The story of the Penn State Scandal takes another twist tonight with the announcement that the 84-year old Paterno has lung cancer.
Paterno's son, Scott, said in a statement that his father is undergoing treatment and that "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery."
The announcement is yet another bizarre turn in the scandal that has gripped the Penn State campus for two weeks and shows little sign of subsiding.
Three weeks ago Joe Paterno won his 409th game as Head Coach of the Nittany Lions -- setting the D-1 record for all-time wins. Just days later, Paterno's long-time defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of being at the heart of a lurid a child sex abuse scandal.
Paterno was fired Nov. 9 for failing to do more about the abuse allegation against Sandusky than just report it to his superiors.
Paterno, who has never smoked, was told the lung cancer was treatable last weekend just as Penn State played for the first time without him on the sidelines in almost 61 years.
Meanwhile as federal and state investigations into the alleged child abuse and cover-up continue, the NCAA announced that they would start their own investigation, presumably under the "lack of institutional control" tenet.
Penn State plays at Ohio State tomorrow, and I can't imagine what kind of odds in Vegas you could have gotten last January if you said that neither Jim Tressel nor Joe Paterno be coaching in the 2011 contest.