Tiger v. JoePa and a look back at their legacies

Paterno got his ass licked by writers for almost a half century. He didn't clamber up to his pedestal by himself.

 

Yeah, there's no question the Penn State stuff was more surprising.

I think the Tiger Woods scandal may have a longer shelf life for all the obvious reasons. It's not horrifying like the PSU stuff. He's still active etc...

 

The Penn State scandal is bigger. I thought I'd become jaded to the point where no sports related story could shock me any longer--I was wrong--that grand jury presentment stunned me as much as anything I've read in years. The Tiger story was more in the nature of gossip fodder, nowhere near the same impact.

 

Right, and as I pointed out in posing the question, they are in no way comparable as far as the incidents go.

But what I'm asking to gauge is the fall from grace. What I'd call the "obit" question...Joe Pa's obit will now read "the winningest college football coach of all time, who resigned/was fired in the wake of a shocking child sex scandal, has died" while Tiger's looks like it will read: "Tiger Woods, the world's most famous and highly-paid athlete who was on the verge of toppling the all-time career major wins record before his highly crafted image was tarnished by sexual revelations, never to win again, has died..."

Tiger was more famous, more influential, and more well known in America and the world when his public disgrace occurred. Does that make it more surprising? I'm not sure.

 

It's not even close which one is more surprising. Is ANYONE really surprised a star athlete would cheat on his wife? Of course not.

Are people surprised that a grandfatherly figure like Joe Paterno, who for decades came across as good man and positive role model for young men, would turn a blind eye to the anal rape of a 10-year-old in his locker room? People are SHOCKED and deservedly so.

I mean, is this really even a question?

 

Pete Rose needs a mention on this thread about fall from grace. Maybe Mcgwire and Sosa as well. They were the guys who saved baseball in 1998...pariahs a few years later.

Going back a generation and into Canada, Clarence Campbell.

To save Chris L. the trouble, Wade Boggs.

 

You can argue that Tiger and Paterno were both media and marketing creations who turned out to be bullshit.

 

Sure, O.J.'s fall from grace was enormous, but he was long retired from his career. Tiger and JoePa are still active, although JoePa is certainly in the 20th twilight of his career.

 

If Tiger Woods was still winning tournaments a big chunk of fans would be back on the bandwagon.

I wonder if Mike Vick isn't a better comparison. A large percentage of people are going to look at both Vick and Paterno and see despicable, inhumane men who can never be redeemed. That said, as much as I hate what Vick did it's not even close to what went on at Penn State.

At the very least, Paterno had reason to suspect someone very close to him was abusing children and he continued to go about his business without doing anything to find out the truth, seemingly very pleased with the life he was living. Worst case, and perhaps more likely, he knew exactly what kind of monster was in his midst and allowed it to continue because it might have damaged the myth of righteous Paterno.

 

Who liked Michael Vick?

 

I would compare Joe Pa to Woody Hayes, legendary Big Ten coach who's shameful exit will be mentioned in every discussion about his legacy