Wednesday, 25 July 2012
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We are still Penn State
I would like to write some thoughts on what it feels like being a Penn State fan. I am sure everyone here has had a massive amount of pride in something at one point or another, that’s exactly the pride that I have for Penn State University and their football program. I was raised near Happy Valley and watched the football game either on television or at Beaver Stadium every weekend. Cheering for the Nittany Lions is like being part of one huge family.
As a Penn State fan all that I have done is continued to support my University and their programs. Why should this be wrong ? What’s really wrong is being scrutinized as an individual for not jumping ship on your team. I am really getting offended with the idea that I am either a Nittany Lion fan or I have no respect for the victims.
Any talk of moving on or healing = forgetting the victims
Even though the rest of the country and media can move on and discuss whats happening with the NCAA and the football program, we may not. Discussing football = forgetting the victims.
The players that had wins stripped away from that may not voice their own opinions because that somehow = forgetting the victims.
Every move,voice, or opinion made as a fan is turned into this :
Meanwhile people can roam youtube and sports articles leaving the ugliest comments about people that were not even involved in the scandal and that’s completely fine. Apparently calling everyone in Happy Valley a Pedophile = caring for victims.
As disappointed as I am in the way things were handled at Penn State I still continue to love Penn State football, Beaver Stadium, and Joe Paterno. I agree with some of the repercussions handed out to Penn State , but not all of them. I personally am heart broken about the Paterno statue but rarely put up a fight about it as I understand the reasons why.
One of the things that completely baffles me is the decision made to no longer count the games that were won by the players after 1998. I think it is wrong to take away personal achievements regardless of the situation. I am not just saying this as a fan for my team, I believe this true in any subject where competition exists. Listen.....you can not deny the fact that someone was better than you at something because of their morals.
for example : you seriously cannot say that Eddy didn’t beat your bowling score because Eddy killed a few people. Eddy may be a serial killer but he is also one hell of a bowler.
I bet this really makes the coach that Joe Paterno beat out as the most winningest coach feel really good about getting the title back, I am sure he wanted it this way. Now from here on out he can hear “ the most winningest coach is (insert name) followed by mumbles of Joe Paterno and a scandal.
Regardless of anyone else’s thoughts, these are mine. We are still Penn State
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Comments (22)
Well said, I don't understand why we need to punish everyone BUT the people who perpetrated these crimes.
We are to shun Penn State because the abuse happened in Penn State? That doesn't make sense, Penn State is in Pennsylvania, should I hate PA now? PA is in the US, should I now hate this country because one clown, who lived in the United States screwed with some boys and a bunch of idiots covered it up?
First of all, the people that covered up the crime should be put in prison forever.
Having said that, I think stopping kids from playing in a Pro Bowl for 4 years that had nothing to do with the coverup is wrong. It appears that the punishment does not fit the crime. You do not punish people who knew nothing of the crime. It makes you look weak. A position of strength would be to punish the actual criminals.
I pretty much agree with you. I've never been a fan of college sports, but taking away the wins doesn't seem right.
My father and brother are both Penn State fans and still remain so. I don't hold this against them and the three of us have civil discussions about what happened there and the ramifications.
Sadly yes, I have seen huffington post comments saying things like, "PedoJoe" let this happen and other crap like that. I hope it stops.
I rec this post so that others can see it as it deserves to be seen by more than just a few sports fans.
What intruiges me the most is that the NCAA is taking more extreme measures against child predators than the Vatican. Just sayin'.
And even though I do not attend Penn State, I do feel like the NCAA was a little over-harsh in that the "punishment" affects the students more than the faculty who were involved. Taking down the statue I understand, but taking aways wins is a little baffling to me. Not to sound insensitive, but Joe Paterno is dead. I feel like that was a little overboard. It's only taking away wins from the students, a dead guy couldn't care less..Thank you for the rec. I have my own thoughts on JoePa that will not change and some other ones that may tarnish my opinions on him, however I think it's a little too early to to make accusations when we aren't really sure yet. Regardless if we ever know the truth about who knew what....it's still too early to blame certain people.
