cactuswatcher (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cactuswatcher) wrote2008-11-22 08:27 am
cactuswatcher) wrote2008-11-22 08:27 am
Joe-great-grandpa
Football coaches tend to be a self-centered, anal bunch, but one takes the cake.
Last night 81-year-old Joe Paterno vowed to Penn State fans that he will return to the sidelines next season. When Paterno turned 64 I thought he was right to fight his university's mandatory retirement age of 65. But it's 17 years later and Paterno is no longer the great coach he once was. When the critical decisions are made on game day, he sits in the press box and silently listens on the headset while others make the decisions he once wouldn't let anyone else make. He's hired some great assistant coaches to do that work, no question about it. But at the moment he's little more than a figurehead and world's highest paid, most pampered sports fan. He's in the press box this year due to a bad hip, and considering what happened to Charlie Weis, it's clear a semi-attentive 82-year-old could literally get killed standing on the sidelines. Hell, that might be exactly what the old guy wants; go out in a blaze of selfish stupidity. If Penn State wants to keep him as the figurehead headcoach, fine. But keep him in the press box and off the field.
Last night 81-year-old Joe Paterno vowed to Penn State fans that he will return to the sidelines next season. When Paterno turned 64 I thought he was right to fight his university's mandatory retirement age of 65. But it's 17 years later and Paterno is no longer the great coach he once was. When the critical decisions are made on game day, he sits in the press box and silently listens on the headset while others make the decisions he once wouldn't let anyone else make. He's hired some great assistant coaches to do that work, no question about it. But at the moment he's little more than a figurehead and world's highest paid, most pampered sports fan. He's in the press box this year due to a bad hip, and considering what happened to Charlie Weis, it's clear a semi-attentive 82-year-old could literally get killed standing on the sidelines. Hell, that might be exactly what the old guy wants; go out in a blaze of selfish stupidity. If Penn State wants to keep him as the figurehead headcoach, fine. But keep him in the press box and off the field.