OT: Joe Paterno statue to be taken down this weekend (maybe)
reports NFL Network’s Kimberly Jones and ESPN's Bonnie Bernstein.
http://tracking.si.com/2012/07/20/penn-state-take-down-joe-paterno-statue/
EDIT: Penn St still has not confirmed this, though:
Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre: "I'm not aware of any decision being made," regarding the Joe Paterno statue.
Penn State Board member Capt. Ryan McCombie said "We did no such thing," re: voting to take down Joe Paterno statue, made no more comment.
Penn State president Rodney Erickson’s office responded to the reports by telling the school’s donors that “no final decision” has been made regarding the statue.
------------------------------
Update: Either way, it sounds like a decision will be made by Penn St President Rodney Erickson within the next 72 hours according to ESPN
I can only imagine the fools who will try to stop it coming down. Tiananmen is apt.
I like the point that it would be a constant security and liability issue. It would need constant police presence and it's not worth in light of recent developments.
I'm betting it doesn't happen this weekend. There will be thousands of protestors that get in the way. This just solidifies the idea that football was everything in Happy Valley.
True dat. The dumbest thing would be to announce when they are going to do it. I'd take it down at 6am after a big party night.
Announce that it's coming down next Sunday night but take it down next Saturday morning. Oops, typo.
On the other hand you could basically force the supporters to live there by having various reporters tweet "My sources say it is coming down tonight".
One of the most undeserved statues I can think of (certainly the most unworthy sports figure). It needs to come down as soon as possible.
No man or legacy is bigger than the legacy of kid's safety.
Now try to come up with some shame, Board of Trustees.
Or just stick a hole in its rear and put it in Sandusky's cell...
Honestly, after the way this situation has been handled, there really was no right move for the trustees to make. If they decided to take the statue down after saying "it represented the good JoPa did", then they're "bowing to media pressure". If they decided to leave it up, they're "idolizing the evil that has gone on at PSU for years". They dug themselves into a hole with that one.
have knowledge of the reports, rumors or allegations. This hole was started a long time ago. All it needed was for one person to stop digging and do the right thing. Sadly, as an institution, they somehow thought burying it was the answer.
They're going to catch hell no matter what they do.
So they might as well just do the right thing.
Someone should create a plaque or something as a tribute* to the victims and surreptitiously affix it to the ground once the statue has been removed (because the administration certainly wouldn't do it).
Also, I hear the artist who painted the mural of PSU luminaries has first replaced Sandusky with a blue child abuse awareness ribbon, then Dora McQuaid, a PSU grad and advocate for child victims of sexual abuse (along with her handprint and that of one of the victims); removed the halo over Paterno and put a blue ribbon on his jacket; and is thinking of putting a blindfold on former president Graham Spanier.
*and "tribute" isn't quite the right word, but can't quite come up with it. Not a memorial b/c they're not dead.
Who is the guy in the back with the halo (?) behind his head?
And what is that on his shoulder? A puppy? a hamster?
/Confused.
PSU AD:
"We are are totally not a football cult. Now if you'll excuse me I need to hire a guy to paint a halo over Paterno's head."
I thought the idea was that dead people got a halo.
Nah. The Western art depiction of halos started with Alexander the Great when he was alive, and the Roman emperors used it, too.
But it's also used in Eastern art.
Plus, you know, the stadium had a halo for awhile...
Yup, Paterno only go a halo after he died. So PSU's timeline was:
- Sandusky Scandal goes public
- Sandusky painted out
- Paterno dies
- Halo painted over Paterno
- Freeh Report
- Halo painted out
Why was Sandusky even on that mural? I mean really, how is the defensive coordinator a campus icon?
He played there from 1963-1965, was a grad assistant in 1966, then joined the coaching staff in 1969. He was promoted to DC in 1979 and was there until 1999. So up until this scandal, he was a pretty big deal for them
I know his history and all but really . . . could you imagine an assistant football coach ever being part of a similar mural in Ann Arbor?
By the time they are done, I hope there are murals of Borges and Mattison all over town.
very nice gesture
Appropriateness aside, I think it's a pretty crappy piece of artwork. The look on his face is ridiculous. And why is he giving the "We're number 1" gesture? Did he normally do that when he ran out of the tunnel?
You're right about it being a crap piece of sculpture.
If they leave it up, they should change to the middle finger and turn the hand around. Since that's basically what they'd be telling the rest of the world...
Was this the model for JoePa's hand?
I think he's telling his team to go for "one" after yet another touchdown against Temple.
PSU trolls.
Temple University: "We aren't Penn State".
"Honestly, Smithers, I don't know why Harvard bothered showing up. They barely even won!"
Seriously, they are scared stiff that the NCAA is going to charge them with lack of institutional control, one of their biggest alumni backers if the former PA Attorney General and current governor who likely is being investigated discretely to see if he did anything to stop the child rape investigations. They are simply hoping that discarded a bunch of stones will appease everyone and get them to back off. They don't care in the least about a dead man's statue, they want to go back to they way things were and don't realize that they will NEVER be that way again. The days of blind checks are gone, thank goodness.
Gorden Gee had taken over as decider/PR director at PSU
I think there is something to be said for leaving it in place as a constant reminder to everyone who sees it of what happened when people made the choice to protect the school rather than do what was right. Could anyone going past that statute ever forget this incident? Wouldn't it be a constant reminder of how one major misstep can ruin a career? And a school's reputation? Remove the statute, and you help to bury the story; leave it alone, and people are reminded of it every time they pass it. If I were on the PSU board, I would want the statute down for that very reason. And I agree, it is one crappy piece of sculpture.
People will see what they choose to when they look at the statue. For every person in Happy Valley who thinks about it as you do, there will be another with a contradictory viewpoint. Leaving it up does prolong the controversy about whether it should be taken down. That's probably not a good thing for them.
Imagine if they didn't take it down.
In the long run, the scandal will be forgotten or at least compartmentalized. Now, that may not be for another 15-20 years. But eventually, that will happen. And then young visitors to Beaver Stadium, circa 2030, will see the statue with the "HUMANITARIAN" writing behind it, and assume that this Joe Paterno guy was the bee's knees.
Better to take it down now.
how is this even a consideration!!! TAKE IT DOWN!
I remember around the same time as the OSU scandal there was going to be a HUGE story about corruption in a major college football program. Sure lying/cheating Tressel fell, but OSU was hardly punished and now ends up with arguably a better coach, pretty much in the same or a better position going forward. No other story came out, but really, after this...can there ever be a HUGE scandal, everything will pale in comparison.
Now with this PSU story, everything else (and deservedly so) is trumped, as this is obviously the worst scandal to ever hit college sports, and maybe all of American sports, given the circumstances (Joe Pa legacy / hypocricy, etc.).
While it may seem petty at this point, given the PSU victims and the horrendous nature of the crimes, is anyone else annoyed that OSU got off so easy...and now adding in this PSU disaster, their lying cheating ways have been overshadowed to a point of non-issue?
Hate to say it, but man they skated free and easy.
I guess if I were them, I'd cheat too. They're really good at it.