After his speech to fans waiting outside his window when thinking of the victims of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse was an afterthought, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno left his house, supposedly to address the various media gathered outside.
Paterno said, "I want to say to the kids who were the victims, or whatever they want to say, I think we ought to say a prayer for them because they were ... tough life, when people do certain things to you, but anyway, you've been great."
The students gathered on his lawn immediately cheered "We love you, Joe!" and broke out into a "Let Joe Stay!" chant, after which Paterno led them in a "We are Penn State" call and response cheer. Clearly a large amount of those in State College, Pa. would rather applaud Penn State football amid this scandal than question their fearless leader. Here's video of the event, via Along The Olentangy:
Joe addresses fans (via TDCFootball)
For more on the developing scandal, head to Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries. Follow along here for updates on the Jerry Sandusky investigation.
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Am I reading too much into this clause Paterno inserts here
or was that a truly sickening thing to say?
“…to the kids who were the victims, or whatever they want to say...”
by bangkokhoosier on Nov 9, 2011 4:56 AM EST reply actions
If he meant it like you’re reading it, yeah, that’s a pretty horrible thing to say. But “they” may well have been referring to the defense (maybe they’ve been saying “alleged victims” or something similar, and he’s referring derisively to that) or to the prosecution (maybe there’s a technical legal term that is used that is preferred to “victim” that he was told/meant to say but cannot remember.) Or it could be referring to someone else beyond that. Or maybe he was just struggling for words and meant to say something else, but his words came out poorly. Or maybe it was a poor transcription (sounded like there could’ve been an “us” in there before “to say”.)
I think there’s too many possibilities to read a lot into this one statement.
by Late-era Dugout Convert on Nov 9, 2011 6:41 AM EST up reply actions
Fair enough.
by bangkokhoosier on Nov 9, 2011 9:12 AM EST up reply actions
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