Joe Posnanski: Lord of Lists

tims4wins

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A bit of a geeky fanboy moment: in his most recent article, he ran with an idea I emailed him about a few weeks ago (about Art Shamsky and the highest single-game WPAs). That he not only read it, but turned it into a column makes me unreasonably excited.
I was at this game. Awesome.

3. Brian Daubach (August 21, 2000): And … I love that the top three WPA games of the last 50 years were not achieved by all-time great players. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Daubach's Red Sox down two runs to the Angels, he homered to tie the game. And in the bottom of the 11th, with the Red Sox down one and two outs, Daubach hit a two-run single to win it.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Pos' piece on 1986 was pretty great. I'm not sure how he gets away with personalizing so much of sports - lesser writers would be accused of constant navel-gazing - but it really does work, because it's so genuine an he's able to make the emotions he's relating universal. As someone who remembers 1986 with an adolescent's part memory, part imagination, I really appreciated what Joe was able to do with that year: Make it larger than life. I don't give a shit about Cleveland sports, but I find myself thinking, "yeah, I bet I would have felt like that, too."

I'll never care about Willie Shoemaker and horseracing, though. I find that sport beyond boring.
 

JimD

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I'm disappointed that the Paterno project has put Joe's podcasts on hold for a while. Those have been a great listen while doing work at home on the computer.
 

Alternate34

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I'm disappointed that the Paterno project has put Joe's podcasts on hold for a while. Those have been a great listen while doing work at home on the computer.
I'm actually kind of giddy because I am at Penn State right now and would love to catch a glimpse of Joe and shoot the shit with him if possible.
 

Tartan

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Pos' piece on 1986 was pretty great. I'm not sure how he gets away with personalizing so much of sports - lesser writers would be accused of constant navel-gazing - but it really does work, because it's so genuine an he's able to make the emotions he's relating universal. As someone who remembers 1986 with an adolescent's part memory, part imagination, I really appreciated what Joe was able to do with that year: Make it larger than life. I don't give a shit about Cleveland sports, but I find myself thinking, "yeah, I bet I would have felt like that, too."

I'll never care about Willie Shoemaker and horseracing, though. I find that sport beyond boring.
I think the key with Joe Poz is that his writing is transporting and vivid, and he avoids falling too deeply into sappy nostalgia and finger-wagging about the good ole' days. His nostalgic writing feels fresh rather than sepia-toned.
 

terrynever

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Back when he was young, Paterno always loved kissing up to the writers from Sports Illustrated while shitting on almost everyone else. I am curious how he handles Poz. I doubt he has any idea who Poz is. But he'll do anything to create national hype for his program. SI's writers were the ones who came up with "The Grand Experiment" title for his new program back in the late 1960s. It was great p.r., even if it was an exaggeration.
 

JimBoSox9

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This quote should be pinned on the main board:

I wouldn't want people to use WAR lazily, to put any emphasis on a two tenths of a point difference, to just blindly follow. But, to be blunt about it, I really don't think that's much of a problem. People who go to the effort to use WAR, to understand it, generally seem to know that it's a tool, like all statistics. It's adaptable. You can use your own defensive observations pretty easily, just as an example. And it will get better. It will get more precise. Even now I would argue it gets us much closer to something real than blunt instruments like wins or RBIs or batting average. I'll say this: If it ever gets to the point where people just start using WAR blindly, without critical thought, then it will be past-time to find the next thing.
 

terrynever

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Poz sums up my feelings on the baseball playoffs. Best team rarely wins, including the Phillies this year:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/10/08/theres-only-one-october/
 

RingoOSU

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And, unlike Faithful the right author too.

If O'Nan and King had been covering Penn State this year.

King: I thought I heard something about a sex scandal, but I had to go to bed, I was tired.
O'Nan: Hey look! Sandusky signed my ball!
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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And, unlike Faithful the right author too.

If O'Nan and King had been covering Penn State this year.

King: I thought I heard something about a sex scandal, but I had to go to bed, I was tired.
O'Nan: Hey look! Sandusky signed my ball!
O'Nan: I had to beat up a little kid for it, but it was well worth it to me.
 

Average Reds

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So I guess Joe's book on Joe Paterno potentially just got a whole lot more interesting.

Talk about being in the right spot at the right time, good lord.
The project started out as an authorized biography. It's not inconceivable that the events of the past two days ends up derailing the project.

