Matt Millen Is Still Defending Penn State, And Somebody Needs To Cut Him Off For His Own Good

by Dan Fogarty | 12:57 pm, July 12th, 2012

Matt Millen’s in a tough spot here. Let’s start with that.

Because he went to Penn State and played for both Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky, he finds himself able to offer a kind of angle on this scandal that none of ESPN’s other personalities can offer. He’s a Nittany Lion, through and through, so he’s been trotted out on SportsCenter this morning as their resident Joe Paterno apology horse.

What this trotting entails: emotional, ill-informed reactions to a report that he probably hasn’t had time to read (and one he definitely hasn’t had time to comprehend). He doesn’t have all of the information he needs, and even if he did, his judgement would be clouded. Yet, still, there is Millen, Penn State Apologist. It’s a role he’s been cast in both by his producers and by circumstance.

As a result of this casting, Matt Millen said some very dumb shit on TV this morning.

“In terms of the program itself, this was a very pristine program,” was one of those things. So was the half-assed defense of Paterno. There were others.

There are some terrible things about Matt Millen’s school and his football coach in the Freeh report: namely, that both the school and the coach knew that kids were probably getting raped — and raped on their campus — but chose not to do anything about it because it would burst the bubble around Happy Valley (a bubble that, at this very moment, is still being maintained). Powerful men did cowardly things over multiple years, and Paterno, who was so close to the finish line and months away from dying a good man before the Sandusky story broke, will be known as the guy who could’ve stopped Jerry Sandusky from raping more kids, but didn’t.

Here’s to hoping Matt Millen actually reads the Freeh report.

Video via Busted Coverage.

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Maxxine_kaufman

That was excellent!
Anonymous

Thank you! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing come out of millens mouth this morning on ESPN. The comments section was ripping him apart. I hope ESPN give Matt some extra time away from the office to review the report and come back with some analysis based on fact, not emotion….or just not come back at all.
Anonymous

Perhaps Millen could do an ad for Under Armour…”we must protect this house”!!!
YouGuysAreIdiots

Ummmm, it’s one of two major programs in the nation – along with BYU that has never been on probation. That’s what he meant, stupid.
Dangerousdan10

lets not for get authorities knew of abuse allegations in 1998 and went to the DA …there were major failures on PSU higher up parts but lets look at 1998 when this could have been stopped by authorities who knew
T Carter44

fuck everyone that is going to try to talk all this shit about penn state. u are taking this report that is comming from the board of directors @ penn state, who are only trying to cover their own asses, and believing that it is 100% factual, when indeed it is 90% opinionated. read the goddamn report before you just come to these conclusions you dumb fucking assholes. dont u fucking talk shit about a man that lived his life a near to saint hood as is humanly possible.
Anonymous

love the sensationalism and how ignorant people speak about something they know nothing of. Most likely 99% of the people talking about this, didnt even read the full report. I did. its an opinion based on an overview of documents. You can read anything you want into that.
Nothing in the report I didnt expect. and nothing in the report that clearly condemns joe. The guy didnt even use email. Little in the report even talks about Joe. But, Joe is the “figurehead”, so that is what our culture goes after. Human beings are cruel, simply put. We like to see good things destroyed. Journalists love it because they can tear it down with their own spin and get more add money view page views. Thats how it works these days. When was the last time you actually read any JOURNALISM. Doesn’t exist anymore. Its pandering to our society. One that likes to slow down at accidents and look for blood. Joe was a good man. Nothing more people want to see than that destroyed. Makes them feel better about their own shortcomings. Nothing new here, and that wont change. Its how people are. Sad as that may be. They live sad lives and need to see others torn asunder to feel like they arnt so bad after all. To those who are reading this.. how many times in your life did you see something that was wrong, and did nothing? If you read the report, in both incidents on campus. There was nothing seen nor proven to be a crime. The first incident, there were even police detectives and a campus police officer IN THE HOUSE both times Sandusky visited the boys mother. It was investigated and found that no actual crime was committed. In the second incident. Again, there was no actual proof of a crime. Hugging in the shower, is not a crime. Sexual assault, was not actually witnessed. Should curly/shultz/spanner done more. perhaps. But you cant report a crime, when there is no actual crime. Its clear from his conviction that there were criminal activities taking place. But the incidents involving PSU and the freeh report do not actually involve a CRIME. Its easy to condemn in hind sight. Too bad our society is the way it is, and our journalists have become sensationalists. Pander to the mob. Ahhh reminds me of ancient Rome.
DeathPenaltyToPennState

The janitors saw the raping slime bag snadusky with a child agains the wall and the child’s penis in his mouth.

You are a pedophile rapist defending liar JohnnyCJC
Anonymous

Either you’re a troll, or you’re an utterly pathetic excuse for a human being, probably both.
Anonymous

You’re simply a pathetic excuse for a human being.
PSUfan

You are clueless.
PSUfan

I totally agree with T Carter44 … Most of you really do not know the facts . The Freeh report is sooooooooo flawed.