Penn State Forever

Hearing everything that has gone on in the past week makes me sick.  I have grown up my whole life watching Penn State Football.  It is one of the main reasons why I chose Penn State (first of course being the ice cream).  Every Saturday, my family, friends, and I would record the game (because we alwasy had soccer) and watch it later that night.  It was like a weekly party.  It got to the point where if we did not watch Penn State together the weekend was pretty much a bust.  Then in 7th grade, all twenty of us came up to Happy Valley for our first game! It was against the Purdue Boilermakers, and even though they lost the game, the atmosphere was like nothing I have ever felt before.  Since then I have been to a few more games, but being a student here was going to be like nothing else.  Being able to stand the whole game and do all the cheers, get a pompom, and even get thrown when the team got a touchdown was a dream come true.  This was one of the best Penn State seasons I have ever seen, until last week of course. 
This week has been one of the most depressing weeks in my life. Honestly, I did not really pay attention until they included Joe Paterno in the scandal.  As my mom said the other day "It was like he was a member of our family" and it is so true.  It is like he was our grandpa that we saw every Saturday and now he is gone.  I just can not believe that after 61 years on the coaching staff at Penn State they fired him over the phone.  I know that the Board of Trustees was doing what they thought was necessary to protect teh name of the school, but in my opinion the man had already announced his retirement so they should have let him finish the season.  Joe Paterno is an 84 year old man that in my view could not have known all the details.  For my entire life my dad has been saying that he did not like McQueary so I find his aspect in the story very ironic.  I think that he could not possibly have told Joe Paterno all the facts or that Joe Paterno did not know all of the details.  I also think that, after talking to my dad, Sandusky wanted Joe Paterno's job and when Joe Paterno said he was not leaving Sandusky became mad.  My dad proposed that that is why he did such horrible things on Penn State's campus where anyone could have walked in and saw. 
I do not know all of the facts, but I still think that Joe Paterno should have been given the decency of his last home game at Beaver Stadium.  After serving this school for 61 years, he deserved at least that much.
The day I was born Penn State lost to Florida.  I know this because my dad was watching it.  Ever since then I have watched the game every week.  I can name off people like Zach Mills, Dan Connor, Sean Lee, and Paul Posluszny.  People here are upset by the scandal, but most do not feel as hurt as I do.  I feel like I have been betrayed by something that I loved so much, but as my title says "Penn State Forever".  I will never stop supporting my school.  The actions of one sick man can not tarnish the place that especially in the past three months I have grown to love and even now consider my home.  No matter what anyone says,   Penn State is still Happy Valley to me.