It may never be known whether Joe Paterno really died from lung cancer, complications from its treatment, or a broken heart.

But it’s hard to believe that it could be anything other than the latter, given the difficult circumstances that the former Penn State football coach experienced over the last 10 weeks.

His former offensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was indicted on some 50 charges involving taking liberties with teenage boys, and the scandal perhaps did the worst thing possible: turned in on itself trying to find a scapegoat.

As much as some people in the news media punditry wanted to hang Paterno from the highest yardarm, you wonder if the anger was directed at the wrong people.

This space, for one, has blamed the administration of the school for trying to cover for the football team, especially in a 109-word statement that served as a death warrant for PSU president Graham Spanier, PSU athletic director Tim Curley, and PSU senior vice president Gary Schultz.

I get a feeling that, once Sandusky is put on trial, that a lot of people are going to be apologizing about their intemperate words. Regrettably, Paterno is not going to be around to hear them.