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littlewonder -> RE: Joe Paterno passes away. (1/22/2012 1:38:24 PM)
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I'm from where the whole scandal took place, my family still lives there. I called two of my sisters today. I asked them how they're doing like I always do when calling. The first thing they both said in very very saddened voices is "Well Joe is dead".
Personally it's sorta a big deal thing for me because Joe was synonymous with football there and football is literally their livelihood there. If it wasn't for football that area would have become a ghost town at least 50 years ago. But on the other hand I was never a sports fan and only ever went to all the football stuff out of tradition and culture there.
So even though what he did was very wrong, I also understand him because I've met him many times, I know the area, I know how people are there, I know their attitudes and such. The scandal wasn't a shock to me.
And so while we could reflect on what he did, we could also keep in mind that he was an old, most likely after the last time I saw him a few years ago, probably already going a little senile and probably should have retired about 10 years ago. We could still at least give him a moment of rememberance not as a coach but simply as a human being and the pain of his family.
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