He can always carry on and write a "warts and all" biography, but this news is not necessarily the slam dunk it might seem to be.
 

Leather

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The project started out as an authorized biography. It's not inconceivable that the events of the past two days ends up derailing the project.

He can always carry on and write a "warts and all" biography, but this news is not necessarily the slam dunk it might seem to be.
I noted it in the thread about the scandal itself, but I think Joe has to be considering ditching his biography and writing the story of this scandal.

He has the perfect access, is in the perfect location, and has already had 3 months of unfettered access to all things Penn State. He can tell the story in real-time, and has all the tools to do it.

Frankly, I hope he does. He's the best guy for it. Moreover, it would certainly be a monster-seller, and without a doubt would be his ultimate journalistic achievement. In one fell swoop he would tell an important story the way it needs to be told, set up his family for life, and forever place himself among the greats of sports journalism.

This is his moment. If he walks away, I'd be very disappointed.
 

Average Reds

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I noted it in the thread about the scandal itself, but I think Joe has to be considering ditching his biography and writing the story of this scandal.

He has the perfect access, is in the perfect location, and has already had 3 months of unfettered access to all things Penn State. He can tell the story in real-time, and has all the tools to do it.

Frankly, I hope he does. He's the best guy for it. Moreover, it would certainly be a monster-seller, and without a doubt would be his ultimate journalistic achievement. In one fell swoop he would tell an important story the way it needs to be told, set up his family for life, and forever place himself among the greats of sports journalism.

This is his moment. If he walks away, I'd be very disappointed.
It's worth remembering that Pos entered this project full of admiration for his subject. It may be very difficult for him to switch gears from the being the author of Joe Paterno's life story to being the guy who ends up driving a dagger through the heart of his reputation.

As a rule, it's very unusual for authors working on an authorized version of a biography or other historical story to toss the agreement aside and instead write an unauthorized version of the same story. The last writer I can think of who did this was Joe McGinniss, who became convinced that the man he was writing about (Captain Jeffrey MacDonald) was not falsely accused of murder, and actually was the monster he was accused of being. The book he ended up writing (Fatal Vision) was a bestseller, but the lawsuit brought by his subject and the criticism of his peers almost destroyed McGinniss both personally and professionally. And if I'm Joe Pos, I'm not sure I want to sign up for that.

If I was a betting man - and I am - my guess would be that he abandons the project or tries to finish it with Paterno's cooperation. I really don't know how he could do the latter, so I expect that he'll ultimately abandon the project.
 

Leather

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It's worth remembering that Pos entered this project full of admiration for his subject. It may be very difficult for him to switch gears from the being the author of Joe Paterno's life story to being the guy who ends up driving a dagger through the heart of his reputation.

As a rule, it's very unusual for authors working on an authorized version of a biography or other historical story to toss the agreement aside and instead write an unauthorized version of the same story. The last writer I can think of who did this was Joe McGinniss, who became convinced that the man he was writing about (Captain Jeffrey MacDonald) was not falsely accused of murder, and actually was the monster he was accused of being. The book he ended up writing (Fatal Vision) was a bestseller, but the lawsuit brought by his subject and the criticism of his peers almost destroyed McGinniss both personally and professionally. And if I'm Joe Pos, I'm not sure I want to sign up for that.

If I was a betting man - and I am - my guess would be that he abandons the project or tries to finish it with Paterno's cooperation. I really don't know how he could do the latter, so I expect that he'll ultimately abandon the project.
It doesn't have to be about Joe Paterno, though. The scandal obviously involves him, but he's a side-show. I think it's very plausible that Pos could say "Look, I can't write this story anymore. I have access here to a much, much, bigger story that I feel it is my responsibility as a sports journalist to explore. It would be a conflict of interest for me to keep writing your biography, and frankly, I'm not sure I could write it any more in an unbiased fashion."

As for your McGinniss reference, it's irrelevant. I'm not saying that he take a side on the scandal at all, merely be the one who writes the definitive book on it. "I came to State College to write a book on Joe Paterno, but something happened while I was there that opened my eyes to a much bigger story".
 

mauf

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How much access will Pos have? The people who know anything of consequence are lawyered up, and will be for the foreseeable future. Pos isn't planning to live in State College for five years.

Anything is possible, except for writing the book Pos planned to write. I think he'll end up dropping the project.
 

nattysez

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How much access will Pos have? The people who know anything of consequence are lawyered up, and will be for the foreseeable future. Pos isn't planning to live in State College for five years.

