Former Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno Diagnosed with Lung Cancer

After having been fired as head football coach of Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky – Penn State child sex scandal, things for Joe Pa mighty have just got worse.

Joe Paterno has been diagnosed in what is called a treatable form of lung cancer. Paterno received the news on the very weekend that he watched his former Penn State football team as a spectator after 40+ years on the sidelines. Joe’s son, Scott Paterno, said Friday that his father’s doctors are optimistic the 84-year-old Paterno will make a full recovery.

“Last weekend, my father was diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness,” Scott Paterno said in the brief statement. The medical exam came the same weekend the school played its first game since the 1960s without Paterno leading the Nittany Lions — a 17-14 loss to Nebraska.

“As everyone can appreciate, this is a deeply personal matter for my parents, and we simply ask that his privacy be respected as he proceeds with treatment,” Scott Paterno said.

VIDEO from ESPN.

Saturday Night Live: Even the Devil Offended by the Penn State Child Sex Abuse Scandal in SNL Skit

The Penn State child sex scandal, it’s pretty bad when even the Devil is taken aback and offended … Evil just ain’t what it used to be.

Saturday Night Live probably did one of their best skits in years and there was nothing political about it. It is a must see VIDEO because it brings light on a hideous scandal and shows the absurdity of how Penn State as an institution so badly handled it. The SNL skit targeted the Penn State child sex scandal in showing that even the Devil was offended by what had transpired in not so Happy Valley.

“SNL” cast member Jason Sudeikis reprised his role as Satan, appearing with red horns and pitchfork. The devil was informed by “Weekend Update” host Seth Meyers of sex charges against a former defensive coordinator and allegations that university officials failed to report the abuse.

Even he was disturbed by the news. Addressing Penn State students who protested football coach Joe Paterno’s firing, the devil spoke directly into the camera, asking, “Do you know how bad that made you look?”

As an upset and disturbed Satan stated when he found out the the scandal at Penn State was a child abuse sex scandal and not selling tickets for money, “I am the Price of Darkness, not a monster”. Doesn’t that pretty much say it all. This SNL is a classic, not because the content is humorous at it’s core, it is just the opposite, the child sex scandal cover up makes any one with a soul sick. Hell, even Satan was appalled and there lies the visceral disgust in this entire matter. As the Devil said, “this is Penn State football, not the Catholic church”. However, these days one has to wonder because they handed the matter of sexually abusing little boys in the same way. Sorry, but facts are the fact.  Through hyperbole SNL showed just how bad this scandal is and was at Penn State … When the Devil is offended, Houston Penn State,  YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!

UPDATE I: The NY Times has their own version of the Devil and Joe Paterno. The interesting point from this article is that Joe Pa might have believed more in the institution than individuals “inappropriate behavior”. And there lies the problem. Protecting the band, rather than protecting children.

They believed in their church. They believed in their mission. And out of the temptation that comes only to the virtuous, they somehow persuaded themselves that protecting their institution’s various good works mattered more than justice for the children they were supposed to shepherd and protect.

I suspect a similar instinct prompted the higher-ups at Penn State to basically ignore what they described as Jerry Sandusky’s “inappropriate conduct,” and persuaded Paterno that by punting the allegation to his superiors he had fulfilled his responsibility to the victimized child. He had so many important duties, after all, and so many people counting on him. And Sandusky had done so much good over the years …