After reading the exchanges between Fox, Maryland Cat, L.C., and others, two possible explanations for Paterno's behavior come to mind. This is obviously not exhaustive, but two possibilities that should be considered:
1.
Sandusky had something on Paterno that he threatened to go public with if Paterno came down too heavy on him, or went to the authorities. This could have been knowledge of an ethical lapse in recruiting, such as a falsification of a recruit's record, impermissible phone calls to recruits by another assistant (remember the Indiana basketball scandal), or some other clear violation of an NCAA rule. Or, it could have been something even worse, some serious ethical or moral issue involving Paterno or his family. Or, it could have even been a threat to say something that was completely false but that would be hard to disprove in the court of public opinion.
2.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sandusky kept telling Paterno after each incident that JoePa became aware of that he was seeking counseling and that he was reformed and that it would never happen again. JoePa kept falling for this because of his friendship. Kind of like battered-wife syndrome this could have been some type of battered-friend syndrome.
#2 on the surface would cast JoePa in a slightly better light in terms of motivation, but it still leaves him doing the wrong thing and not doing his professional duty to report this behavior to authorities. It also shows a callous disregard for the boys involved. However, as L.C. pointed out, the concept of generational differences might come into play here as a partial explanation, not justification, of JoePa's behavior.
#1 might seem far-fetched to some, but it would certainly explain Paterno's seemingly inexplicable behavior in a way that seems more plausible to me than #2, which seems to me to be the greater stretch.
There are, of course, many other possible explanations, but these two leaped to my mind as possibilities.
Last Edited: 7/19/2012 6:08:34 PM by OhioCatFan