Penn State head coach Joe Paterno has waded in where once only Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry feared to tread. Here's the word from Happy Valley:
"You have to be careful the way you say things sometimes," the Penn State coach said. "Poor [Air Force coach] Fisher DeBerry got in trouble, but the black athlete has made a big difference. 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."
In other words, college football became a better game once it was integrated -- just like every other sport. Which is only something I've been hearing ever since I started watching Greatest Sports Legends as a kid.
Here's what I seem to remember: Countless documentaries would tell the story of Jackie Robinson, and they would usually include a photo of Robinson signing his Dodgers contract with a beaming Branch Rickey over his shoulder. And then, invariably, we'd see footage of Robinson driving opponents insane on the basepaths.
Oh, and the soundtrack usually was accompanied by an up-tempo jazz tune.
And then there's the quote from Paterno that: "[T]he black athlete has made a big difference." Which last time I checked, was essentially the point of Arthur Ashe's history of African-American athletes.
But you know there's no way Paterno is going to be let off easy. When I found this story on the front page of ESPN.com, the hyperlink read, "Paterno links black athletes to increased scoring." And that's a quote that doesn't even apear in the ESPN.com account of Paterno's Big Ten Conference call.
When will the insanity end?
If you're looking for a real travesty in college athletics, you'll find it in a system of rules promulgated by the NCAA that wind up treating all athletes -- no matter what their race -- as nothing more than a commodity. A commodity traded in a marketplace rigged by the member schools of the NCAA.
UPDATE: ESPN has changed the headline of the story to read: "Penn State coach offers his take on black athletes."
It’s a good thing you’re not in the MSM, you’d be fired by now. The unspoken racist witch hunt in this country is completely insane.
It’s an effing national policy to pretend that race (as defined by skin color) does not exist, problems with race have never existed, and that there’s no reason to even comment on it.
I’m as pro-JoPa a guy as you’ll find outside Happy Valley, but I’m a little bewildered by his comments. His comments were an offshoot of a conversation regarding increased scoring in the conference (this season).
Sorry, but unless Joe was having a flashback to 1961, I fail to buy his reasoning.