JoePa/Sandusky Protest at Big House(?)
Last week a topic arose regarding Penn St honoring Joe Paterno's 50 year anniversary of service at Beaver Stadium. Originally a MGoPoster suggested that a movement of 'turning their backs' when PennSt ran onto the field. Though there was less than a week to organize this and did not reach the level of Main Stream media if it did.
For those who were part of that post, and were at the game, did you carry those same sentiments (and turn your back) when Penn St actually did run onto the field? Were there exchanges between you or others towards Nittany Lion fans holding them morally accountable? Were there conversations that you had with loyal fans about the transgressions of the whole Sandusky situation? Or any other personal thoughts or actions?
Masses of folk generally do not like to rehash issues on here but I felt this issue was important and have great empathy for the victims as well.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/give-joepa-horrific-silent-back-turned-send…
September 26th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
How can you neg this response, it's perfect.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
There are certain folks on here who reserve the right to neg ANYTHING! Like, even a picture of Bo & Arnold Palmer golfing together in sports heaven, if someone had that type of access. I'm always amazed when a post gets upwards of 25+ up votes without any negs. I'd say they really hit a home run, but it probably just means no Negasaurus noticed it. The temptation would be too great. I guarantee whoever negged that fancies themself a bit of a hipster...
EDIT: Point proven, Hipster
September 26th, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
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September 26th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^
Fantastic point, but which way are you facing while you wait?
September 26th, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
Beat wisconsin.
/WD
September 26th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
Snake!!!!
September 26th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^
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September 26th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
With Penn State? Way too much talk for an irrelevant, scum-ridden program.
September 26th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^
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I want Wisconsin this confused next weekend.
September 26th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
I'm not a doctor, but he might be a tad concussed...
September 26th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^
where I was at, we would sometimes chant "Joe Pa Knew" instead of "Let's Go Blue". Kinda stupid, but we were amused with ourselves.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
but I sat next to a super hot Penn State grad at the bar during the game. I did not dive into the Paterno topic with her. I mostly just agreed with everthing she said, particularly when she kept saying that Franklin was an idiot.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
out of my league. She had a friend that was like a 7 that I could have probably bagged but I am still trying this "faithful" thing with my wife. Stupid morals.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
I think that shows a lot about the class of the PSU team and coaches.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
What do you really expect them to do?
"No, I would not like this paying job to support my family."
"No, I would not like this opportunity to play Division 1 college football and receive a great education, when the alternative is something far worse."
Seriously.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^
The coaches may not have a choice -- being emplyoed by James Franklin is pretty damning evidence of one's capacity to coach.
Every single one of those players had a choice, though. PSU is competing with other Big Ten schools, ACC schools, etc. for recruits. I imagine most of their players could have gotten a scholarship at Syracuse, Boston College, UVA, or Pitt, and gotten an excellent education and a chance to play in a Power 5 conference. So I do blame the players -- and their parents -- for supporting the ongoing legacy of PSU.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
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September 26th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
Turning a back to the athletes they have now is pretty classless.I'm sure they've experienced far worse in their athletic careers than a rival fan not looking at them.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
... and nobody in eyesight in our section did it. Thankfully. What a dumb idea. The message is fine. The method (turning back on the current PSU players) is simply the wrong way to do it though.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:45 AM ^
I honestly don't understand this mindset of somehow protecting or respecting the current players and I'm curious what the rationalization is behind it. First, they're adult men. Second, how is it that silently turning around is an affront to the current players? If I were a PSU football player and the opposing fans were quiet and turned around, I'd think, "welp, that sure beats the vulgarity and thrown batteries we encountered in Columbus". Thirdly, I presume that people who want to protect the psu players feelings don't spend the game cheering for their success. I would actually hope they cheer against them and actively do what they reasonably could to make the environment as respectfully inhospitable as possible (ie. cheering loudly during their snap counts). Lastly, who gives a crap about their current players? Each one of them made the decision to go there. F*** penn state.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^
Nobody said we had to show some "respect" to PSU players or "protect" their feelings. The issue isn't that we need to go out of our way to make them feel better. The issue is that we want to direct our disrespect of JoePa and the administration toward them. There is no reason to go out of our way to do that to send a message to a dead guy and his family. It's about not conveying our sentiment at the wrong people (not that those people need any protection - it is just wrong by us).
Its just not a well thought out way of sending a message. Also, what is the message? I think the message is that we won't forget the "cover up." I think that is a fine message. Let's not forget. Let's just direct it at the school and not the players.
