Every time Penn State loses this year, yet another national sports writer seems to wonder if it is time for Joe Paterno to hang it up. They all say the same sort of thing. For what he has done for Penn State both on and off the field, he deserves the right to say when he’s done (of course this is followed by the inevitable) but…

Let me say it then. Joe Paterno should stay as long as he wants to. If he stays too long, and drags the Penn State program down, so that it takes years or even a decade or so to recover; well, then, so be it. Joe Paterno has earned that right. He built that program, he should be able to take it down.

If Paterno drags Penn State to the point where it ends up like Alabama some 20 years after Bear Bryant retired, well, he’s earned that right.

I mean this latest incident about the DUI for a Penn State player, and Joe Paterno’s comments are getting taken way too far. There is no need for Jim Rome to refer to Paterno’s comments as “senile rantings” (or something like that) [subscription only for the streaming audio — windows or real].

More respect needs to be shown to Joe Paterno. It just isn’t right to call him an idiot, senile, moron, jerk, hypocrite, and such. There’s just no call for that. It isn’t nice. We all must be nice to Joe. He needs us. All of us. Lay off the guy.

(…with apologies to Bloom County, easily the greatest comic strip of all time [and nobody chronicled the 80s better])

Yesterday, I mentioned that Penn State’s star wide receiver and team captain, senior Tony Johnson, had been arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol last Friday (October 17). This wasn’t good, either for Penn State Football or for those of us who have friends and relatives driving around State College every night. But get a load of Head Coach Joe Paterno’s reaction to the news at yesterday’s weekly press conference, as reported in today’s Altoona Mirror.

“I’m unhappy with Tony’s situation. He should not have been up that late. It will all get blown out of proportion because he’s a football player, but he didn’t do anything to anybody, and there are legal aspects as to how it’s resolved. I’ll probably have to suspend him for a game or so because I have to send a message to the squad that it’s inappropriate to be out in the middle of the week having a couple of drinks.”

So Johnson’s DUI is no big deal because nobody got hurt? And worse yet, the only message that needs to be sent about this incident is that its inappropriate for Penn State football players to be having a few drinks in the middle of the week!? Does Paterno have any idea how many innocent people are killed by drunk drivers every night? Does Paterno have any respect whatsoever the rest of us Central Pennsylvanian motorists who must occsionally share the highways with his football players?

But then Paterno really dropped into bizarro world, accusing local police of singling out his football players.

“I think a lot of these things that are happening there are people that say, ‘there’s a kid that looks like he’s a football player, let’s trail him.'”

When some reporters in the room raised their eyebrows, Paterno only partially backed off.

“Are they targeting football players? I really don’t know.”

If there is one generalization I can make about Centre County, it is that practically everybody up there would look the other way (given the chance) if any facet of the Pennsylvania State University (but especially a football player) did anything illegal. Really, the local cops showed some character in arresting Johnson after they learned who he was. Now I can admittedly see some local crackers targeting African-Americans (which Johnson is), but that isn’t what Joe accused the police of doing.

Rarely has Joe Paterno pissed me off this much. How the hell did this DUI excusing, double standard bearing (what if a drunk driver killed Sue Paterno?), paranoid, myopic, grudge-holding, nepotistic, senile, bitter old man become one of the most respected coaches in the United States?

Hail to Joe Paterno continuing to reveal his true self.

Just some assorted items and thoughts.

Pitt TE, Kris Wilson, hopes to continue to hear his number called in the huddle. I’ve made no secret of my frustration with the lack of utilization of Wilson. Apparently Coach Walt Harris has been hearing it from others. Not that it was really Harris’ fault for not using Wilson, after all, Harris only calls the plays.

Pitt Coach Walt Harris said he had been trying to get Wilson more involved in the passing offense this season but that circumstances didn’t always permit it.

He said Wilson’s success against Rutgers could set up some bigger days for him down the road. He also is hoping Wilson continues to emerge as a consistent safety valve for Rutherford.

“There are a lot of people who don’t think we throw to the tight end enough,” Harris said. “This week we did some things differently with him to try and get him the ball. He is a heck of a football player and he made some tremendous improvements in his game this year. Most teams don’t have a tight end that can run like Kris and make catches down the field. We’re hoping he’ll continue to run those little short passes better and we know he will.”

What? He was doing all of that last year. This year, he’s been stuck staying on blocking assignments because the offensive line sucks. Yeah, I am starting to really understand why some of the beat writers really get frustrated with Harris’s “not my fault” stance on everything.

Concern continues about Pitt kicker, David Abdul. He just can’t seem to find a way to split the uprights. And he’s not making excuses — right after the article lists all of his excuses.

Meanwhile up in Syracuse…

Syracuse University offensive coordinator George DeLeone had his laptop stolen from the locked car of one of his graduate assistant coaches just prior to the Boston College game. The police report says its value is around $24,000. The laptop itself is only around $3000, but the software on it is worth around $21,000. The Syracuse athletic office says that the laptop doesn’t have the Orangemen’s playbook on it. It’s primarily a lot of video analysis software.

Syracuse director of football operations Reggie Terry said the information stored on the stolen computer did not include any type of electronic playbook. He said the team is not worried about the computer winding up with a rival team, though police told the team to monitor eBay as a precaution.

Seems Syracuse is having its own problems with its kicker. Unlike Pitt, it isn’t that the guy is just missing kicks, he’s injured.

Finally, according to the Syracuse blog, the Hoopie fans are just a wee bit juiced for the game tonight against the Hokies.

Some may recall that last year the Hoopies beat the Hokies and burned Morgantown — and the game was in Blacksburg. I can’t even imagine what would happen to Morgantown if the Mountaineers actually win at home.