Dissin’ Paterno in Alamoville

You’ve all heard about it by now. The Texas A&M Yell Leader (whatever the hell that is) laid some amplified smack on ol’ JoePa at a joint Alamo Bowl pep rally. Specifically:

Joe Paterno’s on his death bed! And someone needs to find him a casket!

Contrary to what was reported by Fox Sports, both PSU and A&M fans attended the rally at the San Antonio Riverwalk. The Penn State fans were reportedly stunned at first, and then outraged.

Why? After all, Joe is 81 and he’s a helluva lot closer to the grave than the “yell leader,” unless the latter drinks himself to death. Joe is even older than I am. We don’t like to admit it, but we don’t have all that many years left. Life is a terminal condition; the older you get, the closer you are to The End.

Sure, one could argue that the kid was being disrespectful to his elder. But let me ask you a question. When was the last time you got some respect from someone younger than you who wasn’t working for you, studying under you, or taking the big bamboo from you? Know what I mean? It’s a rude world. People aren’t brought up proper and respectful anymore. In fact, parents set the poor examples for their children to follow.

While I’ll agree that this was a low-class, below-the-belt remark, this Turkey stands behind the kid’s right to stand up in public and say what he wants to say. That’s the cornerstone on which this country was founded.

“I think everybody has to take things with a grain of salt,” Paterno said. “Some young guy went up there, trying to be funny. Maybe he’s accurate, I don’t know.”

Did we all lose our sense of humor when the Political Correctness Police started classifying every little slightly offensive comment as hate speech? Hell, we can’t make fun of anyone anymore, so we’re always walking on eggs. Just take a cue from Joe and let the kid say what he will. Consider the source: he’s a kid, he was probably loaded, and he’s an Aggie. Use this as an example for your kids about what not to say about their elders. Don’t be outraged if you can’t do your part to fix the underlying problem. Teach them to at least be creative and classy in their insults. Otherwise, as Eldridge Cleaver would have said, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Anybody heard any good Aggie jokes lately?