JoePa Speaks On Fight

Well so much for me taking it easy this week… “It will be a quiet week,” I thought. When the Alpha Lion speaks, I’m compelled to report. Joe Paterno responded to the Nittany Lion Fight Club on Monday night at a gathering of fans, alumni, and media just outside Philly. Paterno referred to the fight as a "team embarrassment."

"I have to fight sometimes to get out of bed," Paterno said Monday night. "It's been a long year. But in a lot of ways, it's been a good year."

Paterno said he heard Scirrotto's side of the story and the coach described it as a "little skirmish downtown."

"He got a little irate, called up a couple of his buddies and said, 'Hey, come on down.' They went over there and they got in a fight," he said. "My biggest concern is what's going to come out of that incident that we had," Paterno said. "I'm hopeful that people will keep their heads, won't go overboard on it. What it basically comes down to is, it was a fight. I'm not condoning our kids in it."

Paterno has appeared to hand down his punishment in the form of janitorial duty: the Nittany Lions will clean Beaver Stadium on the Sunday's after every home game. Paterno also said all of his players would do several hours of community service. "I don't condone it. Our kids were wrong," Paterno said.

So there you have it, it appears Joe has made up his mind. Now it’s up to Judicial Affairs and the courts to decide how much time Scirrotto and Baker miss. None of this comes as a surprise to me, (unlike some) I knew Paterno frowned upon this sort of behavior but he’s shown to be lenient when it comes to this sort of thing in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if he lets the courts and JA do the suspending for him and adds no further punishment. Is that the right thing to do? I’ll let the court of public opinion decide that, I fully trust the old man’s decision.