Joe Paterno Firing: Beaver Stadium Should Remain Empty Saturday

By now, most of the sports world has awakened to the news of coach Joe Paterno's firing.

The iconic Penn State football coach was fired Wednesday night, along with university president Graham Spanier, for being too close to the disgusting child abuse scandal which implicated former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno, who was in his 46th season as the Nittany Lions head coach, is a living legend in the college football world. Paterno leaves the game with 409 victories, two national championships and 24 bowl victories. 

The firing came as quite a shock to the University Park community who thought Paterno was going to retire at the conclusion of the current season. 

The firing did not not sit well with the students, as a spontaneous and dangerous demonstration erupted on the Penn State campus.

Was this just a knee-jerk reaction in support of their bigger-than-life coach, or was it a preview of things to come when Penn State hosts Nebraska at Beaver Stadium Saturday?

Come to think of it, should the game even be played?

Considering the plight of the alleged victims of these sickly acts, should a campus-wide party of more than 100,000 actually take place?

Would business as usual demonstrate that the alleged cover-up took precedence over the victims themselves?

A quick look at the grand jury report shows that wounds run deep in not-so Happy Valley.

An empty stadium just might serve notice that the university and the community are doing more than just naming a few scapegoats.