Posnanski and the Paterno book

Or Dave, should Posnanski have gone to the publisher with that proposal? Did he?

But put yourself in his shoes. He's lived apart from his family. He poured his time and energy into something that unravelled. He's about to start a new job on a new venture which will require maximum effort and attention.

When you consider all that, does staying in Happy Valley seem at all feasible?

 

Two more quick thoughts:

* Posnanski is a master at pacing a book. Now, that doesn't necessarily make him the perfect person to write a comprehensive biography. He's not Robert Caro. However, I think anyone on this board with aspirations to write books or long form of any kind would be doing themselves a favor to read this and see just how Posnanski keeps the story's momentum going forward, forward, forward, even finding ways to squeeze in short stand-alone chapters, like one on son Jay, to take care of tangents in a quite readable fashion. Now, I maintain that this wasn't the right way to write about this subject. But nonetheless, it bears drawing attention to, and it is something I, as a writer, will take from this work and try to apply in my own future projects.

* Too many anonymous quotes, particularly about a person who is deceased. I would understand anonymous sourcing about scandal details, but these are somewhat mundane anonymous quotes about Paterno, the man. They should not have been used. He had enough good material without these.

 

I was surprised at how reasonable I thought Whitlock's assessment was of this situation.

I also think Posnanski was lucky that the scandal broke when it did, however inconvenient while he was busy working on the book. As opposed to after he was done and his hagiography was in the stores.

 

With so many reviews (and the responses to them) consisting of loudmouth attempts at fire and brimstone either for or against Paterno and/or Posnanski, Whitlock's take had pertinent examples and was well-constructed. More measured than most, as I said before, and surprisingly so. Pointed, but not scathing.

 

Which is why it's a shame he couldn't resist the impulse to put the word "journalist" in quotes so near the top.

 

True.

But it was amusing to see dudes here lose their shit over that particular detail.

 

Likely because it's the telling detail in all of Mr. Whitlock's work: He can never stop preening long enough to get out of his own way.

You want to put one behind a guy's ear for a bad book? Great. Do it. No need to draw lipstick on the guy first.

 

Yes. I don't seek out the guy's work, and I rarely finish it when it's posted here.

 

I like the imagery here and agree with the point. But it's also kind of creeping me out. Like Frank Booth in Blue Velvet or something.

 

A lot of Dick's points are good ones. It's a shame the publishers couldn't or wouldn't wait to print and release it because it feels rushed at several points.

What I liked about the book was that Posnanski did a good job of highlighting things throughout Paterno's life that hinted at or pointed to how somebody goes from bright, athletic young guy in Brooklyn to regarded as the greatest football coach in the world and a saint to fired and disgraced just before death.

To me there were several "ah ha" moments were we saw Paterno's tendencies to act like a hypocrite or to be selfish or just plain childish. You could see how Paterno came to believe everything he did was for the greater good. He lived his life inside that blue line he had painted around the practice field and inside the blue line all that mattered was Penn State football. Inside the blue line his own kids didn't matter, he certainly wasn't wasting any thoughts on those kids Sandusky kept bringing around.

 

Thank you, Dick, for taking the time to read the book and post your thoughts about it. I'm still conflicted as to whether I can even stomach reading "Paterno" yet — and whether I'm ready to potentially lose what's left of my enormous respect for Posnanski as a writer. His 1975 Reds book was also disappointing, because I felt it wasn't deep enough. I didn't learn much about any of the major players, and I didn't learn anything at all about the season.

Having not read "Paterno" — I do feel that a strongly compelling Maraniss/Lombardi-style biography can be written about the man. Which, if you read between the lines, is what I think Posnanski thought he was doing, at least at times. But clearly that's not the book he wrote.