No, I wouldn't have minded some honest schadenfreude. Alas, no such luck.
Instead of coming out directly and saying how they hated his holier-than-thou attitude, they copped some of that same attitude themselves and criticized him for failing to live up to his own standards. Except that for so many years, they'd ridiculed those standards because they required an acknowledgment that there are moral absolutes, right and wrong, black and white.
JoePa was the laughingstock of so many professional sports reporters and athletes because they didn't like being told that sin was real, not just a theoretical construct you learn in philosophy class. I suppose that's understandable, because no one likes to be told that the only reason he can't succeed is because of his own weakness and lack of discipline. The days of Vince Lombardi are long gone. And so, now, those of his immigrant brother.
It's interesting how Paterno's critics have suddenly "gotten religion." Usually when a grand jury issues a report, we talk about the legality or criminality of an act. Now, people who'd normally avoid talk of morality as if it were a plague of locusts are fascinated with the state of your soul.
That's what Penn State alum Franco Harris had to say when asked his opinion. During an interview with Fox news, the hero of the "Immaculate Reception," Harris observed: "The grand jury found out that Coach Paterno cooperated fully with them . . . and then all of a sudden something comes out about a moral obligation and everybody jumps on that . . . I think it is unfair how people were treating Joe with this issue because Joe is a highly moral person and great moral character."