Anything is possible, except for writing the book Pos planned to write. I think he'll end up dropping the project.
I agree with your first point, but not your second.

I suspect that Pos will start writing the basics -- write about Paterno's start, years of greatness, etc., get a few hundred pages under him -- then, depending on how things end for Paterno, try to use what he's learned, and what he subsequently learns, to create a book-long narrative examining why Paterno made the decisions he did. Was he too enfeebled to realize more needed to be done than just a report to the AD, and does that tell us something about his coaching ability the past few years? Was he too loyal to the school to call the cops when the AD did not, and what does that tell us about him? Is he just a big phony who did what served his interests best? If he cared so much about young men (his players) how could he allow an abuser of young men to go free? And what does the fact that Paterno acted as he did tell us about the pressures other coaches face, in terms of preserving the name of their university and program? Did the Catholic Church's approach to pederasts in their ranks inform what Paterno did? Is there something to be learned from the way that giants like he and Bowden ended their careers?

This could be a masterwork - and potentially deal with some huge topics through the lens of Paterno's career - if done right.
 

JimBoSox9

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Natty has it mostly right I think. The theme of that column was "I cannot comprehend what has happened, I'm too close to the situation, I need more time to understand how this fits in with the rest of what I know, and hope that time will bring clarity."

He'll write the same book, with a new and extrodinarily interesting chapter. He won't walk away and he won't switch the project. I'd bet the farm on it.
 

Alternate34

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It doesn't have to be about Joe Paterno, though. The scandal obviously involves him, but he's a side-show. I think it's very plausible that Pos could say "Look, I can't write this story anymore. I have access here to a much, much, bigger story that I feel it is my responsibility as a sports journalist to explore. It would be a conflict of interest for me to keep writing your biography, and frankly, I'm not sure I could write it any more in an unbiased fashion."

As for your McGinniss reference, it's irrelevant. I'm not saying that he take a side on the scandal at all, merely be the one who writes the definitive book on it. "I came to State College to write a book on Joe Paterno, but something happened while I was there that opened my eyes to a much bigger story".
But what would he add? This is a huge scandal, but it is a pretty simple one. Sandusky sexually abused little boys. PSU covered it up. The definitive book on it is that people (a) looked the other way or (b) actively covered it up. There really is no side taking on the scandal unless you are talking about Joe Paterno anyway. The higher ups above him clearly deviated from their duty. Sandusky fits a certain profile of abuser. People associated with the University are both really mad and really sad. I don't think Joe Pos' strength would be to do the investigative journalism required to write this book. Including the scandal as part of the exploration of Joe Paterno is his strength.
 

RingoOSU

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He'll write the same book, with a new and extrodinarily interesting chapter. He won't walk away and he won't switch the project. I'd bet the farm on it.
There's a thread for that... Kinda kidding, I think Pos still writes the book, but I don't know if I still want to read it. When I read his Reds book, I was already partial to Pete Rose so I liked hearing his side. I don't know if I care to hear how Paterno justifies turning a blind eye to child rape just for the sanctity of his precious program.
 

Dehere

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It's worth remembering that Pos entered this project full of admiration for his subject. It may be very difficult for him to switch gears from the being the author of Joe Paterno's life story to being the guy who ends up driving a dagger through the heart of his reputation.
But this actually plays directly to Poz's greatest strength. What he's best at is breaking down why things are not as they seem and why commonly held perceptions are often so wrong. That's why he's such a Bill James fanboy (I wouldn't be surprised at all ito learn that James, who just wrote his own book on crime, is encouraging Poz to stay with the project). Poz generally doesn't excuse himself from his own critical reasoning; he's constantly reexamining his own biases, which is largely what makes him miles better than his sportswriting peers. It was admirable that Joe wrote yesterday that he's not ready to write about it - not everything should be instantaneous.

I hope he writes the book and I think he will. His sense of history is just too acute to walk away from it and I don't see him as a guy who backs away from a challenge. I think the real obstacles are logistical - the guy has a sizable commitment to SI and a family in another state. How much time can he devote to this book? But I still think it will happen. As Ike Taylor once said, you only get a once in a lifetime opportunity so many times.
 

natpastime162

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The project started out as an authorized biography. It's not inconceivable that the events of the past two days ends up derailing the project.

