Interim coach Tom Bradley (on the staff since 1979, which is not a good thing) submitted to questions in a riveting and awkward press conference yesterday morning and pledged that Penn State’s students and players will show “class’’ and “dignity’’ when the Nittany Lions play Nebraska.
“Let’s show them what Penn State is all about,’’ said Bradley.
Halting the season would be a better way to show us what Penn State is all about. Canceling football would be a way for the Board of Trustees to demonstrate that it understands the seriousness of the conspiracy of silence that cloaked Paterno’s “program’’ the last (at least) nine years.
Instead, we are told that tomorrow is “Senior Day’’ for the 8-1, bowl-bound Nittany Lions. So we’ll watch the disrespectful circus of “game day’’ in Happy Valley. We’ll see nimble cheerleaders, painted faces, fans guzzling beer in the parking lots, and plenty of defiant Paterno fans protesting his ouster.
Boola boola. Go team. Maybe the Nittany Lions can qualify for a BCS Bowl.
This is showing us what Penn State is all about? Did we see what Penn State was all about late Wednesday when sycophantic, moronic students rioted as they pledged allegiance to Paterno?
Like most folks in the Penn State community, Bradley worships at the feet of Joe Paterno.
“Coach Paterno will go down in history as one of the greatest men …,’’ said the interim coach.
Sorry, but Paterno’s legacy is no longer about 46 seasons, 409 wins, five undefeated seasons, and two national championships. It’s not about the hundreds of worthy players who graduated during Joe Pa’s long reign. It’s not about good deeds done and monies dedicated to the betterment of the university. It’s not about the man who put Penn State on the map.
Paterno’s legacy is now that of a man who stayed too long and ultimately failed to protect young victims from the monster who had access to Penn State’s “program.’’ Jerry Sandusky left the coaching staff in 1999, but Paterno never turned him in to police. We all make mistakes and no one wants to be remembered for his or her worst moment, but Paterno’s legacy is permanently tarnished.
