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Penn State AD apologizes for ‘409’ stickers worn by hockey team

ByVinnie Criscenzo|
Oct 12, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of the Beaver Stadium during the third quarter between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines. Penn State defeated Michigan 43-40 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
Oct 12, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of the Beaver Stadium during the third quarter between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines. Penn State defeated Michigan 43-40 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

Penn State’s athletic director Sandy Barbour caught some heat after PSU’s hockey team wore ‘409’ stickers on their helmets.

Since Joe Paterno’s 409 wins were restored to the record books on Friday, Penn State University have been rejoicing.

Paterno originally had his wins stripped from him after the Jerry Sandusky scandal, where Paterno was criticized for not doing more than he did to help the victims and shed light on the situation. Paterno’s wins have been restored and all sanctions against Penn State have been dropped. Penn State, however, will have to pay a $60 million penalty that will go to programs preventing child abuse.

It’s not only the football team that is happy to see Paterno’s wins restored, the entire campus is celebrating the decisions, including other athletic teams. One in particular is the ice hockey team.

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The Penn State hockey team, which just recently came into existence, had a game that Friday night after the decision was made that Paterno’s wins would be restored. To show their appreciation and support of the decision made by the NCAA, the entire hockey team wore stickers on their helmets that had the numbers ‘409’ on them.

Some people took to social media about the stunt the hockey team pulled with the stickers and heavily criticized it, saying it was in poor taste. According to Deadspin, Sandy Barbour responded to the tweets, apologizing for the incident and agreeing that it was inappropriate and insensitive.

Even the basketball team had plans to wear t-shirts during warm-ups that had ‘409’ on them for their game on Saturday, but that idea was trashed and they ended up not doing so. Not sure if it was Barbour who got word of the idea and told them not to do it or if it was the coaches decision. Whoever nixed the idea, it was most likely because of the heat the ice hockey team received after their ‘409’ stickers.

While Barbour apologized for the events taken place and agreed they were insensitive, she went back on twitter Saturday night to reassure everyone exactly how she felt about Paterno’s wins being reinstated.

Obviously, the situation is a touchy subject and should be handled with sensitivity. However, the people attacking Sandy Barbour and the ice hockey team are being a but unfair. I doubt the hockey team were trying to gloat or be disrespectful, they were just trying to show appreciation that Paterno’s legacy was back and that something positive happened to their school.

H/T to Deadspin and Sandy Barbour’s twitter for the information.

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