Report says Joe Paterno book is No. 1; Posnanski to appear at Penn State

Joe Posnanski's new biography on Joe Paterno is everywhere on Penn State's campus.

It's sold in the student bookstore and it's on display in the window of the CVS on West College Avenue. On Wednesday afternoon, a male student sat on a bench not far from Old Main as he leafed through the book, which was released last week.

Well, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, the people of State College aren't the only ones who have interest in Posnanski's book. "Paterno" will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction best-seller list this week, Rovell reported on Wednesday.

Posnanski has mostly shied away from talking publicly about his project. Shorty after Paterno was fired in November, Posnanski appeared as a guest speaker in a communications course titled, "Joe Paterno and the Media." When comments Posnanski made went viral - and, in some cases, appeared out of context - the author vowed he would stay silent until the book was released.

However on Wednesday night Posnanski broke his silence with his first TV interview about the project. The interview, with Bob Costas, appeared on NBC Sports Network. Posnanski said he "doesn't believe" the Freeh report because it is "incomplete."

"[Freeh] jumped to conclusions that I cannot jump to," Posnanski said. "I mean, I jump to definitely there was a sense that Joe Paterno knew more than he suggested; there's definitely a sense that Joe Paterno should have done more. But the cover up, the idea that he was actively following it, these sorts of things, I think they're still, to me, they're still up in the air."

Posnanski will perhaps elaborate on that sentiment when he makes his only scheduled area appearance at 4 p.m. on Sept. 14. The discussion, in room 114 of the Osmond building on Penn State's campus, will be moderated by Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. It is free and open to the public.

-Emily Kaplan