I agree with a lot of what you said. It sucks it went down like that but it shouldn't have to make fans hide that they are fans... it's not your faults and if you're an alumni you're naturally pulled into the territory.
Going to excess in punishing Penn State will not do a blessed thing to help the injured children heal. Actually thinking things through would have taken more time than picking up an order at the State College McDonald's, though, so it would have resulted in more dreaded CRITICISM. If this was really about the victims, political expediency would have been way on the backmost burner. I can't imagine the new "winningest coach" being satisfied with his status having come on the back of a scandal.
Penn State's team should play their hearts out anyway, and show who is really rising above it all.
@RighteousBruin - I agree with you whole heartedly. On the other hand, this is all going to resurface if that team plays well enough to make it to a bowl game. I guess we will see. GO STATE!
I can agree with a lot of what you say. The only thing that baffles me is "I still love Joe Paterno". Really? With all due respect...that's freakin nuts. And I think it is this very odd culture of Paterno worship that they are trying to eliminate with the severe punishment.
I also don't think they should take away the wins.
As for everything else....to be honest, in the context of NCAA rules...Penn State got off EEEEeeaasy. Do I think Penn St. should be banned from bowl appearances? No. I think that's extremely pointless. (Though I agree with the limited scholarships.) However....look at the punishments handed down to other schools for "crimes" that are 1000000x less egregious than Penn St's. (And many of these spearheaded by the ex-president of Penn St.). Look at what USC got as punishment....and for what....Reggie Bush taking money/gifts and not cooperating with the investigation? Compare that to the Penn St fiasco...and its basically a slap on the wrist.
I went to college 30 years ago.
The jocks on my campus (not Penn State) had a ridiculous amount of protection from the administration---and our teams sucked.
I understand being upset by the coverage---but to disregard the situation is simply to feed it...at other schools. No coach will EVER again make this mistake....because the cost is way too dear. Right now, too many schools act as if jocks are minor gods---and forgive, or cover up things they should not. Pride in Penn State should be about the education....not the extracurriculars. It's a University...unless you think it should give that part up, and just become a training ground for the NFL full time?
I can name players who went there, like Franco Harris, who later played for the Steelers...but can't think of a single scholar or writer that came from there. The emphasis on sports is way too pronounced. How many academic scholarships are handed out...versus the ones for sports?
I'm not saying you shouldn't love your team...I'm saying a university is supposed to be about more than football,. Considering what happened, you really can't say it was. But perhaps in the future, it can be.
personally, i agree with the NCAA's decision. for coaches and jocks, this hit them where it hurt. hopefully, no football team in the history of sports will think they can turn a blind eye to abuse, and then justify it by being good at what they do.
I don't understand punishing the future players or even this year's team. However, I am sorry but removing the records isn't so bad when compared to being a victim of Sandusky's especially when considering the football management decided he could stick around. I do see a point in punishing the entire record, if they remove the wins won under a system that placed football ahead of people, a system where had Sandusky been stopped he wouldn't have had anything to do with coaching the team and they may not have won. I have no issue with taking down the statue at all. I don't care how it makes football fans feel about it's removal when you have people who feel a lot more crappier that it is up because they were victims of Sandusky, and Paterno and company allowed it to continue. We do not have to give glory to the serial killer for his bowling skills, when his people skills lacked considerably.
Now, as far as football fans, I see no point in saying it is wrong to be fans. That is quite silly. However, fans that are complaining about punishment on past records do make me feel sick. Football is a game, these victims are people. I'd gladly give up my favorite team's record if it made these victims finally feel someone stood up for them. A record is abstract, people are concrete. There is pain in being a victim and that pain is worsened when nobody stands up for you. To complain about it like I've seen some people complain shows they lack compassion for the victims. (I've seen some nasty comments online where people want to insist the Paterno is God and nothing he did was wrong at all cuz he did it to protect his team.)
