Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83706
TRADITION A BREAK WITH but the Nittany Lions' football folklore is changing as a new era dawns Purists may not approve, L | isten to "Sweet Caroline" for any length of time – three or four seconds ought to suffice – and it becomes obvious that Neil Dia- mond was not thinking sports anthem when he sat down to compose. With its major chords and breezy lyric, "Sweet Caroline" does not call to mind suicide squeezes or blind- side sacks. Nor is it supposed to; it was inspired by Caroline Kennedy. Yet the song has been adopted by a number of college and pro teams, in- cluding Penn State. When it was re- ported in August that "Sweet Caroline" would no longer be heard over the loudspeakers at Beaver Stadium – seemingly because the Sandusky scan- dal had lent its sing-along chorus a disturbing undertone, though Penn State officials denied that was the case – the online reaction among Nittany Lion fans was swift and unmerciful. "A stupid decision made by stupid little cowards," wrote one aggrieved fan on AltoonaMirror.com. "This super [political correctness] is crazy – all be- cause NO ONE has a backbone." "What's next?" asked an irate com- menter on CNN.com. "Will they come to all of our houses and remove any Penn State stuff we have?" Added another, "Our leadership totally sucks." That a piece of piped-in music from the 1960s could inspire outrage just goes to show how seriously Penn Staters regard the school's sports traditions. With the post-Paterno era under way, some of those traditions are evolving, and a lot of people have mixed feelings about the changes that have occurred. When Penn State announced in July that it was putting players' names on PennStateLive