Paterno Family Joins NCAA Suit, World Stunned...

((HT: Costas Tonight/NBC Sports))

Shocking no one, really...

It was only a matter of time and assembling a game plan...

So now, officially, taking issue with the Freeh Report the Paternos, trustees, and former players are taking on the NCAA in court. The university itself is not a party in the suit since they agreed to the sanctions set forth by the NCAA which included a four-year bowl ban, wiping 111 wins off the books from Joe Paterno's record, a $60-million fine, and a serious amount of scholarship cuts.

Here's the excerpt from the show involving Bob Costas and Paterno family attorney, Wick Sollers...

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The NCAA hasn't received any information involving the Paterno interest and was not in a position to comment on the lawsuit itself. And neither is Penn State: "Despite our request, the Paterno family has not shared any information about its planned legal action," chief legal officer Donald Remy said in a statement. "We remain committed to working with Penn State toward the continued successful completion of our voluntary agreement with the university and to working" with the NCAA's independent monitor, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. The issue the HQ has with the Paternos and all involved in the lawsuit- the university signed off on the whole thing.
Give it up, pack it in, and otherwise stop...

The decisions made by those in power reflected an inherent desire to hide the facts and hide the hideous acts of a warped individual who is, thankfully, serving the remainder of his days in jail.

You don't see the Sandusky family chasing this rainbow...
All this reflects is the amount of hubris and ego that the Paternos have in a vain attempt at revisionist history...

Paterno Family Files Appeal With NCAA

((HT: OnwardState.com))

In a letter obtained by Kevin Horne at Onward State, the Paterno family has officially not yet learned to leave well enough alone...

The family is filing their own appeal with the NCAA...

The HQ has no idea what they think they're going to attempt to accomplish over something that the university that employed their father has already signed off on. The appeal is on the grounds that Joe Paterno is an “involved individual” mentioned in the consent decree and the Freeh Report.

The family is asking for 30 days to write material to back up their assertion.

From the letter itself:

As will become evident in a thorough and impartial review, the NCAA acted hastily and without any regard for due process. Furthermore, the NCAA and Penn State’s Board Chair and President entirely ignored the fact that the Freeh Report, on which these extraordinary penalties are based, is deeply flawed because it is incomplete, rife with unsupported opinions and unquestionably one-sided. The NCAA and Penn State’s leadership, by accepting and adopting the conclusions of the Freeh report, have maligned all of the above without soliciting contrary opinions or challenging a single finding of the Freeh report. Given the extraordinary penalty handed out, prudence and justice require that scrupulous adherence to due process be observed and not completely ignored.

If you are so inclined, the entire letter from Scribd.com RIGHT HERE

Once again, the university signed off on the report- without challenge...

Or did the Paterno family forget that whole thing about a "four-year death penalty...?"

More when we know more...

Spanier Wants To Be Heard, Paterno Family Gets Themselves Heard

And, apparently, he's not a fan of the Freeh Report...

Graham Spanier wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees Sunday obtained by ESPN's "Outside The Lines" program that outlines, in his perspective the idea that he only had limited interaction in the Sandusky investigation and how much he, head coach Joe Paterno, former Athletic Director Tim Curley, and vice president Gary Schultz actually knew in the first place.

After the 2001 incident, Spanier admits that "I never heard a word about abusive or sexual behavior, nor were there any other details presented that would have led me to think along those lines."

Spanier points out, in his defense, that he has undergone background checks and has received top security clearances from the federal government in his new job -- clearance that required a review once the Sandusky matter became public last fall...

And, surprising on one, the Paterno family has released their own statement on the decision today that says, in part:

"The release of the Freeh report has triggered an avalanche of vitriol, condemnation and posthumous punishment on Joe Paterno. The NCAA has now become the latest party to accept the report as the final word on the Sandusky scandal. The sanctions announced by the NCAA today defame the legacy and contributions of a great coach and educator without any input from our family or those who knew him best.

"That the President, the Athletic Director and the Board of Trustees accepted this unprecedented action by the NCAA without requiring a full due process hearing before the Committee on Infractions is an abdication of their responsibilities and a breach of their fiduciary duties to the University and the 500,000 alumni. Punishing past, present and future students of the University because of Sandusky's crimes does not serve justice. This is not a fair or thoughtful action; it is a panicked response to the public's understandable revulsion at what Sandusky did."

