Joe Paterno never was much of a gambler. During most of the 61 years he was associated with the Penn State football program, he did things by the book. The Good Book, much of the time. But always the rules book.
So it seemed both out of character and lacking in character for him to almost subliminally threaten the school's board of trustees on Wednesday morning concerning his retirement.
Said Paterno with an unusual degree of hubris given the fragility of his employment at that moment: "That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can."
He made it easy, all right. He made sure he would be the first matter the PSU board addressed during a Wednesday night meeting to decide how to handle the 40 charges of sexual molestation of kids aimed at former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
Already troubled that Paterno had not gone to the police when he first learned of Sandusky's reprehensible behavior in 2002, the board did the only thing it could do when Joe Pa attempted to back it into a corner.
It fired him, along with PSU president Graham Spanier. At least somebody connected with Penn State finally understood that it's not OK to take the law into your own hands. Or, in this case, ignore the law.
In the case of Paterno, what a way to implode a Mount Rushmore career. What a way to destroy what was previously the cleanest reputation in college athletics.
I keep an imaginary locked box in my closet that can only be opened by my head and my heart. It's where I store my fallen heroes.
Some are there for obvious reasons, such as O.J. Simpson. Some are there for less serious fare and often escape for long periods of time, such as Joe Namath, who was really only locked up for a day to two after appearing a bit inebriated on Monday Night Football and embarrassingly asking ESPN's Suzy Kolber for a kiss.
Then there is my box's newest member, Paterno. Until this past weekend Joe Pa was the last person I would have expected to ever fall from grace. His players almost always graduated, they mostly stayed out of trouble and the whole Nittany Lion program appeared so clean and wholesome you half-wondered when those wonderful generic uniforms might suddenly sport a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.
Then came the news about Sandusky that most of us still can't quite grasp, including, apparently, Paterno, who attempted to distance himself from the whole hideous, heinous, unfathomably monstrous eventby moving it up the Penn State chain of command, where it was basically buried.
Finally, on Wednesday, he tried one last power sweep.
"This is a tragedy," he said.
"It is one of the great sorrows of my life," he said.
"With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more," he said.
A lot of smart people have focused much attention on that last comment, that with the benefit of hindsight, he wishes he'd done more, as if he never should have needed hindsight to come to that realization.
And he shouldn't have, of course. He should have immediately done the right thing and called the police and let the chips fall where they may for Sandusky.
But ESPN columnist Ivan Maisel made an important if unpopular point when he noted: "Paterno, like many in his generation, failed to grasp that society no longer handled such indecencies behind closed doors. Society once referred to the crimes of which Sandusky is accused as unspeakable. Nothing goes unspoken any longer."
This is not to excuse Paterno in any way. There is no excuse. But for any of us with parents over 80, it sort of, kind of explains it.
But what most needs to be explained is the stunning regularity in which these abuses occur. In Tennessee alone, the Department of Children's Services fielded 62,028 cases of child neglect or abuse. Nearly 7,900 of those calls involved physical abuse. More than 10,000 involved sexual abuse. Those are cases, not convictions. But it clearly shows that Jerry Sandusky is far from the only monster in our midst.
Said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan late Wednesday: "Schools and school officials have a legal and moral responsibility to protect children and young people from violene and abuse."
And when, as Paterno did, they fail that responsibility, the school has no choice but to terminate them immediately, if not sooner.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.