We Were????

Hey, Sports Illustrated. You’ve got another thing coming and we’re here to deal you a large load of Turkey poop. Your July 30 cover bites the big one.

“Is this the end for Penn State? Hardly. We aren’t going anywhere. We are, and always will be, Penn State.” —Rodney Erickson, Dave Joyner, and Bill O’Brien in a letter to Sports Illustrated

The blackness, the beat up helmet, and the prominent presence of the four words “We Were Penn State”, along with a quote fragment from the NCAA’s Mark Emmert’s pontification, “An unprecedented failure of institutional integrity…”, publicize the feature article by Alexander Wolff. It is entitled “Is This the End for Penn State.”

Wolff howls the following (the “moon” is implicit):

“With its loyal fan base and location in the heart of a state that loves the game, the program has a chance of recovering. But it’s going to take at least a decade, and in the meantime Penn State football will look a lot like Indiana football.”

Reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. This fine institution is not about to die because of a few football sanctions levied by the sinister NCAA after a rush to judgment. What a bunch of baloney! You’re just fueling the fire with the Penn State haters out there. You want to sell magazines? Put some 98% naked babes on the cover. (Oh, wait. You’ve done that for decades with the Annual Swimsuit Issue.) Leave Penn State out of the sensationalism.

Penn State has responded to this slur in a letter to Sports Illustrated by President Rod Erickson, AD Dave Joyner, and head football coach Bill O’Brien. Read more in StateCollege.com.