It’s one of those annoying questions in surveys: If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be?

Joe Paterno is now on my list because, ideally, I would want to hear more before condemning him for his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

I would want to ask what he had hoped to accomplish by orchestrating a cover-up after learning Sandusky, his trusted defensive coordinator, probably was a pedophile. Did he really think it would all go away?

I’d want to know how Joe lived with himself all those years knowing there was even the slightest possibility Sandusky was systematically victimizing kids through a charitable foundation.

And I’d want to know why, when his former quarterback, Mike McQueary, told him he saw Sandusky doing unspeakable things to a boy in the shower, he didn’t do enough to see that justice was carried out.

Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson — they’re also at the table; we’re probably at Fleming’s — would want to know, too.

“Was it really just bad publicity you were afraid of, pop,” the Babe (he called old guys pop; I’m assuming he still would) asks before attacking his third steak.

Eventually the dinner conversation would turn to the statue of Paterno outside the football stadium at Penn State and whether it should be toppled, Sadam Hussein-like, or otherwise shrouded from view.

“It’s a revolting reminder of what happened away from the football field under your watch,” Robinson says.

At this point, with the pile of evidence against him growing ever more compelling, I’m guessing even Paterno might agree with that assessment.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.