Game Over LP - Paperback

by Bill Moushey (Author), Robert Dvorchak (Author)

The most comprehensive and explosive book on the worst scandal in the history of sports, Game Over investigates the devastating sexual abuse case that brought down Joe Paterno and forever tarnished the name of Penn State.

In this incisive work of investigative journalism, Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak, along with Lisa Pulitzer, go behind the headlines, official statements, and court transcripts to tell the full story of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the nation--a tale of power, privilege, money, and politics that leads from the football building on the Penn State campus to the administration's boardroom to the highest echelons of the state capital and beyond. Eye-opening and fast-paced, Game Over exposes the lies, willful ignorance, and cover-ups that may have allowed a sexual predator to use his position and status to prey on vulnerable young victims for years. Its explosive new discoveries shatter the illustrious image of "Happy Valley"--State College, Pennsylvania, home to one of the nation's most successful and highly lucrative college football programs.

Moushey, Dvorchak, and Pulitzer craft a story that is as compelling as it is unsettling. Probing beneath the male-dominated football culture, they share the untold stories of the mothers and wives, the sisters and daughters associated with the scandal. They trace the rise and fall of hometown hero and national icon Joe Paterno--the Nittany Lion's legendary head coach with the most wins in the history of college football, including two national championship titles--juxtaposing Penn State's success and glory with the hidden anguish of former coach Jerry Sandusky's accusers. As it details the rise and fall of the individuals associated with the scandal, it also makes clear the larger implications for the university, its vaunted football program, the community, and all of us.

An exploration of the messy morality of pride and loyalty, silence and bearing witness, Game Over will leave readers pondering their own values and their beliefs in right and wrong.

Back Jacket

It's a scandal that began in a place called Happy Valley. But it's not as happy as it once was, as the child-sex-abuse charges against a longtime coach have rocked America and Division 1 college sports.

The shocking stories started to pour out after the November 6, 2011, arrest of Jerry Sandusky, a former coach under the Penn State football legend Joe Paterno. Sandusky had been Paterno's top lieutenant for thirty-two years. He was also the founder of a charity, The Second Mile, that devoted itself to helping disadvantaged youth. The numerous boys in Sandusky's program who have come forward told a grand jury lurid stories of a sexual predator who stalked and abused them.

In Game Over, journalists Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak investigate the shocking details of how a culture built around one deified coach with a glorious vision to have "success with honor" failed to act in the best interests of the most vulnerable. Penn State has been consumed in this firestorm that spiraled downward into the worst scandal in the history of college sports.