All things Penn State

"I have people on the ground."

I love this expression. It's like having journalists embedded in a war zone. So, yes, when it comes to all things Penn State, I have people on the ground...and they are me.

I took a break from blogging and Twitter to test a theory, and here are the results:
1. If you live and work here, there is nothing significant or controversial going on.
2. Life in Happy Valley is pretty much the same as it's always been.

THE END.

Once again, though, I immerse myself into the issues of the day...and here are the gems:

- America has decided to sue the NCAA. Final results will coincide with my grandkids' AARP cards.
- Corbett's lawsuit was/is nothing more than political posturing. Same with Corman.

- Eckel had a brain fart...and decided to go public with it.

- Myers is as dependable as the weather...and partly cloudy.
- Masser would do well to remember that HE was the "vocal minority" that leaked the Freeh Report and made inflammatory remarks regarding the "conclusions."

- Strange bedfellows: the Paterno suit is joined by members of the very group (BOT) that fired Joe Paterno, accepted the Freeh Report...and members of the faculty that did not give a vote of no confidence. McCombie was the ONLY person to file suit when the event happened...and he was asked to sit on it until due process played out.

- Costas was progress, but still is football/sports. This needs to be over on the news/legal side.

- If you think anyone outside of a small group (Marianne E. Alexander, James S. Broadhurst, Mark H. Dambly, Keith W. Eckel, Kenneth C. Frazier, Edward R. Hintz, Jr., Peter A. Khoury, Ira M. Lubert, Keith E. Masser, Karen B. Peetz, Paul H. Silvis and Linda B. Strumpf) will have any say in hiring PSU's next president, you may want to check back with Ben Novak.
- Sherburne got hired.

- To repeat my earlier assessment of the PSUBOT: "If you put new sparkplugs in a shitty engine, you still have a shitty engine."
- I knew Joe Paterno before Sue did...and I support the Paterno family. I think that covers it.
- "Truthers" and "Joebots" are just condescending tags, generally administered by people with no relevent information to support an opinion.
- I support any effort that discredits the Freeh Report.
- A family of 6 can hardly sit down to dinner without an argument breaking out. With that in mind, I don't expect a group of 10,000-20,000 people to agree on everything. Bottom line, I think PS4RS has demonstrated remarkable organization, dedication and professionalism. Such is the business of activism.
- I have singled out many characters in this melodrama in my previous posts, using information that is public knowledge, not opinion. I haven't seen or read much to change those assessments. If I should, I've made it clear that I'm open to corrections.
- I may be in the running for village idiot, but I would not want to be a prosecutor who is depending on testimony/evidence from McQeary, Baldwin and Freeh. Everything that may or may not happen in the future, rests with Kathleen Kane. Period.
- I could write a book.
- Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are all innocent. I'll let you know when a court of law says differently.

JUST FOR GIGGLES
Rate your reactionary investment and knowledge in all things Penn State:

Level 1: Current PSU student.

Level 2: PSU alum, but that is the extent of your experience.

Level 3: PSU employee, and/or resident of Centre County.

Level 4: PSU alum and PSU employee.

Level 5: PSU alum and former student/athlete.

Level 6: PSU alum and have read, in its entirety - the Linda Kelley presentment, Sandusky trial/testimony, the Freeh Report, the Freeh agreement, the Thornburgh rebuttal, the Clemente report and the comprehensive reports by Ray Blehar and PS4RS, et.al....and you've seen John Zeigler's "The Framing of Joe Paterno" mini-movie.

Level 7: PSU alum/employee for more than 20 years.

Level 8: At least 3 generations of PSU alums in your family.

Level 9: At least 5 PSU alums in your family.

Level 10: PSU alum/student-athlete/employee, born and raised in Centre County.

Give yourself some bonus points:

1 STAR- have experience as a board member anywhere.

1 STAR- have a degree in journalism, law or political science.

1 STAR- you do charitable work...as opposed to donating money.

1 STAR- you personally know, and are on a first-name basis, with at least 20 of the following people: Jerry Sandusky, Aaron Fisher, Linda Kelley, Kathleen Kane, Stacy Parks-Miller, Joe Amendola, Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Steve Garban, Dave Joyner, Mark Sherburne, Rodney Erickson, James Broadhurst, Michael DiBerardinis, Ken Frazier, Edward Hintz, Keith Masser, Linda Strumpf, John Surma, Tom Corbett, Richard Allen, Ron Tomalis, Al Clemens, Mark Dambly, Peter Khoury, Ira Lubert, Paul Silvis, Marianne Alexander, Jesse Arnelle, Stephanie Deviney, David Jones, Joel Myers, Anne Riley, Paul Suhey, Keith Eckel, Samuel Hayes, Barron Hetherington, Betsy Huber, Carl Shaffer, Karen Peetz, Anthony Lubrano, Ryan McCombie, Bill Oldsey, Barbara Doran, Ted Brown, Adam Taliaferro, Wendell Courtney, Sara Ganim, Josh Moyer, Audrey Snyder, Ray Blehar, John Zeigler, Franco Harris, Eileen Morgan, Ben Novak, Ryan Bagwell, Mark Emmert, Louis Freeh, John Mitchell, Bob Costas, Mark Schwarz.
1 STAR - You actually know the ownership, distribution and editorial policy of all local media outlets.

1 STAR - You can identify these people.

And finally, you have a 50/50 chance of getting this right:

GROUP A

Believes that Joe Paterno was evil incarnate, the Freeh Report is accurate, the NCAA sanctions are appropriate, PSU officials are guilty of a cover-up, the alumni base is delusional and Happy Valley is nothing short of a pedophile-enabling cabal.

GROUP B

Believes that GROUP A is full of shit.

Of course, this information solves nothing and has no bearing on the outcome of events over which we have no control. There's no right or wrong to it. It is a simple exercise that separates the the curious and opinionated from those with a little more understanding of what's happening and why.
There is a case to made for being better informed, and conversely, there is a case to be made for being prejudicial and taking things personally. I can accept that.

What I find unacceptable is rambling conjecture by people who have not read all the legal documents, do not actually know the people they are writing about, have never set foot in Happy Valley or Penn State's campus...and yet project an opinion of certainty that even I can't muster.

I am clinging to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and due process.

I am LEVEL 10 / 6 STAR / GROUP B