Ya Gotta Go Joe . ..

This weekend marks the new fall season of college football. I must admit I'm not a huge fan. Why? Well - I have never lived in big college football towns or even regions. I have family who lives in the south and let me tell you - more important than what one does for a living is 'who do you root for?' I also have some moral problems with these teenagers/young twenty-somethings being used to make SO much money yet if they are taken out to dinner by a booster they can lose their scholarship. Bottom line is that for many college football players, their stay in college is merely a 'minor league football' career. They don't attend class or really even care about their education. So why do we pretend like they must be saints or priests? Let's give them a paycheck and a contract and a set of fair terms and conditions. It would be more honest. All that said, you just can't be a sports fan, especially an NFL fan and not know a few things about college football. Heck, I even watch it sometimes and kind of follow a few teams. This brings me to today's post. Joe. Sure, most of you already know what I'm talking about but for those of you who don't I'm talking about Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno is 84 years old and still the head coach of the Penn State football team. Joe is not just a coach, he's an institution. "JoePa" as he's known has held the position of head coach since 1966. This is outstanding. This is unreal. This is beyond commendable. This is also now starting to be a little crazy. During the pre-season this year, Joe was knocked over by a player careening off the field and broke his hip. There was some talk he wouldn't even be on the sideline for the opening game of the season. Nowadays when you hear Joe give a press conference he has the tell-tale slurred words of an old man. I've never met Joe or seen a Penn State football game. I've never particularly cared about how Penn State does year after year, but at his age, I'm not even sure Joe should be driving a CAR never mind leading this team. By hanging on and not graciously stepping down he is no doubt creating a terrible position for the university, students and his colleagues. Will he hang on SO long that his removal (forcibly or otherwise) become pitiable or hostile? Will he be defiant? Will he begin losing his faithful coaching staff who have held on in the expectation of taking the reins of this wagon? Will he begin losing recruits who are unsure about how long or whether JoePa will be their coach? It seems to me that the right and gracious thing to do would be to announce a departure, and do it soon. Don't force the university to do it. Don't believe that you are the same man at 84 than when you were 39, or shoot even 69! Refusing to acknowledge that an end is both near and coming is selfish and irresponsible to the "empire" you spent your life building. It's time to go Joe. It's up to do to lead the transition gracefully. Looking at these last couple years makes me want to thank Seinfeld for taking his own show off the air before it became a sad shell of its former self. JoePa could learn something from that.