Posted 3:03 PM by Bonnie

Poor JoPa! For those who don't know who JoPa is he is Joe Paterno, the head coach of the Nittany Lions! Go Lions! Penn State University is where my husband attended and received his doctorate and my sister, Victoria, attended and received her BS. Husband number two and I also lived in Penn State for a year. Even then JoPa was a legend, so today I don't say poor JoPa because the Lions lost the Outback Bowl because THEY WON, but because at half time they interviewed the coach of the Tennessee Volunteers as he walked off the field. But these days JoPa isn't walking too far at all. In fact he isn't even on the field. A few months back he was sidelined on the sideline by one of his own players and the end result was a broken leg for our coach. At 80 you would think that would be the end, but the leg has healed and he is undergoing therapy. But, as a precaution he now spends game time up in the glassed in booth with the reporters.

(TAMPA, Fla. Joe Paterno isn't used to this view. Penn State's 80-year-old coach is watching today's Outback Bowl matchup against 17th-ranked Tennessee from the press box. It's the first time in his 41-year career he hasn't been on the sidelines for a Nittany Lions' postseason outing. That encompasses 33 bowl games. He's the coaching leader with 21 victories.

Paterno is recovering from a broken shinbone and two torn knee ligaments in his left leg. He was injured during Penn State's November fourth game at Wisconsin when two players barreled into him.)

What makes me say poor JoPa was after they interviewed the Tennessee coach, Philip Fulmer, the camera panned up to JoPa now sitting alone in the booth looking down at the empty field. There's a poem in there somewhere. Maybe I'll try to find it.

End result: Nittany Lions: 20 Tennessee Volunteers: 10