What Is That Weird Feeling You Have About The Paterno Family Statement On The Sandusky Verdict?

Oh, that's right, it's that it is warmed-over, stinking bullshit. Here it is, in full, in case you missed it, released seemingly minutes after the verdict was announced.

Although we understand the task of healing is just beginning, today's verdict is an important milestone. The community owes a measure of gratitude to the jurors for their diligent service. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families.

Yes, Paterno family, the task of healing is just beginning. Perhaps it could have "just" begun some time ago but for serious and several lapses in judgment. And thank goodness the jury was able to stick together and do the right thing for the real victim here: the community. The families of the then-children Sandusky has now been convicted of having corrupted, endangered and unlawfully contacted are no doubt doing cartwheels at the thought of your continued prayers.

The statement also served an important function for the country at large, too. Moments after hearing the news on the Sandusky verdict, we were all thinking the same thing: "Justice served. OK, now what do the Paternos have to say about it?"

This statement is a classic sneaky kid move. Imagine the scene: Jimmy is playing baseball in the house. Something he knows he should not be doing. Jimmy throws wild and breaks mom's favorite vase. Shit. Older brother Bobby hears the ruckus, but did not see it. Jimmy and Bobby then clean up the mess and glue the whole thing back together and neither ever mentions it. Weeks pass and all of a sudden Mom notices it's broken. A neighbor said she heard Jimmy say something like "Mom's gonna kill me!" Jimmy gets grounded and Bobby dies in a tragic bike accident shortly thereafter. Before Bobby died though, he wrote in his diary "It's terrible what happened to that vase, but punishing Jimmy was the right thing to do, now we can move on. The house owes a debt of gratitude to Dad for finding the right punishment. I continue to pray for Mom."

If, rather than his little mouse trap, Hamlet had instead written this statement, his mother would still have the same objection, methinks.

And that's why you're so full of shit, Paternos. You are in full-blown CYA mode. Unfortunately it's all too transparent and inconsequential. The name has already been sullied. It can't be unsullied. Least of all by trying to now align yourselves with the victims after the fact. Rather than spit out some disingenuous statement whose absence literally no one would have thought conspicuous, you should have taken the old man's lead and just kept your head right in the sand.