@wizexel22 - I love phrases like " with all due respect" or " I am not trying to be mean" they are always followed by something really judgmental :). It's an honest opinion. I do still like Joe Paterno for the good that he has done, my opinion has been tarnished by what I have read,but to me ( and that's who I am speaking for) the bad doesn't cancel out all of the good, I wouldn't classify this as "nuts". I don't really expect anyone to understand or agree. It was intended to get my feelings off of my chest.
The only thing I disagree with when it comes to repercussions is deleting facts from history.@galadrial - There are a lot of great and intelligent people who graduated from Penn State just because you can't name them doesn't make them any less great. I Totally understand where you are coming from, I just don't agree with it. The topic at hand concerns football. I wrote about football. That doesn't mean I don't have pride in the school's education.
I also didn't bring up the creamery on campus, but just to make you aware, they have really good ice cream.
P.S. If interested you can google "famous" Penn State graduates. It's pretty interesting.
@TiredSoVeryTired - Teams are compiled of ? and fans are ? People.
Also, we really do need to recognize people for their accomplishments. It's never a good thing to ignore the facts, just like we found out at PSU.@seladore - You don't put a team or football ahead of innocent children. Sandusky, I'm sure was good at coaching, but there' a lot of people good at coaching.
And see your response is what is pissing people off about this whole situation. Really football, the team, the coaches, and the fans are all more important or it is more important for you to enjoy the game of football, its history, its past, and its future even if that means you are inflicting harm onto the victims? And real harm, not my team beat your team harm, but my team is so freaking fantastic that we cannot concede and just say, "In order for our football team to have been so great, the management kept on a man who victimized helpless voiceless children, and let's just move ahead of that and deal with the punishment meted out because the victims didn't deserve to sacrifice their childhood so we could have a freaking fantastic football team."
Your reasoning is the same reasoning Paterno & Company used and the end result was the victimization of innocent children some of who had to put up with a grown's man penis in their butthole. Yeah, I think I'd just be quiet about the supposed unfairness of past winnings being erased and focus on building the team and spirit back up for future games. It is not the fans fault at all, but the fans can indeed concede the past and move on because these sanctions against Penn State are indeed helping the victims more than they are hurting fans.
I say "with all due respect" simply out of a general respect since I don't know who you are or really anything about you. So I'm assuming you're a normal person...but at the same time...your statement is pretty ridiculous. Yes, the bad absolutely can cancel out the good. Would Hitler be shed in a different light if we suddenly discovered that he won a ton of football games and did a lot of good things for the community? Do you have any idea how devastating the effects of what he did are in the lives of the victims? Obviously you are completely biased on this issue...but to the rest of the world, Joe Paterno is a terrible person (to put it lightly). I'm not sure how many people you know that are victims of this kind of thing. I know a few and it really fucked up their lives. It's taken decades to get to a point for them to live life normally...of course many times after making years of self-destructive decisions. To defend this guy....its absurd.
I get that you want to get these feelings off your chest and also I can understand people's desire to defend the guy...but you have to understand that it is simply an incredibly biased point of view.
It's unfortunate that players, who had nothing to do with this situation, are being punished. That being said... Joe Paterno had the power to stop what was happening and did not. I can't respect a man who would rather protect his school's football reputation (or reputation in general) than protect children from a pedophile. Had he made better decisions, Penn State wouldn't be in the situation it's in now... and maybe there'd have been fewer victims as well.
@warweasel - Thank you for disagreeing without sounding like a lunatic. I totally understand where you are coming from with your opinion.
Late comment. >-<
I agree with you. My dad grew up in PA and was always a Penn State fan, and my sister and I grew up loving PSU and their football team and JoePa. While I understand the decisions that have been made, I don't think it's right that the whole team is getting punished for one person's actions.
@SentimentalDoll - thumbs up :)