ESPN’s Doing its Part to Shove Paterno Out the Door
Campus Crime, College Football, Courts, Legal July 28th. 2008, 9:45am
Stellar investigative work from the Outside the Lines team:
Since 2002, 46 Penn State football players have faced 163 criminal charges, according to an ESPN analysis of Pennsylvania court records and reports. Twenty-seven players have been convicted of or have pleaded guilty to a combined 45 counts.
But we can already hear the cynics: Sure, take a whack at Penn State, a team that has only finished in the top three in the Big 10 once in the last six years, and has just one Top 10 final AP ranking in that same time frame. Why not take a peek into a real program, like USC? Oh, well that’s easy – because ESPN needs USC – ESPN/ABC will televise six of their games in 2008 – and because the Trojans are going to be National Title contenders once again.
Has Penn State’s on-field progress led to off-field problems? (ESPN)
57 Responses to “ESPN’s Doing its Part to Shove Paterno Out the Door”
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July 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am
What is the status of the Reggie Bush situation?
Oh, never mind.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:49 am
austin scott was innocent. hes actually a homosexual. im not kidding.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:51 am
About 7 players a year getting in trouble isn’t too horrifying for a team that’s winning, but it’s bad news for the coach of a painfully mediocre squad…
July 28th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Posted this on Sunday after watching the report – still pissed about it.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:54 am
And that’s only about 7 players per year accussed, not convicted since the report cited players who had ‘faced criminal charges’…
July 28th, 2008 at 9:55 am
PSU is on quite a bit as well. At least that many times with a few to be announced.
Aug. 30 – Coastal Carolina – 12:00 BTN
Sept. 06 – Oregon State – 3:30 ABC
Sept. 13 – at Syracuse – 3:30 ABC
Sept. 20 – Temple – 12:00 BTN
Sept. 27 – Illinois – 8:00 ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 04 – at Purdue
Oct. 11 – at Wisconsin – 8:00 ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 18 – Michigan – 4:30 ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 25 – at Ohio State – 8:00 ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Nov. 08 – at Iowa
Nov. 15 – Indiana
Nov. 22 – Michigan State
July 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am
i dont think you can blame paterno for whats going on, as i really dont think he has much control over anything at this point. for fucks sake the man doesnt wear a headset. his retard son and big red the lean mean dipshit machine cant coach worth dick, and they are recruiting players with terrible attitude problems.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:57 am
uh if anyone wants tickets to any game other than michigan let me know … ive got two sets to sell
/shameless
July 28th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Phil Fulmer, Nick Satan, and Herban Meyer shake their heads with disappointment at the lack of discipline.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I watched this and while some of it is true and is embarrassing, it was a tad overblown. First, the numbers were highly inflated, they would show this huge number of arrests and charges, then later quickly mention that there were only a handful of actual convictions. Second, most of those charges came from a single incident, the apartment fight.
I didn’t see Stephen A, did they show this on sportscenter, I recorded the OTL episode and he wasn’t on that.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:58 am
i dont think you can blame paterno for whats going on, as i really dont think he has much control over anything at this point
That would be the crux of the problem, no? If he’s not in control of the program, then why keep him there?
July 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
because they named an ice cream flavor after him
July 28th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Moleman, I will absolutely take you up on that, are they student seats?
I would have liked Paterno to be a little harsher than “you guys are on a witch hunt, these kids are naturally aggressive”. As slimy as Spanier can be, he at least said all the right things, that lots of charges where tossed but any incidents are embarrassing to the university as a whole.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:00 am
They replayed the OTL report on the Sunday Morning Sportscenter (it aired around noon). They then brought that asshole in for commentary.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I can’t wait until a university blasts bspn with a lawsuit for some of this shit. It has to stop sometime… they report what is good for them to report, that has to be illegal right?
July 28th, 2008 at 10:01 am
As an alum and someone who shares in season tickets, what is this “progress” you speak of?
As for the special itself, I haven’t seen it, but I will now. Honestly, I can’t believe they went to Stephen A. for a comment on Penn State football. A guy (non-PSU alum) from the Philly Inquirer, Frank Fitzpatrick, followed the program for a year and wrote a book about it (”Lion in Winter” or some such title) and he would have been a far better person to ask.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
they report what is good for them to report, that has to be illegal right?
