can play the “vvvvviccccccccctims” card with perceived impunity. They have the flawed Freeh report in their holster and they feel compelled to draw and shoot in defense of its conclusions.

These are the same guys who participated in the original media storm that fomented the great rush to judgment of the late Joe Paterno. Now, the cowards among them feel compelled to defend their original positions. They can’t be inconvenienced by something like the Paterno report or, perhaps, by the truth.

Unlike Fidler, a few brave reporters have started to rethink their stands on the Penn State issue, risking popular disapproval. They deserve to be recognized for their departure from the horde.

I agree that prolonging the Sandusky scandal is unpleasant. So is surgery. Sometimes you just have to reopen woulds to ensure that they heal.