RIP Joe Paterno

That was great, shotglass. Thanks for posting it.

 

Yes, Bob stepped up on that. Thanks.

 

No. Journalism means you wade through the confusion and get the required confirmations. Especially in the big stories. If not then, when?

 

I'm really interested now to see how Posnanski's book turns out. This releases him from obligations to his source, in a way. So in that way, it's easier. And the story is so poignant now. On the other hand, he may get the Jeff Pearlman-Walter Payton backlash over anything less than savory. Interesting as hell, in my opinion, to see what he does with it.

 

I think that she means that the Onward State site thought they did get the confirmations, i.e. they thought "taken off life support" was a euphemism for "dead."

 

Perhaps there should be two threads? One on his death and the other about CBS? I would like to discuss the CBS stuff without being scolded.

 

I think that's a good idea.

 

Bowden used to hand FSU beat writers the same stuff. He's going strong two years after his forced retirement. Bear didn't kick off at 69 because he wasn't coaching any longer. He died because he smoked two packs of Chesterfields a day and knocked back copious amounts of straight scotch -- sometimes while talking to the media after practice.

 

You believe some of those mouth-breathers are suggesting we shouldn't have mentioned the Sandusky stuff in his obituary?

 

Shottie: How long have you guys had an obit for him ready? Years I assume? I know sometimes obits are used for other reasons - retirement, job changes, etc., etc. So working on them never felt THAT morbid.

 

Dick, I've seen myriad in-the-can obituaries for him. We had a 24-page special section ready 10 years ago. Just a guess, but I'm thinking Flounders started again from scratch around the time of the scandal.

I don't return to work until Thursday, but I'll be very curious to see what we do for tomorrow morning.

 

The Paterno family was extremely over-protective and sometimes did not have some modicum of class in the aftermath of his firing. (the lawyer son's behavior, Sue Paterno calling the trustee back after JoePa was informed his his firing, berating him for a few seconds and hanging up). I don't think it's classless to point out that they were going to have an agenda and weren't going to be sending out press releases the minute Joe died.