"Nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity." 

Freeh Report, July 12, 2012

Anyone still want to stand up for Joe Paterno?

OK, we see you, Matt Millen. Anyone else?

If there was an eyelash of doubt -- and, unless your head was buried 50,000 feet under the sand the last nine months, there shouldn't have been -- Joe Paterno cared more about winning games and setting records and being Joe Paterno than he did about protecting children being raped by Jerry Sandusky. 

It's over. The Freeh Report -- an seven-month independent investigation headed by the former head of the FBI -- forever buries a dead man. We all know about the rape by Sandusky of a child in the shower of the Penn State locker room in 2001. Paterno, who did just enough to cover his ass after being informed of the abuse by Mike McQueary, told a grand jury last year that the 2001 abuse was the only case he was ever made aware of.

Liar. Fraud. Selfish. An absolute study of the worst kind of human being.

It turns out, the Freeh Report informs us, that Paterno did indeed know about a 1998 investigation of abuse by Sandusky in (wait for it) the Penn State locker room. Just not aware of it, Freeh said on Thursday, but actively followed the case. 

Turns out the DA did not prosecute Sandusky in 1998, as we all know. But what would you have done if you were Paterno? Maybe set up a system that didn't allow Sandusky anywhere near the campus? How about, at least, a order to the football staff that Sandusky cannot bring a child into the Lasch Building? I don't know, wouldn't you probably have a suspicion that this might happen again and do everything in your not inconsiderable power to stop it?

Not Joe. When you've got Michigan State and Iowa to worry about, who has time to protect kids from being raped in your athletic facilities?

"The evidence shows that Mr. Paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though Sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office just steps away from Mr. Paterno's," the Freeh Report reads.

Paterno knew it all and had no inclination to end it. In fact, he wanted very badly to cover it up and make it all go away. Remember, he had to set an NCAA record for most wins. This would have made that plenty tricky. So when Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Timothy Curley -- all also child abuse enablers -- wanted to inform Second Mile and the Department of Welfare of the 2001 incident (as well as tell Sandusky -- at last -- to stay out of the locker room). But after a meeting with Paterno on February 26, Curley suddenly changed his mind. 

Wonder what happened?

"Based on the evidence, the only known, intervening factor between the decision made on February 25, 2001 by Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schulz to report the incident to the Department of Public Welfare, and then agreeing not to do so on February 27th, was Mr. Paterno's February 26th conversation with Mr. Curley," said the report.

Jerry Sandusky, according to the Freeh Report, had unlimited access to facilities (yup, that would the showers) until November 2011. Think about that for a second. Free to roam. And Paterno and the others simply didn't care about what might be happening. They could have stopped it at any time,  sure, but that would have meant the worst. No, not outrage from families of victims and not shame for allowing this to continue, but bad press. And that really can be an annoyance when you've got the Liberty Bowl to prepare for.

"It is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University – Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley – repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large. Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky's victims," the report states.

There is a culture at Penn State, of course, a culture that helped this live for so long. And it's incomprehensible but true: there is an element at Penn State that will still defend Paterno. They don't want to believe that all this evidence, this tsunami of evidence, can be true. Because it will invalidate the last two, three, four decades of their lives as a sports fan. Saint Joe can't be evil, he was just old and confused. He didn't know better.

Read the report. He knew it all and knew what it all meant.

Tear down the statue (actually, have Jay Paterno and Matt Millen do it). Remove him from the College Football Hall of Fame. Take his name off the library. Hope his family -- who still blindly defend Paterno in a desperate attempt to keep the old image alive -- loses every cent in civil trials. Give Penn State football the death penalty. Do it all and do it quickly. Let the worst story in sports history end.

But don't forget. Jerry Sandusky is the devil, true evil. But Joe Paterno (and others) could have stopped it. But he was a coward. That's his legacy, no matter what some sycophants in Happy Valley may want you to believe.