7/24/14 Paterno Statue Revisited

0724 Joe’s Statue Redux

970 WBLF.  I’m Wes Richards with some revised thoughts on Joe’s statue.

It was supposed to be Joe Paterno sitting on a bench, reading a copy of Virgil’s Aeneid.

But there have been some changes.  First, the statue doesn’t yet exist, although there’s a mockup or a beginning.

Second the statue, even if it did exist would be homeless.  The original location in the alley outside the Tavern Restaurant apparently isn’t going to work for the sponsors or the alley.

Third, while the statue is called “Joe on a Bench,” there’s no bench.  Not anymore.

The sponsors say he wasn’t a bench warmer.  And that’s true.  But how can you have Joe on a bench without a bench?

No… if this thing gets built, it’s going to be a life size statue of Paterno kind of just standing there.

He wasn’t a bystander, either.

And the mockup or the preliminary or whatever you call those things before they’re finished is that of a schlumpy looking old man with hunched shoulders.  

And that’s even worse than the larger than life statue they saddam hussein-ed in front of the stadium.

Old man, yes.  Schlumpy old man, no way.

A key phrase here is “life size.”  The Stadium statue was larger than life.  

Paterno was a fine coach.  He was an important figure in the life of this community for an awfully long time.

But larger than life?  No way.

There still are those who don’t think there should be a statue.  They are wrong.  There should be.

There are others who want the original Tower of Joe back… and back where it was.

There are those who don’t think there should be a statue until all the legal wrangling over his firing and the Sandusky sordidness settles.

Court cases don’t usually move any faster than maple sap running up a tree.

The wait-a-minute crowd wants everything all neat and clean and wrapped up in a nice blue and white ribbon.

That will take until Penn State wins another 409 games.  And you and I will not be around that long even if the wins are consecutive.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®