CFBTalk- The former Penn State assistant, whose father, the legendary Joe Paterno, was ousted from his longtime post amidst scandal, penned an impassioned post on his personal website titled “Due Process & Rule of Law for Urban Meyer” in which he “implore[s] the Board at Ohio State to stand up to the mob mentality” in making a decision on the head coach’s fate.
“No matter what is proven about these allegations against the former wide receiver coach at Ohio State,” wrote Paterno, “this much is beyond doubt: Urban Meyer did not commit a crime, he did not witness, nor did he cover up any crimes. He hasn’t even been accused of one but yet there will be voices unjustly calling for his job.” Paterno went on to “implore the Board at Ohio State to stand up to the mob mentality, to say that ‘when we have the facts of the case and only when we have the facts of the case will we react and make informed decisions.’ … “We should wait for facts. We should drive a stake in the ground to defend due process. We should shed our implicit bias against people we dislike being accused. We should have courage to stand against the virtual mob gathering for a virtual lynching before we know the facts. And for those who need a refresher course: Published allegations do NOT automatically equal facts.” -------- What do you even want me to say? Am I supposed to think of a joke funnier than the idea of Joe Paterno's son ignoring the clear difference between right and wrong to blindly defend a highly accomplished and previously irreproachable college football coach of enabling assault against a defenseless victim and lying about it under the guise of due process? Make you laugh louder than the concept of conference rivals only finding common ground in the pathetic pursuit of an exoneration that would still leave the accused guilty of an asinine amount of negligence, is that what I am supposed to do? If I were comedically capable of busting as many stomachs as the irony of the current patriarch of the family most notorious for ignoring facts on behalf of sport demanding we eternally wait for the evidence to beat us over the head before me acknowledge its presence then I would probably be filming my next Netflix special. I certainly wouldn't be writing about a presumption of innocence that's more counterproductive to Urban Meyer's case than the campus-wide riots were to the legacy of his biggest supporter's deceased father. In all honestly, it's extremely difficult to find the funny in the increasing amount of young men, women, and children whose well-being has come second to the cult-like culture that's far too closely affiliated with a dangerous amount of on-field success in college football. That said, Jay Paterno taking it upon himself to attach his disgraced last name to an unsurprisingly litigious defense of yet another disgraced coach is a joke that writes itself, even if it is an incredibly tasteless one.
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