The Paterno family released the following statement with regard to the release of Louis Freeh's report: 
 
 We are in the process of reviewing the Freeh report and will need some time before we can comment in depth on its findings and conclusions. From the moment this crisis broke, Joe Paterno supported a comprehensive, fair investigation. He always believed, as we do, that the full truth should be uncovered. 
 
 From what we have been able to assess at this time, it appears that after reviewing 3 million documents and conducting more than 400 interviews, the underlying facts as summarized in the report are almost entirely consistent with what we understood them to be. The 1998 incident was reported to law enforcement and investigated. Joe Paterno reported what he was told about the 2001 incident to Penn State authorities and he believed it would be fully investigated. The investigation also confirmed that Sandusky's retirement in 1999 was unrelated to these events. 
 
 One great risk in this situation is a replaying of events from the last 15 years or so in a way that makes it look obvious what everyone must have known and should have done. The idea that any sane, responsible adult would knowingly cover up for a child predator is impossible to accept. The far more realistic conclusion is that many people didn't fully understand what was happening and underestimated or misinterpreted events. Sandusky was a great deceiver. He fooled everyone - law enforcement, his family, coaches, players, neighbors, University officials, and everyone at Second Mile. 
 
 Joe Paterno wasn't perfect. He made mistakes and he regretted them. He is still the only leader to step forward and say that with the benefit of hindsight he wished he had done more. To think, however, that he would have protected Jerry Sandusky to avoid bad publicity is simply not realistic. If Joe Paterno had understood what Sandusky was, a fear of bad publicity would not have factored into his actions. 
 
 We appreciate the effort that was put into this investigation. The issue we have with some of the conclusions is that they represent a judgment on motives and intentions and we think this is impossible. We have said from the beginning that Joe Paterno did not know Jerry Sandusky was a child predator. Moreover, Joe Paterno never interfered with any investigation. He immediately and accurately reported the incident he was told about in 2001. 
 
 It can be argued that Joe Paterno should have gone further. He should have pushed his superiors to see that they were doing their jobs. We accept this criticism. At the same time, Joe Paterno and everyone else knew that Sandusky had been repeatedly investigated by authorities who approved his multiple adoptions and foster children. Joe Paterno mistakenly believed that investigators, law enforcement officials, University leaders and others would properly and fully investigate any issue and proceed as the facts dictated. 
 
 This didn't happen and everyone shares the responsibility. 

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 No, it's clear that the reason everyone from the bottom to the top shut up about the whole thing was that it involved football. When you think of Penn State, you think of football first. It’s the cash cow, the money maker, the heart and soul of social life at the university. Joe Paterno didn’t understand what Mike McQueary told him about what he saw in the showers? Impossible. He understood exactly what was going on, which is precisely why he took the minimal action he was legally required to do and then turned his back. 
 
 Everyone involved was more afraid about the damage that would be caused to the football program than the harm – both past and future – to the young victims.
– The reverberations of the Freeh Report continue, and while Joe Paterno's family concedes "it can be argued that Joe Paterno should have gone further," relatives insist that to think "he would have protected Jerry Sandusky to avoid bad publicity is simply not realistic." (The Daily Collegian has the full statement here.) Not everyone is as sympathetic, though, and the New York Times notes that an online debate erupted today on whether the coach's statue outside Penn State's stadium should come down. Also: Drop football? Yes, argues Allen Barra at Salon. Failing that, the school should "turn it around from the profit-making machine that created the mind-set that led to this disgrace in the first place." It can start by donating all revenue from the program to charities that help abused kids. Full report: Read it for yourself via Philly.com.