More when we know more...

Paterno Negotiated Exit During 2011 Season, World Stunned...(Updated-Halo Removal)

((HT: NYTimes/Becker))

((halo update info at bottom))

So, let's get this straight...

Not that the HQ is shocked, surprised, or stunned...

But, apparently, Joe Paterno was negotiating his own golden parachute in plenty of time just as the grand jury investigation was getting warmed up. Jo Becker has discovered that the 2011 season was set to be Paterno's last and he and his family was to receive $3-million, be forgiven on a $350,000 interest-free loan, garner use of the university's private plane, and watch games from a private box for 25 years at Beaver Stadium.

Some members of the Board of Trustees were privy to the arrangement and, after being "bombarded" (Becker's verb) by hate mail and threatened by a defamation lawsuit, the school BoT caved.

But, according to Becker, the family says it was the other way around:

On Friday, Wick Sollers, a lawyer for Mr. Paterno and his family, said that it was Penn State that last summer proposed the lucrative retirement package, and that many of the aspects of the proposal — use of the plane, the luxury box — had existed in prior contracts.

If this does not confirm that the interview below was a complete and total demonstration of hubris, the HQ doesn't know what is...
((HT: ESPN))


And this one...
((HT: MSNBC.com/"Today" Show))


We could continue... but it's too easy...

And it's also too easy to say that the remodeling of parts of the Lasch Building is a good start. In all reality, it's the analogy of putting lipstick on a pig. The building, if you want to start some kind of cleansing, needs to be torn down for all it symbolizes and stands for on a campus that has a culture of denial and absolute power.

The HQ agrees with Bobby Bowden, among countless others, that the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium should be torn down and any representation of the Paterno name needs to be removed from any building in Happy Valley. The Board of Trustees needs to be blown up for all of their inactivity, cowering, and manipulation of the system to give the family a parachute and concealing the negotations until recently.

A thought echoed here...
((HT: WHP-TV))


And, despite how incredibly unrealistic and idealistic the idea is, the school needs to stop playing football for a while. If the continued sheltering of a child rapist doesn't symbolize all that was wrong inside the university, the HQ doesn't really know what else ever would...

To think the HQ actually agrees with SAS is just how bad this whole deal is... and that's a lot of screaming we're putting aside for this...
((HT: ESPN))


Penn State played football last post-season because of image preservation- even if it was the bowl game in Dallas... No, not that one... the other one.

The Paterno family has paraded itself shamelessly in front of any camera for the last week because of image preservation. Joe Paterno orchestrated his own exit during a grand jury investigation because of image preservation.

Paterno/Sans halo

For what's left of Penn State to preserve what's left of it's image, it needs to collectively start over- and return to small town ideals that created a Happy Valley in the first place.

And that means, in scientific terms, approaching absolute zero...
And while, yes, it's a very cold place... sometimes that's the only way to start over...

((Update--Michael Pilato, an area artist who had painted a mural in State College with an image of Joe Paterno....has painted over the halo. The halo had been placed there upon Paterno's death. The act comes just 2 days after the release of the Freeh report))

Jay Paterno Talks

((HT: ESPN))

With the memorial plans for former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno in place, the town of Happy Valley is set for a very emotional couple of days...

But there are those who are already trying to take advantage of the situation...

According to University President Rodney Erickson, people are trying to auction off their tickets to the memorial for JoePa on Thursday. In an address to campus, Erickson feels that people will be recruiting more Penn State grads than before, and that athletics and academics can co-exist on campus.

Statecollege.com's Adam Smeltz also relays, from his Twitter feed, from Erickson: "Really, our moral imperative is that we become a national leader in the research, treatment and prevention of child abuse."

Noble goals, but the HQ will wait and see...

Tom Rinaldi sits down with the son of Joe Paterno on the days before the memorial on campus...

Jay Paterno Speaks

((HT: ESPN))

And he tells Tom Rinaldi that his dad really, really, wants to talk...