Penn State lettermen petitions the return of Paterno statue because he didn't do anything wrong.

Submitted by poseidon7902 on

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/16796265/lettermen-petit…

 

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- More than 200 Penn State football lettermen petitioned the university Tuesday for the return of Joe Paterno's iconic bronze statue, which was removed in the summer of 2012 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse case.

The former players and coaches, who span every decade since the 1950s, also made two other demands: Return the wall that rested behind the statue and celebrated Penn State accomplishments, and issue a formal apology to Paterno's widow.

"Joe Paterno has been cast in a negative light," the letter writer, former tight end/punter Brian Masella, told ESPN, "and we're trying to correct that narrative. The university has ignored us over and over again."

The university did not immediately release a statement in response to the letter, although a spokesman acknowledged it was received.

UMgradMSUdad

July 5th, 2016 at 3:21 PM ^

And Franklin was worried about other schools negative recruiting?  The Penn State football alumni have just done a better job of negative recruiting than anyone else.

MGoStretch

July 5th, 2016 at 3:35 PM ^

The JoeBots are like zombies. Difficult to kill, impossible to reason with, and possess an undying love for all things Paterno, including enabling child molesters. If they actually put that statue back up, they'll need around the clock security, there's no way that thing isn't getting routinely, and appropriately, vandalized regularly.

morepete

July 5th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^

“You can print this: You can print that I don’t really give a [expletive] what the ‘Paterno people’ think about what I do with this program. I’ve done everything I can to show respect to Coach Paterno. Everything in my power. So I could really care less about what the Paterno faction of people, or whatever you call them, think about what I do with the program. I’m tired of it.
“For any ‘Paterno person’ to have any objection to what I’m doing, it makes me wanna put my fist through this windshield right now.”

“I’m trying to field the most competitive football team I can with near-death penalty [expletive] sanctions. Every time I say something like that and somebody prints it, it’s skewed as an excuse. And I’m not an excuse-maker. I’m trying to do the best I can for the kids in that program. That’s all I care about is the kids in that program. As long as I’m the head football coach here.”

“That’s why, in probably about a month, they’re gonna be [expletive] looking for a new coach.”

The FannMan

July 5th, 2016 at 4:00 PM ^

Dump PSU and Rutgers.  Nebraska and Maryland are welcome to stay. Pull Purdue from the West to the East and run the damn thing with 12 teams.  

And PSU is no longer a stain on our conference.  

Mabel Pines

July 5th, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^

Down the street from me and yesterday she put out the American flag, the U.S. army flag, and a Penn State flag. All on the front porch. I winced.

M-Dog

July 5th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^

They should just bulldoze the entire site where the statue was and plant grass or make a parking lot.

Make it clear it's not coming back. Period.

 

drzoidburg

July 5th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^

this is the statue that says "humanitarian"? Yeah i'm far more likely to want it subjected to dynamite than to ever see the light of day again. Time does not heal everything, especially when it only reveals more criminal behavior. What exactly are the new facts that have emerged to prove paterno's innocence in the kid raping factory? Why don't they just put up a statue of sandusky himself while at it?

Megatron

July 5th, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^

Time to let it go Joe isn't going to get his image back and no amount of defending him will either by his former players which will take decades for the defending to end.

NittanyFan

July 5th, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^

Paterno Loyalists are like antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  Short of their death (which is inevitable, although not in the short-term), you aren't getting rid of them.  That is what it is.

Also --- Penn State is not getting kicked out of the conference, nor is the death penalty coming.  Short of someone dropping a nuclear bomb on State College and the University literally getting destroyed, you aren't getting rid of them.  That also is what it is.

I'm one Penn State person who is definitely not a Paterno Loyalist.  But the "debate" on this topic is utterly cyclical, repetitive, predictive and at least from my PSU POV --- exhausting and tiresome. 

I don't like the Paterno Loyalists.  But they do exist.  Such is.  I can't get rid of them.  

I won't link to a competitive blog here, but if one google searches "Joe Paterno This Again", there's a good article on a non-UM, non-PSU B1G blog about this whole dynamic.

Thus ends my rant.

BIGBLUEWORLD

July 5th, 2016 at 10:56 PM ^

The could put his statue in Frackville Prison and let it serve the time he should have been sentenced for covering up for Sandusky.

Rage86

July 6th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^

I live here right by PSU and its terrible how some people have blinders on. I was punched in the face a few months back because i said that people around here turn a black eye to everything because they say he did everything he had to do...my explanation was "If you find out someone sexual assults your child and your friend knew but all he did was call the cop and then continued to watch the same person be around your child and not checked to see if the rumors were true" YES that got me punched right in the face. Imagine that...plus my wife started working for the county jail where Sandusky was housed until his hearing and amazingly most of the CO's think the statue should be back because "he did nothing wrong, he called his boss" GIVE ME A BREAK....IF SOMEONE DID THAT TO MY CHILD I WOULD RIP THEIR BALLS OFF AND CHOKE THEM TO DEATH WITH IT.

MGo Banana

July 6th, 2016 at 12:25 PM ^

and noticed Paterno at a game making a cameo on a TV in a bar in one scene (the film is set in 2001). Seemed like a subtle way for the filmmakers to equate the abuses at Penn St to the Catholic church pedophelia epidemic.