He can always carry on and write a "warts and all" biography, but this news is not necessarily the slam dunk it might seem to be.
I work in Harrisburg, PA and heard about this investigation back in April. Knew Sandusky was in town and accused of molesting young boys. Blindsided and mistified at how the story seemingly disappeared for 6 months with essentially no coverage to being covered by every news network in the country. Keep pondering whether Posnanski heard any rumors leading up to Saturday.
 

Average Reds

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It doesn't have to be about Joe Paterno, though. The scandal obviously involves him, but he's a side-show. I think it's very plausible that Pos could say "Look, I can't write this story anymore. I have access here to a much, much, bigger story that I feel it is my responsibility as a sports journalist to explore. It would be a conflict of interest for me to keep writing your biography, and frankly, I'm not sure I could write it any more in an unbiased fashion."

As for your McGinniss reference, it's irrelevant. I'm not saying that he take a side on the scandal at all, merely be the one who writes the definitive book on it. "I came to State College to write a book on Joe Paterno, but something happened while I was there that opened my eyes to a much bigger story".
Couple of thoughts.

First, after reading through the 23 page transcript, I've modified my view somewhat. I still think Posnanski abandons the biography, but I'm coming around to your perspective that he'll write about the scandal instead. He'll relate it to Paterno somehow, but it won't be the book he thought he was writing by any means.

However, I strongly disagree with the thought behind the second paragraph, because I don't think this is a book that you can write without a point of view. This will be a story that demands an explanatory narrative, and that suits Posnanski's style pretty well.

Or perhaps not. I have no idea what Posnanski will do, but after reading that report, I wouldn't be able to walk away.
 

Leather

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Well, hey, I have no idea what he'll do either.

But presented with this situation, I don't see how he could walk away and not regret it, either on a personal or professional level.

I mean, this is arguably the biggest sports-related story of the decade. Moreover, it carries with it some very, very, meaningful consequences to a whole lot of people.

With all due respect to Mr. Posnanski, it makes a book on the 1975 Reds seem completely inconsequential by comparison.

This is as big-time, real life, as you can get in the sporting world.
 

JimD

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But this actually plays directly to Poz's greatest strength. What he's best at is breaking down why things are not as they seem and why commonly held perceptions are often so wrong. That's why he's such a Bill James fanboy (I wouldn't be surprised at all ito learn that James, who just wrote his own book on crime, is encouraging Poz to stay with the project). Poz generally doesn't excuse himself from his own critical reasoning; he's constantly reexamining his own biases, which is largely what makes him miles better than his sportswriting peers. It was admirable that Joe wrote yesterday that he's not ready to write about it - not everything should be instantaneous.

I hope he writes the book and I think he will. His sense of history is just too acute to walk away from it and I don't see him as a guy who backs away from a challenge. I think the real obstacles are logistical - the guy has a sizable commitment to SI and a family in another state. How much time can he devote to this book? But I still think it will happen. As Ike Taylor once said, you only get a once in a lifetime opportunity so many times.
+1.

The more I think about, the more the Paterno story is right in Joe's wheelhouse. Everyone is going to have an opinion about JoePa now and I'm guessing the majority of these will be polarized now, either in support or in criticism. Posnanski will undoubtedly see this as a great opportunity to challenge such assumptions on both sides of the debate.
 

loshjott

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+1.

The more I think about, the more the Paterno story is right in Joe's wheelhouse. Everyone is going to have an opinion about JoePa now and I'm guessing the majority of these will be polarized now, either in support or in criticism. Posnanski will undoubtedly see this as a great opportunity to challenge such assumptions on both sides of the debate.
There aren't two sides to this debate, and there's no polarization or "support" for Paterno.
 

JBill

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If he wrote that book, Jim, he would be making a major mistake.

I am not paying $24.95 for a 7/8ths of a fawning biography of JoePa.
Yeah, I have to think Joe is too smart to do this. What I want to know/read at the moment is an investigative piece, how much did Paterno know, and when did he know it, what was he doing to cover it up. I don't know though, if that's what Posnanski wants to write, and I don't blame him if he doesn't. I don't want to read a complex and nuanced biography of Paterno. Maybe by the time the book comes out it will be different.
 

JimD

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If he wrote that book, Jim, he would be making a major mistake.

I am not paying $24.95 for a 7/8ths of a fawning biography of JoePa.
How did you take what I wrote as suggesting that Posnanski is going to write a 'fawning biography'? Even before this scandal surfaced, I never took Pos's fascination with the Paterno story as indicating that he was going write some sort of a fluff piece.
 

