They had a big debate on local radio yesterday about how Penn State is naming the football stadium after Paterno and whether that's the right move or not. I'm on the side that says it's an awful move that sends the exact opposite message that needs to be sent. All the Penn Staters calling in kept saying it's meant to honor him for building the university into what it is today, but if that's the case why not name one of the hundreds of buildings on campus after him? There are a million things on that campus that can be named in his honor, but by picking the one building that the rest of the world sees, they're sending the message that the most important thing to Penn Staters is his contribution to football. They're saying that his 409 wins in football is more important than anything else. Is that really want they want to convey to the rest of the world?
Also, here's the elephant in the middle of the room with JoePa's involvement in the case. Everybody is thinking it, but nobody wants to ask this question... what would've happened to Penn State football if this story broke in 2002 when the incident happened? Or in 1998 when the first investigation happened? 1998, and to a slightly lesser degree 2002, was pretty early in the internet age and the modern mega-media had not yet evolved into what it is today. This scandal is horrible enough as it is, but can you imagine the impact on a team (particularly a top 10 team) if they're ACTIVE defensive coordinator is being investigated for molesting a child? IF that happened today, there's no way this story doesn't get leaked to the media. So here's that big question... 13 years is a full 25% of Paterno's tenure that includes 409 wins, how many of those are DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTED to this coverup? If Penn State football is in shambles now (which we all agree it is), would it have been this way in 2002 or 1998? So every week, 100K Penn Staters will walk into a stadium named for a man who won your 409 games, approximately 100 of which were won as a direct result of sweeping horrible crimes under the carpet. We've talked a lot about JoePa's legacy, well IMO history needs to acknowledge that up to 25% of that legacy was achieved under suspect circumstances.
