Paterno (2018)

by Travis Normand
May 24, 2018

For those who may be unaware, the film titled “Paterno” has officially been released and can be seen on HBO and/or HBO.com, as well as Amazon.com Prime Video. I have posted the official trailer below, as well as a link to both the film’s IMDB.com page and its Wikipedia page.

I have not yet seen the film but caught about 20 minutes of it earlier this month when staying at a hotel. I would have watched the entire film right then and there, but unfortunately I had to run out to a conference. The small portion that I was able to see has me very intrigued and dying to watch the film in its entirety. I don’t have HBO, but if I can watch it on Amazon.com, I will do so in the near future and post my thoughts here afterwards.

 

The following synopsis is from the film’s page on HBO.com:

Paterno centers on Penn State’s Joe Paterno in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Paterno’s legacy is challenged and he is forced to face questions of institutional failure in regard to the victims.

Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Al Pacino (HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack; Scent of a Woman) stars in the film’s title role. Paterno is Pacino’s third HBO collaboration with award-winning director Barry Levinson, having starred in You Don’t Know Jack, which earned Pacino a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Emmy for acting and Levinson an Emmy for directing. Pacino also starred in the title role in HBO’s Phil Spector, which Levinson executive produced. Levinson directs Paterno from a script by Debora Cahn and John C. Richards.

To read the rest of this, visit HBO.com by clicking here.

 

 

Baylor . . .

by Travis Normand
May 22, 2017

Well, it appears that after months of scandal, everything at Baylor is going to be alright and that things are really looking up for the Bears … wait … wait … no, never mind, everything is on fire!

“Lawsuit: Baylor football players recorded gang rapes
ABCnews.com
by Jim Vertuno, AP Sports Writer
Austin, Texas – May 17, 2017

A new federal lawsuit against Baylor University alleges football players routinely recorded gang rapes and staged dog fights during hazing parties in a program that fostered sexual violence.” (Link)

I really hope that Jane Doe (lawsuit petitioner that was allegedly gang raped by members of the Baylor football team) doesn’t run into Kim Mulkey, Women’s Head Basketball Coach at Baylor. Remember what Mulkey said you should do to those who are skeptical of their daughter’s safety at Baylor? Lets review her comments from February 2017 when she addressed a home crowd in Waco after a game (emphasis added):

“If somebody around you and they ever say, ‘I will never send my daughter to Baylor,’ you knock them right in the face,” Mulkey told fans to applause and cheers. “Because these kids are on this campus. I work here. My daughter went to school here, and it’s the damn best school in America.” (LINK)

I don’t know if the Jane Does of Baylor University should be more scared of the Baylor football team, the women’s basketball coach, the home crowd of Baylor fans that cheered Mulkey’s comments, or the fans who started the #CAB movement during the 2016 football season in support of Art Briles.

Regardless, with a University culture this toxic, I would imagine it would be best for all potential Jane Does to get out of Waco/Baylor while they still can!

Here are a few other links to stories regarding the newly filed lawsuit:

  1. New Lawsuit Alleges Baylor Players Gang-Raped Women As ‘Bonding Experience’ (NPR.org)
  2. New Baylor Lawsuit Alleges Football Players Held Gang-Rape Initiations, Dog Fights (DallasObserver.com)
  3. Baylor volleyball player files civil lawsuit: ‘It’s still a pretty traumatic event for her’ (WFAA.com)

The following are links to the petition that was filed on May 16, 2017 in the US District Court, Western District of Texas, Waco Division, styled Jane Doe vs. Baylor University, Case 6:17-cv-00125-RP (each link is to the same document).

  1. https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=3726009-Doe-v-Baylor
  2. http://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BaylorRape2.pdf

Again, is anyone surprised by all of this? This is, after all, the same school that had the Dave Bliss scandal about fourteen years ago. While these actions may be considered unimaginable to the rest of the world, it is not a foreign concept to Baylor University.

As a side note, in case you are curious what Dave Bliss is up to these days, he apparently resigned his position as head basketball coach at Southwestern Christian University back in April 2017. I know what you are thinking, “there is a school that hired Bliss to coach their basketball team?”

Baylor’s troubles

by Travis Normand

Amid all the discussions, commentary, and reporting concerning Baylor’s sexual assault scandal, I have heard some say that they are shocked that something like this could happen at Baylor.

For this reason I feel it is necessary to remind others (and inform those who may not know) that Baylor is the same school that is only about 13 years removed from the “Dave Bliss scandal.”

You can read a fairly decent synopsis of the “Dave Bliss scandal” HERE.

Silence at Baylor (Texas Monthly)

This article appeared in Texas Monthly on August 20, 2015.  If you haven’t read it, you should.

Silence at Baylor
by Jessica Luther and Dan Solomon

A much-talked-about football player at Baylor University—whom coaches “expect back” this fall—is currently on trial for the sexual assault of a fellow student. Questions now swirl around what the program knew and when they knew it.

Read the entire article at texasmonthly.com

Does everyone have skeletons in their closet?

by Travis Normand

I remember watching the fall-out after the news on Tiger Woods broke.  I remember thinking, “I know stuff like this has happened before, but if Tiger has skeletons in his closet then everyone does, right?”  After all, Tiger Woods was untouchable.  He was a Saint, or so everyone thought.

Next came Jim Tressel and his Ohio State program.  I really thought that Tressel was one of the guys that “did things the right way.”  I know, that is a huge cliché but he just seemed like a very straight-shooter.  I mean, if Tressel hadn’t been a football coach, I would have guessed he was a CPA.  Tressel gave the impression that everything was by the book when clearly it was not.

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