Or, if you’re feeling snarky, turned so it’s looking the other way.
(Don’t get mad at me; that was the running joke for the past 24 hours)
But the possibility of removing the statue of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno following the release of the Freeh report is serious matter. As I opined yesterday, such a move to do so -- if there’s a move to do so -- should be Penn State’s prerogative only.
That doesn’t mean others don’t share the opinion that it is indeed time for the memorializing of Paterno to be done away with. Interestingly enough, former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, a long-time friend of Paterno’s and legendary coach in his own right, agreed it was time to remove the statue outside Beaver Stadium.
“Should his statue be removed? I hear that [on TV]. In my opinion, yes,” Bowden said via the Altoona Mirror Thursday. “Every time somebody walks by and sees that statue, they’re not going to remember the 80 good years. They’re going to remember this thing with Sandusky. And I say for Joe’s sake, for the family’s sake, I would remove that statue. ... I mean, just think, every time you go to a ballgame at Penn State and they shine that camera on that statue, that’s going to be brought up again. So if I was Penn State and I was Joe’s family, I’d say remove all that stuff.”
From what I can gather, the desire to remove Paterno’s statue is centered on the principle of what the former coach did, or rather didn’t, do in the Sandusky scandal. Bowden, on the other hand, views it as a way to preserve how Paterno was viewed for decades.
“That’s not the way we knew him,” Bowden said. “Joe was always a guy that knew where he was, he knew what needed to be done and he never shied away from a decision. And for this to happen is just so unbecoming, it’s hard for me and people who knew him personally ... to accept it.”
It should be noted that Bowden added his remorse remained with Sandusky’s victims -- and frankly that’s where our thoughts should continue to be as well -- but as a friend, this has to be a difficult for him to comprehend.