Paul Reacts to Joe Paterno Statue Removal at his Alma Mater

I graduated from Penn State in 1998. I'm not a big football fan and when I do obsess over football it's for a team that wears black and gold, not blue and white, but I still carried a great pride in my school's football program. I'll be honest, my pride was in Joe Paterno. I can even specifically remember explaining why JoePa was so great to my wife. It was about how no other school had such a long serving coach, how he was a great guy that stood for old school values like hard work, honesty and integrity.

Now, I take all that back. The question comes down to one man asking himself 'What is more important, the legendary Penn State football program, or the safety and well being of children?' While I can understand that it would be a shame to let over 30 years of work go because of something Joe Paterno didn't do, it was still the choice he should have made. The moment the situation with Jerry Sandusky became real, the call had to be made to the police and let the chips fall where they may.

At that point in time, JoePa was untouchable. Nothing like him existed in the world of sports. Maybe he knew that after a scandal of this proportion, had he done what should have been done, he might not have lost his job, but would have lost his 'untouchable' status. Then, after a few losing (or non-championship winning) seasons Penn State could dethrone him and move on. With JoePa's status, it would have taken a scandal like that to get him out of there.

No scandal = untouchable. Scandal = the potential of everything he worked for coming to an end.

Therefore, I agree 100% with the decision to remove the statue. The names of men who know that children are being abused may last through the ages, but they aren't famous, they're infamous.