Warts and all: Real stories of real people can be tough to tell

You should brace yourself for the Joe Paterno Story. Hollywood is quiet now, if not so much in deference to the convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky's victims as to the fear of being perceived as premature and insensitive. But you can be sure they're all quietly thinking about it. The story of the great, powerful, bookish and surely hubristic Penn State football coach, seemingly brought down in his twilight years by a fatal decision to put the burnishing of his own mythology over the protection of innocents, is just too close to Greek tragedy to be resisted. One can even anticipate the final moments, as his statue is removed from the front of Beaver Stadium by jackhammers.

Chris Jones

July 27, 2012