Penn State's chilling autumn

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, November, 2004 | by Bill Lyon

This has come to be excruciating to watch.

A prideful man, a stalwart man of dignity and moral worth, an obstinate man, a fiercely competitive man, a man who has spent more than half a century sparring with windmills, a man who has given his life to a university, a man who is truly a man for all seasons... this man now struggles with the autumn of his life.

Joseph Vincent Paterno and Pennsylvania State University have been yoked for 55 years. Hard to tell which one loves the other the most.

But at the place to which Paterno has devoted his passion and his imagination, his crusader's zeal and his philanthropist's great heart, he now does harm. He may not realize it; indeed, he must not realize it because the last thing he would want to do is inflict pain on...