Joe Paterno Fired: Why Are Penn State Students Being so Supportive of Paterno?

As I was watching the news footage of the Penn State student “riots” in downtown State College last night, I couldn’t help but think of a few questions I would have loved to ask the kids.

While it was obvious that most of them were just there for the same reason that any 19-year-old college kid goes to a mass gathering like that (had a few drinks, nothing better to do, wanted to see what it’s like and get a few cool pics to post on Facebook, etc.), there were some fans downtown and outside of Joe Paterno’s house, who appeared to be giving their legitimate, undying support to their beloved coach.

While that’s understandable given all that Paterno has meant to the university, you have to wonder if the students' outcry of support was in poor taste.

One of the questions I was hoping a reporter on the scene at Paterno’s house would have asked of one of the energetic youths is as follows.

“If you were actually the 10-year-old kid who had your innocence stripped away in the shower with Jerry Sandusky back in 2002, and Joe Paterno did nothing to make sure you received proper justice for the atrocity that was committed against you, would you still be out here tonight and being this supportive of the coach right now?”

Maybe if some of the JoePa faithful had put themselves in the victim's shoes, their tune would have changed a bit.

From an outsider’s point of view, I just can’t understand celebrating a man that let a known child abuser hang around his program and football facilities as long as he agreed to keep his sexual habits off campus.

“We won’t rat you out for what you did, just don’t bring the kids here anymore.”

Where is the logic and decency in that line of thinking?

As we continually keep learning the details surrounding this case, I can’t for the life of me understand wanting to support a man like Joe Paterno right now, let alone celebrate him.

This is a man who didn’t practice what he preached. Even until the very end, his concern was more about himself and his well-being than all of the poor victims or “whatever they want to say.”

Joe, I think it’s fair to call them victims.

It was Paterno who wanted to dictate how he would end his career. He told the board of trustees that they didn’t need to worry about him and that he was going to finish off the season and retire, despite the fact he in no way earned that right.

Somehow, Joe had the audacity to try to seek sympathy during all of this. He threw out that doozy of a quote, “It's a tough life when people do certain things to you,” during one of the ramblings outside of his house.

Joe, it’s also a tough life when people don’t do certain things for you, just like you didn’t do enough to stop Sandusky’s reign of terror and keep him from allegedly assaulting more children.

While I know that the 2,000 protesters/rioters/kids looking for something to do in Beaver Canyon last night don’t represent the entire majority of Penn State students, it still reflects negatively on the student body.

Joe Paterno is certainly not a man who deserves support or sympathy right now, and hopefully the Penn State students will all come to realize this before another news van tragically has to lose its life.