Paterno Page #10

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Joe's fine with that.

- Okay?

- Yeah. Yeah, fine.

Sit tight, and this is

gonna get taken care of.

Man 1:

What do they do first?

They protect themselves first,

try to sweep it under the rug.

That's one thing

the Catholic Church

and Penn State have in common.

Man 2:

Joe's not the one who should be

taking the fall for this.

It's f***in' Jerry.

Get the f*** off JoePa.

Man 3:
It's the media

who singled out Joe Paterno.

They made him look

like a f***in' villain!

You call him a legend,

then treat him like a legend.

Man 4:

Here's a man that was told

that a ten-year-old boy

was being sodomized

in his backyard,

and did nothing about it.

Woman:
He has done so much

for this university,

and within the past four days,

everything we knew

of Joe Paterno

has been ripped away from us--

Man 4:
And rightfully so!

He's as much of an animal

as the guy that did the act.

Man 5:
Are you kidding me?

How stupid do you have to be

to go ahead and protest

over taking down

a ring of child abusers?!

Are you serious?!

Man 6:

Two years ago, we had no idea

and it was

a great football program.

Man 7:

Yeah, a few years ago,

you had several kids

getting raped.

Man 8:
You guys have been

brainwashed by that school.

It's nothing but a cult--

Man 9:
This has football

written all over it!

Man 10:
He did exactly

the right thing.

If he had done any more,

he would have been criticized

for that...

- ( overlapping newscasts )

- ( students chanting )

( chanting )

F*** the media!

F*** the media!

F*** the media!

F*** the media!

F*** the media!

F*** the media!

( chanting )

We want Joe! We want Joe!

We want Joe!

We want Joe!

We want Joe! We want Joe!

( chanting continues )

Man:

Good morning to you.

It was really a wild night.

It all started after students

here learned that

Joe Paterno had been fired.

Man 2:

I think it was a witch hunt,

and everybody

got what they wanted.

Woman:

Back in 1998,

this should've

and could've stopped.

Man 3:
It almost makes

Paterno look like a fraud

for everything

he always stood for.

Woman:
And that's what he

has now opened himself up for

because he always

had the moral superiority.

Man:

Right.

( indistinct chatter )

Hey guys, guys,

can you just back off the car?

Jay, one question:

Was your father fired

because he didn't

tell the grand jury

everything he knew?

No, I don't-- we don't

have an answer for--

- Woman:
...Victim Six

in your locker room...

- Yes, OK, take--

Guys. Guys!

Will you,

out of respect

for the children--

That's why we're here:

the kids.

No, I--

All right,

your kids.

Sorry. Didn't see

them there. Sorry.

Thanks, man.

Okay. Okay, guys. Come on.

Just go straight up to see

Grandpa, all right? Come on.

Just go straight up.

Straight up.

Jay:

I'm gonna get canned.

Bradley wants me

to come talk to him.

I don't think

they're gonna fire you.

Why?

( chuckles )

It's a witch hunt.

If they go for you,

there's no reason

they won't go for me.

The board of trustees wants

to make this all about us.

And football.

'Cause if they don't,

it'd have to be

about Second Mile,

where the guy

actually worked.

So who's gonna be

left holding the bag

if they can't blame it on us?

Oh, I don't know, ya know?

Dad, what exactly

did you...say?

McQueary came to me,

and he told me what he told me.

First time I ever

heard anything...like this.

So...

I knew I couldn't

handle it, so I went--

I mean, what am I gonna do?

Go runnin' with some things

I-- I don't know are true?

So I went to Tim...

and Gary.

( sighs )

Why them?

I didn't see it, Jay.

I didn't see it.

Tim and Gary are all right,

I mean, they--

Ya know? Capable people.

You know, the best thing

about this job...

is the young people

you get to work with.

You see 'em come up

as young kids... and mature.

See 'em grow up...

overcome some adversity,

have some success.

They turn out

to be good people.

They come back and say,

"Hey, Coach.

It was so great...

being a Penn State

football player."

Yeah.

My name...

I spent my whole life

trying to make that name

mean something.

And it's gone now.

( church bell ringing )

Man:

Aaron came forward

three years ago,

in this office,

after his school told him

not to report it

because Jerry Sandusky

had a heart of gold.

We contacted the police

that day,

and usually cases like this

it takes a week,

maybe a month, to get an arrest.

This took three years...

of waiting,

of a scared boy

telling a horror story,

to me, to a trooper,

to two other troopers,

to two other new troopers,

a grand jury,

then a second grand jury,

and a third.

Still no arrest.

He suffered from panic attacks,

insomnia, conversion syndrome.

I don't recall how often

or how many times

he tried to kill himself.

Attorney generals

have looked him in the eye--

in the eye--

"and said, "We're gonna

arrest this monster next week."

Then more months

would go by,

and then more months

would go by.

Three years he stuck with this

because he didn't wanna see

another kid get hurt.

What do you think

about the Paterno situation?

I honestly don't know

why anybody's talking

about Joe Paterno.

Somebody six months

from retirement failed

to see the big picture

and didn't

vigorously protect children?

Of course you goddamn fire him.

It's spectacularly unworthy

of conversation. I'm sorry.

A crime against

children happened--

why the heck is anyone

talking about Joe Paterno?

Man:

Coaches on the same staff

for 32 years...

Man 2:
Coaching staffs

spend so much time together

in a room,

in the dark, with the film on,

and talkin', and--

these guys are all close.

- ( opera plays on stereo )

- TV:
Know what he's gonna do?

He's not going

to prop his feet up.

He's gonna go help young people

in a program that he started...

What's this?

Alamo Bowl.

When was it?

Everybody wants dates.

I don't know.

Before he retired.

'99, maybe.

Which one is, um,

New Orleans?

- What?

- Which bowl?

Sugar bowl.

That was in the '70's

a couple times.

Yeah.

He went in the pool

with the kids

at the bowl games

in New Orleans and Miami.

- Who? Jerry did?

- Yeah.

Well, you didn't like

to go in the pool, remember?

I mean, you were working,

on a towel,

and, uh, I went in with them.

But I don't throw the kids up

in the air. The dads do that.

And they-- they scream.

They just love that.

What? Our kids?

Yeah. I-- I didn't do that

with our kids. Jerry did.

What are you saying?

I'm saying

you couldn't have known.

Otherwise you wouldn't have

let them go in the pool, right?

I had a job to do.

I was working.

I wasn't focused

on the goddamn pool.

Announcer:

For decades, Penn State

represented what was best

about college athletics.

For the past week,

it has reflected

what is often worst

about human beings.

And today,

for the first time

since late 1965,

Joe Paterno

will not be the head coach,

and those in Beaver Stadium

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