Posnanski and the Paterno book

Really? Posnanski? There are a lot of writers, particularly sports writers, about whom that can be said. Posnanski would be low on my list.

 

Pos and Forde were both right about how the media is behaving. Sensational stories like this fueled by Twitter are always over the top.

Even good, solid, plodding journalists are swept up. How can you sit back these days and let things play out?

That said, Paterno had a big decision to make. A difficult decision to make. And he blew it.

Just like you can make one wrong mistake driving a car and lose your life, one bad judgement can ruin your reputation. That's the way it is.

I can't imagine how anyone let Jerry Sandusky set foot on that campus again after he was caught. Amazing. At best it's willful blindness.

 

I'll admit that I may have missed something, but how has the media gone over the top or acted sensationally or irresponsibly here? Is it just that there's a lot of coverage? Well, it's a huge and important story. This isn't something frivolous, like a celebrity wedding. It calls for a lot of coverage. Are people rushing to judgment too soon? Paterno himself admitted that he should have done more. I don't think the calls for him to be fired were the result of any irrational media desire for someone's head on a platter; they were justified and appropriate, as far as I can tell.

 

That other thread linking Jack McCallum's column about his not seeing Sandusky's predation in the course of writing a nice, positive story once about Sandusky and his Second Mile charity, and McCallum feeling like a fooled fool because of it?

That has to be how Joe Posnanski is feeling right now, too...times 10, about the much more public, much more recognizable Paterno.

Given that, Posnanski probably can't help but recoil from this story, and his book, for now.

But, given time to unfreeze and to gain back his journalist's perspective -- and given the rapport and trust he obviously has built with Paterno and others at PSU -- Posnanski could potentially write a journalistic blockbuster if he replaces his current natural (and right) distaste with a certain level of dispassionate detachment and determination.

The book, however, probably wouldn't be the popular book that he and his publishers undoubtedly envisioned when it was pitched.

And that -- not any perceived lack of instestinal fortitude on Posnanski's part -- is why the book might end up not getting published.

Just like Penn State team and university officials didn't want to face or know what was going on with this stuff, neither will all the prospective fans/book audience members want to read about it anymore, especially now that the face of the Nittany Lions -- Posnanski's subject, Paterno -- is out.

 

I guess I don't know what this means in this specific case. Let what play out? From the moment of Sandusky's arrest Saturday morning, this story has moved very, very fast. And once Paterno issued his statement Sunday evening, it began to move even faster. The confrontation with the Board of Trustees was inevitable. The press has been chasing this story, not driving it.

And I'm pretty sure Pos would have been much better off saying nothing at all about anyone's guilt or innocence or complicity.

 

I think you couldn't be more wrong. This scandal makes a Paterno book a best-seller.

 

A week late and several hundred thousand dollars short, Joe.

"He deserves what I would hope we all deserve — for the truth to come out, or, anyway, the closest thing to truth we can find."

Truth? How about the facts?

 

Thought Pos' blog post was perfect. Kind of summed up what I've been struggling to say to people that have asked me about this all week. Personally, I just have an aversion to the mob mentality and I know I'm in the minority but I think trotting out every expert with a sports coat and a twitter account to throw more harsh adjectives on the fire has cheapened the entire affair.

It's awful; that's all that needs to be said; not in the sense of the actual coverage of the actual news on Wednesday, but in the sense that, I get the feeling as a viewer/reader/Twitter follower, that everyone's trying to prove they hate child abuse more than the next guy. We all hate child abuse.

Pos said it a lot better than I can.

 

I think most people probably have one crime or transgression they feel more strongly about than the average person. I know one guy who was hit by a driver who fled the scene, and now he finds hit-and-runs to be a punishable-by-death crime. I know a woman who can't stand abortion and is hyper-adamant about it. It could be something as small as thinking that double-dippers are soulless bastards or something as consequential as believing there could never under any circumstance be an explanation for suicide.

But child rape? That can't be the answer. No one tolerates child rape except child rapists. Everyone hates those people.

I'm with Posnanski and Jimmy here.

 

Not whether Paterno would go or stay, but how much he knew, should have know, etc., about what was going on. That's not something a reporter/columnist can wait to see what shakes out before wading in anymore.

And the "media" these days isn't just what appears in paper or on TV, but what folks tweet, blog, pass along second hand.

 

It would be one thing if SI was saying it was going to wait and see. Posnanski's in a unique place, and he certainly doesn't have to prove his validity as a columnist by weighing in immediately, particularly when his organization has numerous writers doing the same now.

 

No good can come from getting Paterno in front of the media right now. And his lawyers know that. They'll control it with statements and keep him locked down until they find a very sympathetic 1 on 1 interview that will be agreed upon with a biblical list of ground rules.