Fox News doesn’t think so.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Going to look for the SAS comments now …
July 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
yep.
i really only want to goto the michigan game, and im taking my dad, so i got my roommate to get a set of tickets as well and bought them all off him. ill probably use one or two of the other tickets, but as i dont live within walking distance of the stadium anymore i dont really care too much, ill keep you posted (we get them in the mail this week)
July 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I loved the part when they accused Paterno of sending text messages to players saying something bad (I don’t remember what) and he got all confused saying he does know how to text message. And then he said he doesn’t have a computer. I almost felt bad for the old guy. Witch Hunt!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Penn State doesnt have a criminal problem, they have a drinking and fighting problem, and they throw WR stay patterns too much.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
shit, red lasso is closed
July 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am
AMEN!
The main reason is that he and his staff recruit kids who stay and graduate (even if they misbehave while there). This is a HUGE deal to alumni. As of 2007, PSU had the 8th highest graduation rate of all D-I teams, the highest in the Big Ten, and 3rd highest among public schools and the bowl teams.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Thor, that was great, I don’t even know what a text message is or how to use a computer.
I’ve said it many times, 18 year old kids are scared of dad, no one is afraid of grandpa. Dad will beat you down and go through with his threats. Gramps talks a mean game but always gives in, much like Paterno has done. There have been kids that should have been booted, but he caved and let them stay. Thats what happens to old people, they get soft (insert stool joke here).
July 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Fixed. Agree that this is important, but Joe’s staying has reportedly, a lot to do with some of the more high-powered donors who have threatened to pull donations if Joe’s blood is on Spanier’s hands.
Trust me, most regular alums (at least the ones I go to games with) think Joe’s done.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:21 am
As an alum, I’m dismayed by the number of incidents involving players, but that report was horribly one-sided. Was the kid who punched Scirotto and pushed his girlfriend prosecuted? They never say. They do allow him to bitch about getting his ass kicked, though.
18-,19-,20-year old kids are mostly assholes, and they get drunk, run their mouths and get in fights. Football players and non-football players alike. Sometimes they suffer the consequences of that, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, if you fuck with the wrong person, you get the shit kicked out of you. That is the story in a nutshell.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Saw Stephen A on TV yesterday and did think it was quite weak to have him on there, simply because he worked in the state.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I agree – most of my friends/tailgating conspirators are ready to move on as well. Personally, I wish he’d name a successor, have a farewell tour, and go out with as much grace/dignity as possible. Unfortunately, JoePa is way too conceited to do that.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Joe Paterno did look like a moron on there yesterday, to simply cite witch hunt over and over again when presented with overwhelming facts makes a person look quite retarded.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Let’s have an OTL done on the shittiness of this server.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:28 am
John A -
I went to decent sized DI school. I can’t say that the majority of kids were assholes. I think that is a terrible exaggeration.
Its definitely the minority. There are athlete assholes and non-athlete assholes. The problem I have is that the athlete assholes are usually given a full-ride, which most now think is their right, rather than an honor. Kids who have a full-ride, whether for academics or athletics, should have a higher standard since their schooling is free.
As for the ESPN showcase. It was definitely one-sided. I’m just glad it wasn’t Ohio State as the whipping boy again.
And, for Joe. He is done. The stuff happening in Happy Valley never would have happened 15 years ago. It might be minor, but that kind of stuff permeates a program and it takes a while to eradicate it.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:29 am
“Let’s have an OTL done on the shittiness of this server.”
I’d watch that. Another week, another day of shite server issues.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:35 am
the video page of espn has the entire segment.
a few thoughts:
last year during a press conference someone asked paterno about the texting issue that the ncaa wanted to outright ban. paterno thought the reporter was asking about “the testing issue.” when the reporter kept asking about “texting,” paterno, confused, asked him to spell the word in question. paterno confessed he had heard of “texting” but didn’t know exactly what it was and, of course, didn’t know how to text.
i also think it was last year or two years ago some chick working for a feminist group was outraged about something paterno had said and during a press conference bragged how she sent an email to paterno to complain. paterno said he never received it because he doesn’t know how to use a computer, thus he doesn’t get email.