BTW - I am also not a fan of "booooing" our own team when down at halftime. I am not a fan of boooing the other team when they enter the stadium (and saying "you suck"). I mean, I get it. I used to do it. But age has taught me its a bit childish....
September 27th, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^
and FWIW, I share your sentiments on the booing.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
I don't know how it could possibly be coordinated short of having the words up on the scoreboard (which would never happen), but logistics aside, I'd have liked to replace the alternating Go Blue chant with "Joe Knew" for this one game.
September 26th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^
I was opposed to this and didn't do it myself. I was looking around and saw no such protest in my area. The only protest I saw came from a sign in the student section that was held up from time to time saying "#JoPa knew". To suggest that we protest current students and atthletes because they chose to go to Penn State after the fact makes little sense (to me). If that were tha case we should take every school that has ever covered up any such crimes or sexual assaults and condemn them too. It wouldn't be long before a lot of schools were closing their doors. Condemn the individuals, condemn the administration, condemn any individual that you know supports such acts but don't condemn the community, many of whom are equally appalled.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
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September 26th, 2016 at 1:09 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
(1) I sat pretty high up in Section 4. Single ticket --- I bought my ticket late, whatever I could find cheap on-line. The rest of the folk I traveled and tailgated with were somewhere else in the stadium. Not many PSU folk at all around me. As others said, our #s were down this year vs. 2014.
(2) I didn't see any protests, or hear any chants, or see any people wearing PSU-negative t-shirts, et cetrera. Not a single one, all day. This is consistant with virtually every other PSU road game I've been to in the 2012-2016 era (I've been to ~80% of our non-State College games over the last 4+ years). For reference, that includes 2014 in AA and both 2011 & 2013 in Columbus. The one negative experience was Wisconsin 2013, there were a few UW fans yelling "pedophile enabler" and such at me. They honestly seemed to be itching for a fight --- go to any NFL game and you know the type. I just removed myself from that situation and moved on.
(3) I stayed the entire game. Things did clear out in the 2nd half, more room to spread out and enjoy the dying sun on a perfect weather day. With the more relaxed 2nd half, I did chat quite a bit with several U-M fans around me. It was nearly exclusively football talk. The Paterno commemoration did come up briefly and I gave my opinion, but there was no follow-up there and the conversation went elsewhere. That was the only time JoePa/Sandusky/et cetera came up.
(4) From limited conversations and such with U-M folk at the tailgates --- same thing. Never came up.
(5) Overall, I had a good time and enjoyed the day. Much like in 2014, the weather was absolutely perfect and it was a classically picturesque college football environment.
September 26th, 2016 at 1:40 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^
one can rather easily find PSU message boards filled with those views. Of course, message boards are what they are: it's easy to have more radicalized opinions there vs. real life.
In real life and actually talking to folk (attending road football games is a very good way to do this) --- I've always found that the majority of fans are much more sedate and reasonable in their views.
To your question. Big picture, no, I do not believe the "world vs. Penn State" narrative as a majority view of PSU folk (as is occurring in real-life) is valid.
Regarding other boards: I visit several (Pitt/OSU/U-M/MSU/Rutgers) besides my own, and the "burn PSU down to the ground" view point is definitely a significant opinion on all of them. But, again, it's the same dynamic as above. I get it.
I will say this. 11 Warriors has written some rather thoughtful articles about PSU/JoePa/Sandusky. They've also decided to forbid terms like "Ped State" and forbid Sandusky jokes in their forums. They've decided they don't want such behavior from members of their community --- they want to maintain a certain "intellectual level of discourse", as it is.
I'm a guest here, but I will be blunt and honest with my next opinion. On all topics (not just PSU related), I do think the level of intellectual discussion on MGoBlog has experienced some back-sliding over the last couple years. You don't want to censor, but subtly reining in some folk (e.g., ones who simply post "Fuck Penn State" while surfing for up-votes) may help in that regard.
September 27th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^
As a U of M fan I get tired when some posters do nothing but talk trash. I think that we have some great contributors on this board. We have fans like myself who love football and our team. We have contributors with a great deal of technical expertise where football is concerned (I'm not one of them). We also have fans that do nothing but sink to the levels of some rival fan bases that they are so quick to criticize. I and other fans have commented that in some of those cases "We're starting to look like RCMB". I attend 90% of our home games and usually meet, chat and sometimes drink with fans of other teams. It goes without saying that the hardest to get along with are OSU and MSU (and I've even found decent fans from those schools). All fanbases have assholes among them, I like to think that we have fewer.