Trips to Penn State horrifying

When I was 15 years old, I was taken advantage of by the Penn State football program in a… When I was 15 years old, I was taken advantage of by the Penn State football program in a scheme that resulted in emotional scarring and destroyed all of my previous admiration for those infamous Nittany Lions.

It cost me $400 and some change to go to Penn State football camp for three despondent days that year. The brochure that sucked me in promised an experience filled with opportunities to learn hands-on from Penn State players and coaches, and a meeting with the big cheese himself, head coach Joe Paterno.

While I’ll admit my expectations were extremely high and I had visions of the coaching staff drooling over my non-existent talents, the camp completely failed to live up to its words.

I learned absolutely nothing in those three abysmal days with second-string players and assistant coaches who I had never heard of. And to top it all off, that poor excuse for a legend, “Joe Pa,” never did show up because, as my co-campers and I were told, “something came up.”

My respect for Paterno evaporated after that weekend, and my distaste for Penn State was initiated. I’ve despised the school ever since.

But despite my disapproval and disgust for such an ignorant football program, I made the trip to Un-Happy Valley for the Penn State game against Wisconsin over the weekend.

Let’s just say that the highlight of Penn State’s day involved the efforts of a highly intoxicated student, who – wearing a toga in the freezing rain – repeatedly dove through the mud and proceeded to belly-flop in front of a massive pre-game tailgating crowd.

The student body was more into this kid than any part of the game, and for good reason – their team stinks. In a 30-23 loss to the Badgers, the Nittany Lions’ record fell to a lousy 2-4 on their homecoming, in front of a crowd of over 107,000.

I doubt that I could have watched such pitiful football without the help of a six-pack or two.

Though I find it extremely humorous to see the enemy plummet, there is a more serious issue that has grabbed my attention. Paterno is entirely too old to be coaching at a major university, and he appears to be completely out of place.

He has done wonders for his football program during his 38-year tenure at the head coaching position, but that’s beside the point. He has dug himself into a hole with his decision not to retire, and there’s not much room to climb out; the hole keeps getting bigger.

Paterno simply cannot keep up with the younger coaches across the nation when it comes to recruiting. He’s losing potential players to Big East schools, something that never used to happen, and there seems to be a lack of respect from the ones that are brought in.

Regardless of his past, with 338 wins and two national championships, his style is outdated and a bad team looks to be getting worse right before his eyes.

The legend of Joe Pa is quickly fading away, and if he wants people to remember him for his accomplishments, I highly suggest that he depart at the end of the season, in order to maintain a sturdy relationship with his supporters.

Otherwise, the only thing that Penn State fans will remember about Joe Pa is this terrible team that currently stands behind him and the many more that will come in years ahead, if he sticks around.

And by the way, this Friday night, ESPN will be airing a one-hour documentary on Paterno titled “The Season: Joe Paterno.” I have high hopes that the season does not refer to this awful one. If it does, they may want to change the name to “The Season: Joe Pa-thetic.”

Ryan Faloon is a columnist for The Pitt News.