Jerry Kellar
Shame on boorish, arrogant JoePa Jerry Kellar Opinion
<!-- begin body-content -->You know that old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder? That likely won’t apply to the Orange Bowl people, who by now must be sick and tired of putting up with Joe Paterno’s childlike tantrums.
Penn State’s crabby 79-year-old coach has spent the last week alienating and insulting anyone and everyone who dared not kowtow to his whims, further evidence that, while Paterno’s sideline skills might not be withering with time, his social graces most definitely are.
His display of arrogance here will surely overshadow his team’s Bowl Championship Series game with Florida State Tuesday night at Dolphins Stadium.
In the past seven days, Paterno:
... Dressed down a press conference moderator who was simply trying to introduce the coach.
“Let’s go, we don’t need a speech. I gotta get outta here in a half-hour.”
... Blasted Orange Bowl organizers for having events spread out over South Florida, even though he’s received a police escort for every trip.
“Is this the Miami Bowl or the Fort Lauderdale Bowl?” he said. “I don’t know in God’s name why you (media) guys are up here and we’re down there. It took me 30 minutes with a police car to come up here.”
... Complained about being contractually obligated to adhere to the BCS’ hectic schedule. Penn State’s cut for being here, remember, is approximately $15 million.
“I get instructions from the BCS, ‘This is what you gotta do.’ In the old days, I used to work with the Orange Bowl Committee. They’d tell me, ‘This is what you gotta do.’ I’d say, ‘Ah, baloney. Change it around a little bit.’
“I go from here back to my hotel. I go from there to a lunch in Miami Beach. I go from there to a (pep) rally and ... hey, you know, it’s in the contract. You gotta stay where they tell you to stay. We used to pick our own hotel and the whole bit. So I don’t like the whole thing. I love the old way. But I’m a dinosaur.”
Paterno’s tired act was in direct contrast to his friend, Bobby Bowden. The 76-year-old Florida State coach was typically gracious and respectful to everyone during the week, media included. Asked if he had similar complaints regarding the week’s bowl schedule, Bowden said: “We’re just happy to be here.”
Then, there’s the A.J. Nicholson matter.
Paterno, who never shies from weighing in on potentially volatile subjects, nearly crossed the line of appropriate behavior when he was asked about the Seminoles’ linebacker and leading tackler, who was dismissed from the team late last week.
Nicholson, a senior, has been accused, but not charged, with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old female acquaintance at a Hollywood Beach hotel.
“It’s so tough. There are so many people gravitating to these kids,” Paterno said. “(Nicholson) may not even have known what he was getting into. A cute girl knocks on the door, what do you do?
“Geez, thank God they don’t knock on my door. ... But that’s too bad. You hate to see that.”
No, Joe Paterno didn’t mean to condone Nicholson’s alleged actions. I’ve been around him long enough to know that’s not his style. He is, deep down, a good man. But by making light of a highly sensitive issue, as he is wont to do, the coach comes off looking like a boorish old fool.
Problem is, Paterno has become such a powerfully monstrous figure at Penn State, he answers to no one. That’s both dangerous and wrong.
And, if university president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley aren’t cringing from embarrassment after this Orange Bowl exhibition, they’re just as wrong.
<!-- end body-content --><!-- begin body-end --><HR class=tagline color=#cccccc SIZE=1>
