Things have become much more complicated now. I have no connection to Happy Valley other than as a football fan and the university was my dream school growing up. I’ll still root for the Blue and White, but my T-shirts might stay in the closet a little longer ... especially living in the heart of Buckeye country. I admit I feel a little embarrassed and ashamed to walk around with a Penn State shirt since the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal broke. But I also know the current football program — the new coaches and players who had nothing to do with the scandal — had nothing to do with the cover up.
Like any program, there are the blindly loyal followers who will argue to the end Paterno did enough. Shame on them. Those same rioters who protested Paterno’s firing should have been in the streets protesting Penn State’s appalling cover-up documented in a recently released report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh.
But I know there are more level-headed alumni who will continue to rally around their school as the wonderful place they know and proudly display their diplomas.
If Penn State’s football program was to receive the death penalty from the NCAA, I couldn’t argue. But when the ban ended, I’d be there to support them ... with my T-shirt on.
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