Bull Butter
09-04-2007, 07:40 PM
I never was a big Joe Paterno fan. I am now...........
http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/all-psu.6025050sep03,0,479426.story
PSU players clean up Beaver Stadium
Joe Paterno supervises team's punishment for offseason troubles.
By Mark Wogenrich | Of The Morning Call
September 3, 2007
Penn State's first day of stadium cleanup seemed to be going well enough Sunday -- until Joe Paterno arrived.
During a surprise bedcheck, the head coach told his players Beaver Stadium wasn't tidy enough and called them off the buses for more. So began a punishment Paterno devised this past spring ''to prove to people that we're not a bunch of hoodlums.''
The Lions continued their tour of community service Sunday, picking up trash from the stadium bleachers a day after beating Florida International 59-0. Paterno said the team would work Sunday mornings as part of a teamwide disciplinary response to an April off-campus fight in which football players were involved.
Players performed community service with Habitat For Humanity and the Special Olympics this summer and will help clean the stadium after this season's seven home games. Then, according to Paterno, players will donate money they're paid for the stadium work to Penn State's club sports programs.
''Everybody, not just the kids involved [in the fight], because we're in this together,'' Paterno said at an alumni association function in King of Prussia in May. ''This is a team embarrassment. ... I think we ought to prove to people that we're not a bunch of hoodlums.''
About 100 players arrived at Beaver Stadium just before 8 a.m. Sunday, none wearing a hairnet, as linebacker Dan Connor suggested Saturday. Though assistants were not asked to attend, defensive line coach Larry Johnson helped supervise.
''I told people that if [Paterno did ask] and I found out what section I had, I'd put up a note: 'Please do not leave any paper. I have video surveillance on this section,''' defensive coordinator Tom Bradley joked after the game.
Despite saying Saturday that he wouldn't show -- ''I don't want to make this a circus,'' the coach said -- Paterno drove up at about 9:15, saying he wanted to check on the players' progress. He politely requested not to be photographed.
The players emerged about 15 minutes later and began boarding their team buses. As this happened, Paterno was inside doing his inspection.
''Joe says we didn't do a good enough job,'' one player announced. ''We have to go back in.''
This met with some grumbling -- ''That place is spotless,'' one player announced -- but ultimately the team spent another 15 minutes inside the stadium and left just before 10 a.m. Paterno, who drove his car into the tunnel, followed the buses out.
''Obviously this will make guys think twice before they do something,'' receiver and tri-captain Terrell Golden said after Saturday's game.
mark.wogenrich@mcall.com
http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/all-psu.6025050sep03,0,479426.story
PSU players clean up Beaver Stadium
Joe Paterno supervises team's punishment for offseason troubles.
By Mark Wogenrich | Of The Morning Call
September 3, 2007
Penn State's first day of stadium cleanup seemed to be going well enough Sunday -- until Joe Paterno arrived.
During a surprise bedcheck, the head coach told his players Beaver Stadium wasn't tidy enough and called them off the buses for more. So began a punishment Paterno devised this past spring ''to prove to people that we're not a bunch of hoodlums.''
The Lions continued their tour of community service Sunday, picking up trash from the stadium bleachers a day after beating Florida International 59-0. Paterno said the team would work Sunday mornings as part of a teamwide disciplinary response to an April off-campus fight in which football players were involved.
Players performed community service with Habitat For Humanity and the Special Olympics this summer and will help clean the stadium after this season's seven home games. Then, according to Paterno, players will donate money they're paid for the stadium work to Penn State's club sports programs.
''Everybody, not just the kids involved [in the fight], because we're in this together,'' Paterno said at an alumni association function in King of Prussia in May. ''This is a team embarrassment. ... I think we ought to prove to people that we're not a bunch of hoodlums.''
About 100 players arrived at Beaver Stadium just before 8 a.m. Sunday, none wearing a hairnet, as linebacker Dan Connor suggested Saturday. Though assistants were not asked to attend, defensive line coach Larry Johnson helped supervise.
''I told people that if [Paterno did ask] and I found out what section I had, I'd put up a note: 'Please do not leave any paper. I have video surveillance on this section,''' defensive coordinator Tom Bradley joked after the game.
Despite saying Saturday that he wouldn't show -- ''I don't want to make this a circus,'' the coach said -- Paterno drove up at about 9:15, saying he wanted to check on the players' progress. He politely requested not to be photographed.
The players emerged about 15 minutes later and began boarding their team buses. As this happened, Paterno was inside doing his inspection.
''Joe says we didn't do a good enough job,'' one player announced. ''We have to go back in.''
This met with some grumbling -- ''That place is spotless,'' one player announced -- but ultimately the team spent another 15 minutes inside the stadium and left just before 10 a.m. Paterno, who drove his car into the tunnel, followed the buses out.
''Obviously this will make guys think twice before they do something,'' receiver and tri-captain Terrell Golden said after Saturday's game.
mark.wogenrich@mcall.com