Coming from Central NY,I remember where Syracuse University and Penn State had a huge rivalry,especially since they are just up or down Route 81 from each other. Paterno had a reputation for being a mean,nasty,creep with a dictator's personality. It was his way or the highway.
I believe that winning is everything to these people, and fans will over look almost anything as long as the team is winning. This is not just College,mostly Professional football, for Example former UM player now Baltimore Ravens player,who committed Murder and is lauded and celebrated, and is still on the Ravens payroll.
It is very disheartening when you realize that these Guy start College at about 18 years old.
As always, Sam, a brilliant and knowledgeable post.
samantha, remember that this is coming from someone who was formerly a huge fan of Joe Paterno.
Paterno could get a little preachy. Well, that's sugar-coating it. Paterno often preached from a point of moral superiority that bothered people. It may have bothered me slightly, but when it came to the old saying "people who live in glass houses . . . ", we believed Paterno lived in a glass house. PSU was one of only two NCAA Division 1 institutions that had never been charged or even investigated for a major infraction. And Joe Paterno and his wife gave over $4 million to the PSU library. The guy was a literature major from Brown. An Ivy-League educated football coach who gave money to his university's library!
But the petty side is that Penn State once turned Notre Dame into the NCAA because a Notre Dame recruiter gave a recruit a meal at McDonald's. So . . . there were people who thought that Paterno had a 'holier than thou' posture.
And they thought he was cocky. He was. When he turned 78, the Trustees of Penn State asked Joe Paterno to resign. He said no.
I heard Cefalo’s talk show when I was down there, he’s a very conservative guy.