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Daily Madden: No Defense For Penn State Inaction

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The Penn State Board of Trustees fired legendary coach Joe Paterno and the university president Wednesday night for their inaction in the sex abuse scandal involving eight boys over 15 years.

"We know what happens when you win. You accumulate power. And then as you accumulate power, you become untouchable in a lot of things," John Madden told the KCBS morning crew. "I just look at this and it's like a kick in the stomach...I think of my kids, my grandkids, all kids. That's what we have to worry about."

John said the focus should be on the victims.

"I really feel that for the other people involved, you can't make excuses for them and you can't defend them. There's no defense and there are no excuses, and the victims are ones that we have to take care of. And we have to make sure nothing like that ever happens again."

Tied at the top of their division, the 4-4 Raiders face the 4-4 Chargers in San Diego Thursday night. John said attitude could have a lot to do with the outcome.

"I think the team that is thinking, 'man, we had a couple of tough losses, we're not very good,' and lets that affect their confidence, it's going to hurt them."

John said the team that takes pride in their position as a division leader and says "this thing is there to take" will have a better chance of winning. (8:50)

Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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