Penn State AD Apologizes To Penn State Fans For Apologizing About 409 Decals

The NCAA gave Joe Paterno his wins back to make a lawsuit go away. The Penn State hockey team celebrated this with a helmet decal. New Penn State AD Sandy Barbour apologized on Twitter, terming the gesture inappropriate and insensitive.

Penn State fans took to the Internet. Now, Barbour is backtracking. She termed her own apology “inappropriate and insensitive.”

"“First of all, I want to apologize for the tweet. This is far too important a subject to vet on a casual; or in social media. … I’ll use my own words. It was inappropriate and insensitive of me to do that from a tweet standpoint. “But from the standpoint of my concern, and why I’ve had conversations with our coaches about this, is because this is a moment to celebrate, and I knew before I came to Penn State that 409 meant success with honor, that 409 means far more to this community and this university then wins."

“409” is numerical success. Honor, whether one defines it as “esteem” or “adherence to what is right,” is what was lost, or was never extant in the first place at Penn State. Penn State’s former president, athletic director, and senior vice president face criminal charges for covering up the raping of children by a Penn State coach in Penn State facilities to protect the appearance of honor.

Penn State’s former head football coach, now deceased, was dismissed by the university over the scandal. Whether or not he violated the letter of the law in not reporting evidence of Jerry Sandusky’s child raping, Pennsylvania’s police commissioner suggested at the time he had violated his moral responsibility as a human being.

“409” is not just wins. It is a collective, withering self-delusion, which, try as it might, can’t white out the painful reality of what occurred. Unless you are in State College, of course, where Sandy Barbour just pledged to honor and to celebrate Joe Paterno at the appropriate time.

"“It’s very important that we are very deliberate and get that right,” she said. “The most important reason is what he has meant to this university, and we have to get it right in a way that not only honors him, and celebrates him, and if we have the opportunity to educate others on who he was, I think that’s a great thing.”"

No words.