The Factfreeh Report’s contention that Paterno was guilty of conspiring to keep Sandusky’s actions secret has been shredded by every legal mind in the country. Yep, if you’d actually read it, and if you have the mental capacity to think critically, you’d also see that it is nothing more than conjecture and opinion, because anyone with a brain who has read it in its entirety knows that it includes ZERO evidence of Paterno’s complicity in any cover up. You can say that he should have known all you want, but there is no evidence to support you.

None.

Reality? The report was a 6.5-million-dollar whitewash, bought by PSU’s Board of Trustees, and paid for by the University, or should I say, by everyone who has attended or who is attending PSU, who has contributed to PSU, does business with has or worked for PSU, etc., etc.

So put up of shut up dummies; i.e., read the whole report and then come back with some facts, and no, that would not include a few emails that were neither written nor received by Paterno, and which indicate NOTHING specific whatsoever. Otherwise, go back to watching baseball as the real world becomes increasingly hostile toward your way of life.

Oh sure, you can tell me who has the highest lifetime batting average. That’s great. Now wake the **** up and take care of some real business, instead of reveling in the fact that someone whose shoes you were never fit to shine has been demonized by the same media that tells you what to think in every other aspect of your lives.

Seriously, wake up.

More than that, he is a human being. An especially thoughtful, observant, fully-formed human being. Yeah, I didn’t like what he said last fall. But I respected that he was In a unique, insane situation, and he did the responsible thing. He shut up about it. I like to think the intervening months gave him time to step back and get some perspective, and more information. But as I have said here already today…he had access and trust at a time when no one else did. So, in addition to the perspective, maybe, as Craig says with better words, we will get some insight, both into what a man like Paterno tells himself, and the world, about why and what he has done…and insight into what it was like to be in the middle of all that, and what the journey from adoring biographer to (likely) disappointed chronicler was like. Pos has it in him to write something GREAT. I just don’t know I’d the accelerated publishing schedule will give him time to reach deep and get there. I am hoping for the best.

As an aside, I will note that “the author of the article just wants to find a way to shoehorn it in for the hits and his own desires” almost perfectly defines the guiding principles of this and any other good blog. That which (a) may be of interest to readers; and (b) interests the writer is all that matters.

If you’d like something less expansive than that, I suggest you subscribe to the Associated Press newswire.

Actually, I’ll amend my comments on Posnanski’s scapegoating comments. I don’t remember if he was referring to the university or the general public. If it was the university, we don’t know how much of the details revealed in the Freeh Report they were aware of, and the university was right to fire him even based on the limited public information we had at the time. If that’s who he was referring to, he was off base. But if he was referring to the general reaction to crucify Paterno, well, no, we didn’t know then what we know now, and it was absolutely fair to call a large part of what happened in November scapegoating.

“I think [Paterno] is a scapegoat. I definitely think that…I think he tried to do the right thing, and the right thing didn’t happen.”

“The rush to judgment here has been extraordinarily. The lesson to learn might be that we screwed this thing up.”

“I’ve never seen anything handled worse. Maybe how New Orleans, post-Katrina….Paterno was always dangled by this university.”

“The only thing people remember about Woody Hayes is that he hit a player. I don’t want that to happen to Joe. He didn’t hit a player.”

“If this happened at the University of Miami, no matter how bad it was, it wouldn’t have elevated to this level.”

“A lot of people came here to bury Joe. As a writer, I’m mad with that, as someone who’s come to know the Paternos, I’m heartbroken.”

Best of luck to you and Ms. Upton.

Here’s a novel idea; how about we, you know, wait to actually READ the book before we decide whether it’s a good piece of writing or not?

I might repost this until the stupid chat softwares blocks me for being a spam account. QFMFT

No, they aren’t.

Yes, he does.

In 5 years, the book would have better perspective (for both the writer and readers)….right now is simply horrible timing for a Paterno biography.

No, I don’t. I expect the relevant parts of the book to be personal and painful, I expect it to be wrought with Posnanski’s own feelings of sadness and betrayal. I expect it to be very powerful.

I also expect it to be a very small part of the book that will mostly explore the football parts of Paterno’s unprecedentedly long career.

That said, a lot of people seem quick to assume what will and won’t be in the book, or quick to assume they know exactly what’s going on in Posnanski’s mind… Here’s a novel idea; how about we, you know, wait to actually READ the book before we decide whether it’s a good piece of writing or not?

I believe Posnanski didn’t want the accusations toward Paterno to be true.

That’s cool, and I believe that Kate Upton is about to knock on my door and promise me the best sex of my life.

But just like your comment, it’s completely untrue. Kevin S is right. All Pos asked is for people to wait for more details to come out. Your comments are unwarranted, and downright ignorant.