In tonight's Orange Bowl, #3-ranked Penn State is guided by 79-year-old coaching legend Joe Paterno. Like many old coots, as Paterno has aged , his public statements have become less bland. In Slate, a sportswriter says he should retire fast before he says something really interesting:
This Old Coach
Why Joe Paterno should hang it up.
By Darren Everson
Baiting the refs might make fans and the media think you're nuts, but it probably won't get you fired. Talking off the cuff about race is another thing. Paterno nearly had an "Al Campanis moment" this fall when he defended fellow coach Fisher DeBerry. The Air Force coach got some unwelcome attention when he said his team got blown out by TCU because they "had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did." In defending DeBerry, Paterno nearly repeated his remarks. "The black athlete has made a big difference," he said. "They have changed the whole tempo of the game. Black athletes have just done a great job as athletes and as people in turning the game around." While it seems clear that Paterno's intentions were good, the coach did go right up to the line of social acceptability.
Tell me again why sportswriters appointed themselves the guardians of social acceptability? Why do they prefer their subjects to be politically correct bores?
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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