didn’t someone in that OTL segment refer to the school as “the university of penn state?”
i too believe joepa is a bit out of touch with his program. i mean, doesn’t the guy work from home? how in-touch can he be if he is working off campus?
the segment infers that joepa has thrown away decades of credibility of running a clean program in order to bring in questionable characters to the team can compete. the last time the team had a solid season, i wasn’t aware the best players (poz, robinson, levi brown, connor, jay alford, tamba hali, tony hunt, et al) were dirtbags?
it seems OTL added two and two and came up with five.
is there a reason for concern? yes. but with a modicum of digging, many of the questios could have been put to rest.
eagerly awaiting OTL’s investigation of other programs like usc, bama, florida, florida state, miami, iowa… to name a few.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am
If your coach doesn’t use a computer or know how to text in this day and age what good is he? Get with the times JoePa!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am
fwiw his house is very close to beaver stadium
July 28th, 2008 at 10:40 am
real coaches text the play calls into the huddle
July 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Making fun of old people is fun and easy.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:43 am
McCain just told me to text you: u r a cunt
July 28th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Wally, I think most 19-year olds are assholes. I was. They drink too much, think they’re tougher than they are, etc. And the kids are held to a higher standard. most kids get in an off campus fight, it MIGHT lead to one sentence in the college paper police log. football player gets in fight, its front page news.
I was an athlete at penn state, and we shared a training room with the football team. I’m going back 10 years, but from what I saw, paterno was very involved in the day-to-day stuff with the team. he wasn’t just a guy in the big office.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:00 am
In the same time period, Miami’s had about 4 guys charged with a crime. So I’m not sure why OTL would need to investigate. Investigate why a scholarship QB can’t complete more than one pass in a game? Fine. Off the field problems? Nah.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:09 am
so is OSU still the “gangster” school even with Iowa and PSU being in the same conference?
July 28th, 2008 at 11:09 am
not to mention shot to death.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:15 am
That used car salesman of a coach ensured that when he hired MoClarett.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:17 am
used car salesman? he ain’t rich rod…Senator Tressel is classier than that.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Tressell is salt of the earth.
If Jesus still commented here, he’d say the same thing.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Quoting is fun. PSU going to beat you down.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:56 am
are they going to come to my apartment and beat me down? i wouldnt be surprised by that.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Penn State might give us a tough game this year. They are easily one of the top 2 or 3 best teams in the state of Pennsylvania.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Nick – OSU is probably the best team in Ohio, including the Browns and Bengals. Just as well though, since most of the OSU players are paid professionals anyway.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Joe Thomas isn’t on the Buckeyes…therefore the Browns are better.
/seriously…Joe Thomas could take a dump on my windshield and I wouldn’t be upset.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I suppose I never thought about why they did something on PSU and not any other school. I mean, My alma mater, Texas, had quite a few arrests last year. Of course, ESPN doesn’t care too much about us, good stuff or bad stuff.
My deal is that JoPa was too dismissive and defensive. Admit there is a problem and quit blaming people for pointing it out. PSU isn’t the worst school as far as arrests go, but JoPa did a bad job in front of the camera.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
That was funny. I went to a browns practice last week, they suck. Quinn > DA > Me > Dorsey.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
good stuff…browns training camp is usually fun.
quinn had a rough go at it a on friday tho…shaun rogers INT was the highlight of practice. then threw one to brodney pool and alex hall (7th round rookie…watch out for him this year, he’s been getting rave reviews).
July 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Some white receiver, appropriately named Kasper, was breaking people down and making plays all over. I looked him up, bounced around the pros for 5 years, out of Iowa.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
yea, kasper…travis wilson hasn’t looked like shit either.
then again, both you and i could probably get some burn in the browns’ secondary.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I feel for Penn State. Everyone in the media says how they need to let Paterno stay as long as he wants but the man is getting killed on the recruiting trail becaues no one knows how long he will be there. Someone needs to step up and tell Joe that he needs to have a farewell year and leave it at that. Penn State needs to go get Schiano and move on.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Coop, I was there last week as well! On Friday when Shaun Rogers picked off Quinn’s pass and ran it in for the TD after the deflection.. awesome!