re: the Penn st. delusion is just scary

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And I have to say that what I've seen posted here is some of the biggest hypocritical, pot calling the kettle black nonsense I've seen in a long time. Plenty of PSU students and alumni have some strange fascination with JoePa and I agree that it can be strange, but have you ever been to the Tiger Rant or LSU campus grounds on game day? It's no less cult like than some of the crazy attachment people have with JoePa. Anyone that says otherwise is delusional and probably part of the LSU cult.




lsugrrrl wrote an absolutely superb analysis in this thread last night that i'll use in a short form....

the difference between LSU and Penn State is that the Penn State identity was wrapped around Joe Paterno...LSU has its cultism, but it's a cultism wrapped around the football program and state identity NOT a person...

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None of what I have to say should be taken to mean I excuse the mistakes made in PSU - but were Saban to have stayed at LSU and continued to win at a very high level?

He too would have been untouchable - and then your chances of a scandal are more related to the character of your head coach and the people around your head coach than the character of your university.

Hopefully nothing like this ever happens at LSU - but if the wrong series of events were to happen then it would not be impossible. The arrogance of a LSU fan saying "this could never happen here" strikes me as similar to the arrogance of a PSU fan from two years ago saying "we would never have a football scandal - we are better than the OUs, USCs, Miamis, and SEC teams"

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the area media & various police departments and a lot of the faculty has known bout JoPa's cultism for yrs & yrs. He basically had the university's VICE PRESIDENT of student affairs fired for trying to perform her duties in investigating & disciplining football players who got in criminal trouble.

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you are absolutely right IMO - Paterno became the most powerful person on campus and (at least in recent history) began to use his authority very widely (and apparently very inappropriately)