Spacemans Bong

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How did you take what I wrote as suggesting that Posnanski is going to write a 'fawning biography'? Even before this scandal surfaced, I never took Pos's fascination with the Paterno story as indicating that he was going write some sort of a fluff piece.
I actually meant to reply to JimBoSox9, who said that Posnanski will plow on and just add a chapter at the end.

Though to reply to this post, if this is an authorized biography it will be a puff piece.
 

JimD

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I actually meant to reply to JimBoSox9, who said that Posnanski will plow on and just add a chapter at the end.

Though to reply to this post, if this is an authorized biography it will be a puff piece.
That is selling Posnanski ridiculously short. First, I don’t think I’ve read anywhere that this is any kind of ‘authorized biography’ of Paterno, one that would invite legal action if Posnanski decided to go in another direction. One of Posnanski’s favorite books is ‘The Power Broker’, about the (now) much reviled Robert Moses. And while Pos may have entered this project as an admirer of Paterno, he is a tremendously talented writer and thinker who delights in challenging his own and our assumptions on a regular basis. I certainly think that he is capable of penning a fascinating book that will look at the coach’s many positive accomplishments and contrast that to how he nonetheless was blind to a monster in his midst. This will not be a puff piece.
 

JBill

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I certainly think that he is capable of penning a fascinating book that will look at the coach’s many positive accomplishments and contrast that to how he nonetheless was blind to a monster in his midst. This will not be a puff piece.
if he writes the coach was "blind" to the monster in his midst, I would call that a puff piece. He won't though.
 

Dehere

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I think people in PA are still, to an alarming degree, willing to give Paterno the benefit of the doubt.
Wow, you do? Not a rhetorical question: why do you think that? Are you in PA? I don't get that impression at all but I'm not there.
 

Alternate34

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Wow, you do? Not a rhetorical question: why do you think that? Are you in PA? I don't get that impression at all but I'm not there.
The more prevalent opinion I think is that people don't care that much about Joe Paterno's actions because of the organizational silence in general. Joe Paterno is to some degree a sideshow in this. The athletic department and the president of the university was involved.

There are some who believe Joe Paterno should be given the benefit of the doubt as he did report something. This wouldn't be much different than a lot of people who believe that it is acceptable to do the minimum necessary to fulfill ethical obligations.
 

JimD

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if he writes the coach was "blind" to the monster in his midst, I would call that a puff piece. He won't though.
Some years ago, I got to know a high school football coach in Georgia. I was writing a newspaper column then, and he coached in a small town on the outskirts of our coverage area. But I was drawn to him — he was entertaining, and his teams were good, and if there’s one thing we columnists love, it is sure-thing columns. And he was a sure thing. I drove out to see him many times, went to dinner with him more than once. We talked on the phone often — he was funny and happy and thoughtful and all those good things. I probably wrote 10 columns about him over the years. I figured I knew him.

So when he committed suicide, I asked myself again and again how I could have missed it.
Joe's most recent column
 

JimBoSox9

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Joe Paterno is to some degree a sideshow in this. The athletic department and the president of the university was involved.
Really? Joe Paterno IS Penn State. He's won every power struggle with his "superiors". Before this week no one outside of State College knew who any of the administrators were.

This would be a big deal at any powerhouse school, but St. Joe is the main reason why this is the lead on every news program in the country. Sideshow? The Whole F'ing Show.
 

johnmd20

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Pos comments this morning on the story.

Curiously Short Post

I respect his decision to not rush to judgement. It is noble and honest. I don't think Joe's looking to write a puff piece but he is looking to not add more chatter to a story that still has a lot of information forthcoming.

In one of Poz' tweets, he says, "I can only answer the many questions this way: Like a surfer in a tsunami." People are peppering him from all over. I think Poz is going to nail this book and do so in a major way. It's also going to make him famous. He might be in a tsunami right now but he is one of the few writers with the skills to surf his way out of it with impeccable skill.
 

Dehere

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There's no way this won't be one of the best sports books ever written.
 

behindthepen

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Having read, and loved, The Machine, I'm confident Joe will write a great book.

The issue is that there is no way he can do it without taking a stance on Paterno's guilt, which could be messy for him either way.
 

mauf

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Wow, you do? Not a rhetorical question: why do you think that? Are you in PA? I don't get that impression at all but I'm not there.
I've chatted with a few PSU fans and was shocked at how their outrage seemed directed at everyone but Paterno. The Harrisburg paper's front-page editorial (linked in the PSU thread in College Sports) similarly distinguishes between Paterno (who should be allowed to finish the season) and Spanier (who should be summarily fired).
 

