Just When You Thought You Couldn't Hear Anymore About Penn State...

Looks like it's going to be another Penn State week.

Paterno being lead out.

Yep, the statue came down Sunday morning - before most of the country had stumbled out of bed. And now the sports radio talk (at least a large portion - depending on Monday, which we will discuss later) will be second-guessing this decision.

Did they consult with the right people?
Is it fair to Joe Paterno, his players?
Why didn't they take the name off the library?
Are actions like this an effort to getting ahead of punishment from the NCAA?
Did they give it enough time and consideration?

You watch/listen - same talking heads last week that were advocating statue removal will be asking these questions this week.

I never thought that Joe should of lost his job. And then, there was the Freeh Report, and I had to jump off of that box. I mean, Jesus, Joe - what the hell? It doesn't 1,000% percent implicate Joe (there was no actual smoking gun, but there's enough insinuation, circumstances, and just plain simple logic that removed my reasonable doubt), but it served up a whole lot of new information that made it even more difficult for the pro-Joe Pa crowd.

Sometimes the most difficult thing to do in life is making the decision. Whether it's to ask someone to get married, declare bankruptcy, buy a home, etc. - doing it isn't as hard as deciding to do it. It's making a commitment. Looks like Penn State has made a commitment to move themselves away from the Paterno legacy, whatever it is now. (And I don't think there's a consensus on what his legacy is now - just too difficult.) While they are staying a little grey with leaving his name on the library (for now), I think the statue was much more symbolic and represents much more of the love/adoration/hatred/disgust of this confusing situation.

What's left?

And now that they've removed the statue, the University made that choice. While there will always be individuals who will shout that this is unfair to Joe's legacy and it disregards much of the good he did, on the whole, this action will encourage the greater Penn State family to move on. It definitely won't be easy, and it will take time (years). But Penn State has decided to take the path of leaving Paterno behind.

More Penn State:
"Unprecedented" Actions
My Unprecedented Prediction

Yeah yeah, here's the Twitter: @harry_long