Bill James - Paterno Controversy

Paterno Controversy

On November 4, 2011, Jerry Sandusky was indicted for committing sex crimes against young boys, which brought the Penn State child sex abuse scandal to national attention. On December 11, 2011, James published an article called "The Trial of Penn State", depicting an imaginary trial in which Penn State defended itself against charges of "acting rashly and irresponsibly in the matter of Joe Paterno, in such a manner that defamed, libeled and slandered Paterno, unfairly demolishing his reputation."

On July 12, 2012, the Freeh report was released, charging Paterno and three other University officials with covering up reports of sexual assaults and enabling the attacker to prey on other children for more than a decade, often in Penn State facilities. Soon afterwards, during an interview on ESPN radio, James claimed that the Freeh report's characterizations of Paterno as a powerful figure were wrong, and that it wasn't Paterno's responsibility to report allegations of child molestation to the police. " had very few allies. He was isolated and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been." When asked if he knew anyone who had showered with a boy they were not related to, James said it was a common practice when he was growing up. "That was actually quite common in the town I grew up in. That was quite common in America 40 years ago."

The July 2012 interview comments were widely criticized. Rob Neyer wrote in defense of James. James' employer, the Boston Red Sox, issued a statement disavowing the comments James made and saying that he has been asked not to make further public comments on the matter.