As I went through my Big Ten Media Day audio and transcript of legendary Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno, I thought “wow, some of my media brethren are ghouls. There’s a lot in here about death and illness.”
And this is very important because the 83-year-old Paterno is THE “get” of Big Ten Media Days. He’s like a college football version of Yoda, Jackie Mason and Rodney Dangerfield combined.
He summed up the day’s theme best at the dais:
“what did Mark Twain say, the rumor of my death has been over-exaggerated or something, I forget. I used to know a little bit more about those. I really ?? I didn’t lose any time. I had, as I said, the problem I had was not having control of some things, and I had to be careful that I didn’t get myself in a position where I would embarrass myself.”
JoePa was so detailed about his “ailments,” because the media fixated on it.
By Paul M. Banks
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