The equivalent would be writing a piece on how Urban Meyer enables Arron Hernandez…
FC: ESPN takes on Penn State once again
- Thread starter GulfCoastLion
- Start date
Here's one of the Lead headlines on ESPN tonight......."Penn State football has a disturbing history of enabling sexual predators"
And next we find this story doing the 48 Hours, Dateline and 20 20 circuit.
Flush!
And next we find this story doing the 48 Hours, Dateline and 20 20 circuit.
Flush!
It doesn't do any good to just cry here. Take the time to write a well written email or letter and send it to them. It is even better to send it directly to one of the Disney or ESPN big shots, and their names can be found on their web site or via investor relations.
I attended PSU from 1976 to 1980. I never, ever heard of the guy. In ’78 to ‘79 I lived in an apartment below Rich Milot and in the same building as Keith Dorney. I used to see quite a few guys from the team at that time and had some interaction with them, and they never mentioned anything about him. Nothing in the Collegian or CDT that I can remember. Looks like a continued, typical 4 letter network vendetta as in the past.
Well that does seem to be one of the points they are trying to make here... that the story was pretty much nonexistent. Where the typical ESPN unsubstantiated leap is being made is by implying Paterno and Penn State deliberately kept this from becoming a story. I don't really take issue with them giving the victims a voice, but the way they tried to connect this to Paterno and PSU in order to increase attention is dubious at best.
The takeaway is that no matter what coaches do in these situations, it will be spun as a negative at the discretion of the media. Franklin was criticized for contacting a victim while at Vanderbilt, the implication was he was only reaching out to make sure the victim didn't hurt his program. Now you have an article criticizing Joe for not contacting the victims, because they said he was trying to hide the story.
This kind of nonsense is exactly why there are policies and laws about how to handle such things. For criminal matters it's hard to argue that these things should be handled by legal authorities and coaches shouldn't get involved in any way as to not be seen as trying to influence the outcomes. This incident largely seems to have been handled by the right people, albeit poorly in some circumstances.
Just finished reading it. I must say, I thought it was an excellent article about a sexual predator and the effect it had in his many victims. Sadly, the article is cheapened by the unnecessary attempt to link it somehow (and unsuccessfully) to Paterno. All the Paterno stuff in the article is just forced and awkward. It’s a shame, because it’s a pretty poignant story otherwise.
Unfortunately the average dolt who may read the article will be taken in hook line and sinker at the innuendo and direct hits the authors take to implicate Joe Paterno. That alone makes it a ******-written article; one that does not deserve any praise. These two journalists ought to be ashamed of their actions.
The average person isn't going to read it at all because of its length. What they will do is see a headline about sexual assault, Paterno, and Penn State and will immediately react in the predictable manner, which is exactly what ESPN seems to be going for. Paterno's involvement in this story is minimal, yet here's ESPN putting his photo front and center. Sound familiar?
A real President and AD would ban Game Day - permanently.
It’s really two different articles. One a really well done recounting of a monster, the other a crappy attempt to push a narrative that doesn’t fit. As you said, that makes it an overall crappy article, which is a shame because it does a really good job telling the story.
Why are any of u shocked? Really?
Look at our country and it’s politics the leaders and all the dirt of late..u think this is going to get straightened out?
sad….my my how we have really fallen….the chinese should just invade now get it over with..
Look at our country and it’s politics the leaders and all the dirt of late..u think this is going to get straightened out?
sad….my my how we have really fallen….the chinese should just invade now get it over with..
I never even heard of this guy. ESPN is a joke of a network. Seems they can't let go of their hatred of Joe
The leadership at Penn State is historically bad: academics plummeting, athletics stagnating and drifting downhill, and allowing the reputation of the University and a man of integrity to be pillaged by a bunch of National Inquirer-level “journalists” with nary a peep. Pathetic!
Right or wrong, the narrative here is that Paterno's program at the time was a primary consideration, and the victims and a psychopath secondary. It's up to the reader to determine whether the failings of law enforcement, the judiciary, and others succumbed to the primary consideration. It's pretty clear that any evidence against Paterno individually was lacking.
Nahhhh thats too recent lets go back to see what Galen Hall must have done while at FLA and as an added bonus he's a PSU guy.
I remember the article. I think I subscribed to SI.
Times have changed.
What was Joe doing in College Park?
This story checks boxes for ESPN: (1) Paterno was a white male, (2) Paterno is dead and cannot defend himself. I imagine comment (1) will draw some fire, but it is true. ESPN does not have the market cornered on it, but this has been its M. O. for the last dozen years or so.
