Thou Shalt Not Anger JoPa

I normally don't follow college football. I don't find it terribly interesting and can think of 100 things I prefer to do then sit down and watch a game. Given the choice between Penn State football and Penguins hockey, I will choose hockey every time.

However, it is very difficult to grow up on the edge of central Pennsylvania and not know about Joe Paterno, affection ally known as “JoPa”. Eighty-year old JoPa has been head coach at Penn State University for forty years and has been voted most-likely-to-die & be-buried-at-halftime in the middle of field. This is the man who had to be physically removed from the field during a 2006 game after a collision with a Wisconsin player, in which he broke his leg and tore ligaments in his knee.

In early April of 2007 approximately fifteen members of Penn State's football team were involved in an off-campus brawl. Two of the players will have to stand trial for various charges, including burglary, criminal trespass, simple assault and harassment.

And JoPa is not happy about the kind of negative media attention the team is receiving. He is unhappy enough that the team, as a whole, is being disciplined for demonstrating a severe lack of leadership.

So this summer instead of enjoying the time off, all of the members of the Penn State football team will be assisting Habitat for Humanity in building a home and working the Summer Special Olympics. When the 2007/2008 football season comes around, the team will be suiting up the day after each home game to help clean Beaver Stadium. The money earned will be donated to support club sport teams.

And just in case you are curious, Beaver Stadium is the sixth largest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 107,282 bodies.

The moral of the story? It really does not pay to tick off the old man.