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Penn State fans honoring Joe Paterno with ‘Joe-out’ at UMass game

By Dan Zinski

Nov 16, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; A sign hangs inside of Beaver Stadium in honor of former head coach Joe Paterno prior to the game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State defeated Purdue 45-21. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 16, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; A sign hangs inside of Beaver Stadium in honor of former head coach Joe Paterno prior to the game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State defeated Purdue 45-21. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /
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Fans of Joe Paterno are hoping that the time has come to heal old wounds and restore JoePa to his rightful place as a (non-evil-deed-ignoring) American icon.

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They are hoping that, for one day, you will forget that Joe Paterno ended up a blithering old senile figurehead who enabled a pedophile while helping to destroy the reputation of a once-proud university.

They hope to accomplish this first stage of JoePa image rehab by staging a so-called ‘Joe-out’ at Beaver Stadium this weekend when Penn State takes on UMass.

A Joe-out, as you may already have figured, is like a white-out or a blue-out, but it involves showing off your love for Joe. Joe-out organizers are asking fans to wear a Joe Paterno mask or bring a Joe Paterno cut-out to the game or wear a piece of clothing honoring Joe.

Some are planning to wear items with the number 409 in honor of Paterno’s wins record before 111 victories were taken away after the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Is your heart getting warm yet?

The brainchild of Laurie Anne Stannell, a fourth-generation Penn State bobo, the Joe-out isn’t meant to be confrontational nor should it be taken as a sign that these people are stuck in the past:

"“Of course we are moving on,” said Stannell. “We love Coach Franklin, but we have a legacy here with Joe. He brought our school to a world class institution.”“It’s honoring our past,” she said. “We are Penn State. If that’s not JoePa then who?”"

It should be noted that Penn State is not endorsing the Joe-out. Penn State wants to forget that Joe Paterno ever happened, but not everyone wishes to simply sweep Paterno and his legacy under the rug.

That whole “looking the other way while Jerry Sandusky did unspeakable things to innocent children” thing apparently doesn’t bother these people.

To them, JoePa will always be the goofy old loveable pepaw in the thick-ass glasses wandering up and down the sidelines aimlessly while everyone else did the actual work.

They’ve chosen to ignore the fact that, while he was nominally in charge of the Penn State football program, a member of Joe’s coaching staff permanently traumatized children by doing unimaginable things to them. And this went on for years right under Joe’s nose.

Yeah, let’s honor that guy. Sure thing.

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