Super Nomario

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I don't think the developments at Penn State bode well for the book.

Joe Posnanski said:
Writing about Joe Paterno is a challenge for many reasons, but probably the greatest challenge is that his personality attracts extremes. He is called saint. And he is called hypocrite. He is a hero. And he is a villain. He is real. And he is a phony. And I believe deeply that he is none of these things… it wouldn’t be much fun or a challenge to write about him if he were a simple label or a simple man. I came to State College to write about a real man. I won’t tell you anything surprising: This terrible, evil story has made it harder. But I do buy into Tom Hanks’ line about baseball. It’s supposed to be hard.
To me this paragraph gets at one of Posnanski's key strengths; eschewing the easy narrative for a searching look for The Truth. There are so few writers who do this; they instead fall in love with The Story and ignore or gloss over facts that contradict it.

But here, the easy narrative looks to be the right one. Sandusky is a true villain, and Paterno is negligent at best, and possibly much worse. And the gravity of the situation overshadows everything else in Paterno's career. Who cares about his national championships or his graduation rate or his Academic All-Americans in the face of a failure to prevent child abuse? If it comes out that Paterno has known about this since '98, it will be impossible to paint him as a sympathetic character. At that point, it's not an interesting story, just a tragic and terrible one.
 

BRS BC

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I don't think the developments at Penn State bode well for the book.


To me this paragraph gets at one of Posnanski's key strengths; eschewing the easy narrative for a searching look for The Truth. There are so few writers who do this; they instead fall in love with The Story and ignore or gloss over facts that contradict it.

But here, the easy narrative looks to be the right one. Sandusky is a true villain, and Paterno is negligent at best, and possibly much worse. And the gravity of the situation overshadows everything else in Paterno's career. Who cares about his national championships or his graduation rate or his Academic All-Americans in the face of a failure to prevent child abuse? If it comes out that Paterno has known about this since '98, it will be impossible to paint him as a sympathetic character. At that point, it's not an interesting story, just a tragic and terrible one.
Doesn't this assume Paterno is a static, unchanging person? If he is an unfeeling monster who put success and the program ahead of real human children, was he always that person? Or did he become that person? How? And how did he convince himself he was the same pillar of moral rectitude all the while? There is certainly a story here (many possible stories, and it's up to Joe to figure out which is the most accurate). By the time Joe writes the book it may be possible to tell it. Right now, all that anyone can conclude is that this "overshadows everything else in Paterno's career." But in a biography, especially of a man who has been around since the invention of the wheel, there will be many stories to tell on the road to the horrible end. Maybe those stories will help us understand how it happened.
 

Dehere

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Apr 25, 2010
3,143
I've chatted with a few PSU fans and was shocked at how their outrage seemed directed at everyone but Paterno. The Harrisburg paper's front-page editorial (linked in the PSU thread in College Sports) similarly distinguishes between Paterno (who should be allowed to finish the season) and Spanier (who should be summarily fired).
My skepticism about your comment now appears ridiculous in light of the last 24 hours. You clearly had it right all along.

On the deadspin item about Poz, all I can say is I have immense faith in the guy and I think that in time the facts of the matter - many of which are still unknown to us - will lead him to the right place. I'm an unapologetic Poz fanboy and I'm still confident that he'll write the book that most of us would hope for him to write.
 

JBill

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Aug 17, 2001
2,028
Yeah. This is what I was afraid of when Pos wrote his first blog post about this, about people "rushing to judgment."

It astounds me how many people worship Paterno.
 

Super Nomario

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Nov 5, 2000
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Mansfield MA
http://deadspin.com/5858278/
So much for the idea that Pos writes the book we'd want to read.
Deadspin said:
What's happened is that the book Posnanski envisioned is dead. Every writer goes into a story with a concrete idea of what that story is going to be. Every writer does this, even for 300-word blog posts, to say nothing of a full-length book. When things change, when the facts don't fit the blueprint, writers get grumpy. All their planning, writing and plotting is for naught. Posnanski's angry at the world and its timing for wrecking his sentimental little outline, and he's taking it out on the media rather than the man he's profiling.
This quote suggests to me that the writer of that article has never read anything Posnanski has written ...