Joe Paterno Dead At 85

Joe Paterno was a bad ass motherfucker
Penn State died a little bit today.

It has been a rough few months for the university.  It started with the Jerry Sandusky scandal that rocked their university, that prompted riots as well as prompting my grandfather to say "I don't want to live in a world like this" not to long before his own passing.  Then their legendary coach Joe Paterno was fired because the scandal happened under his watch.  After two months of large scale media coverage, the legendary coach who has defined Pennsylvania State University succumbed to lung cancer the morning after rumors of his death had surfaced.

The unfortunate thing is that these are the things that modern fans or people who look at sports in passing will see.  It's sad because these are a lot of the last memories of Joe Paterno's life.  A media circus and a sex scandal.  Matt Millen put it best when he said, "I just can't help but think he died of a broken heart...and that bothers me.

What people should remember is how he came to define the Penn State Nittany Lions over the last 46 years he coached them.  They should remember his 409 wins, first in Division I football and second to John Gagliardi of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.  People should remember how he demanded a lot from his players; on the field and in the classroom.  It was his "Grand Experiment".  People should remember goofy little things like how he rolled up his pants on game days to save on cleaning bills.  People should remember his accent and the fact that he brought up his children to think for themselves.

Under his watch, Penn State had five undefeated teams and won two national championships in 1982 and 1986.  They joined the Big Ten in 1990 and won conference titles in 1994, 2005 and 2008.

There are so many great things to remember Paterno by, but the matter of the fact is many people will remember none of the great things I mentioned in this article.  They will remember him for a scandal that is not his fault.  Paterno was aware of this and it what haunted him on his deathbed.  A man who lived a wonderful life, ended it on such a sour note.

Educated sports fans and genuine people will know that Paterno was more than this scandal.  They will know that he deserved to die on better terms.  Others will just remember that he was the Penn State coach in the middle of that damn scandal.

And that's a damn shame.