Well so far from my perspective at least this story has gotten zero traction. I have not heard 1 person discuss or reference it. BOT and ESPN will have to go back to the drawing board to find another way to tarnish Joe more....
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The perp was disciplined and ultimately expelled. Who could predict what would come later - post-PSU? And Joe, by all reports, advocated truth telling and doing the right thing. So what’s the story? That Paterno did not invite each alleged victim into his living room for personal counseling? Quite a high standard - what person in Paterno’s position could live up to such an obligation? It would be a full time job in a position like that.
And keep in mind, this is still the USA and everyone has a presumption of innocence. I had a good friend and on the team in the mid/late 1980s. He was unjustly accused of rape (of that I am sure and the court agreed). Had to fly in on my own dime from Chicago to testify. Charges dismissed in less than 30 minutes. But my friend is tarred for life by that accusation. As Ray Donovan said: “where do I go to get my reputation back.”
Hindsight is always 20-20.
Fixed your typo.
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Did you read the article? One example is the judge allowed Rodne to remain out on bail while awaiting sentencing after being found guilty for rape, during which time he continued to be a violent criminal. In the story several questioned why the judge allowed this and stated that it was unusual for these sort of crimes.
The more I read this the more infuriated I get with ESPN's tactics. "Jerry Sandusky" are the 2nd and 3rd words on the page. "Joe Paterno" are words 16 & 17. "Penn State" are words 19 and 20. The actual criminal's name? Words # 614 and 615, excluding the photo caption.
It's a shame that the judge that let Hodne out on bail after his conviction only lived a year longer because he deserved to be raked over the coals numerous times for his pathetic decision making.
I will now await ESPN digging into Bear Bryant's program as well as Darrell Royal's and Steve Spurrier's and on and on and on. Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State are too easy and too recent for them. They really need to DIG so they can unearth stuff from 40+ years ago. As someone stated above, trying to see something in 1978 thru a 2022 lens just doesn't fly. We as a society are in a much better spot when it comes to reporting and prosecuting these crimes and incidents. I can't attest for 1978 certainly but even in 1994-97 when I was in college, the same scorn and scrutiny for women who reported sexual assault was certainly still there, especially because of all of the old-schoolers still running police departments. Anyway, I agree that it's another hatchet job by ESPN to attempt to capitalize on the potential of more clicks by hating on Paterno.
I will now await ESPN digging into Bear Bryant's program as well as Darrell Royal's and Steve Spurrier's and on and on and on. Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State are too easy and too recent for them. They really need to DIG so they can unearth stuff from 40+ years ago. As someone stated above, trying to see something in 1978 thru a 2022 lens just doesn't fly. We as a society are in a much better spot when it comes to reporting and prosecuting these crimes and incidents. I can't attest for 1978 certainly but even in 1994-97 when I was in college, the same scorn and scrutiny for women who reported sexual assault was certainly still there, especially because of all of the old-schoolers still running police departments. Anyway, I agree that it's another hatchet job by ESPN to attempt to capitalize on the potential of more clicks by hating on Paterno.
TY.... dang auto correct on my cell... almost like BOT took over my phone
This is a very elaborate and well orchestrated hit piece. It's an important story and should be told, but the effort to frame this as a 'Paterno' failure is just horseshit. A lot of the women interviewed do not recall many specifics about what was said to them and when (from Paterno), but ESPN is giving them the benefit of the doubt (which Joe, at 80 or whatever, did not get when asked similar questions related to events that happened years and years ago).
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The motive for this is the question. You'd maybe expect it during a real news drought like baseball all-star break.
How many page hits will this generate? Was that the only goal? I doubt it.
I was there and so was the future Mrs BB. Neither of us recall the player or the story. I do however recall the situation at Fiji with rapes. My take is you’ll read what you want go out of the story. They did say Paterno told his players to talk the truth. Otoh, Seems ESPIN wants to find people to trash Paterno like the person who said f@&k Paterno for not calling her to apologize. As we’ve heard before, calling alleged victims under these circumstances puts the caller in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation.
What is also interesting is my son and daughter have EPSIN alerts on their phone and ESPIN has sent alerts in on this 2 days in a row. Now that truly is WTF!
Yeah but who is the audience for that program? After that lets hear putin's views on Zelensky.
We're gonna lead in with a giant dollop of rancid faeces.
My dad was right. Joe lives in our memories like a snow globe encased in glass, like a fantasy.
Ok…and how is that Penn State or Joe’s responsibility?
Hindsight is always 20-20 on cased like this. If he ended up innocent and was incarcerated instead of out on bail, someone would by crying “injustice!”
Nobody said it was. You asked for an example of it being handled poorly by the right people, so I gave you one.
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