Joe Paterno and being human

In my opinion, the entire story of Joe Paterno is nothing less than a Greek Tragedy. The kind of trap the ancient Greeks were always warning against-- too much hubris. The reason that the warnings came was because the Greeks knew how easy it was to become enamored of oneself. The ideal was to keep things in perspective and maintain some kind of balance. Most of us do not have to worry about this on any grand scale. Who is subsescible to this? Any celebrity whether they be in the arts, sports, politics, et. al. A public figure! What happened to Joe Pa was almost predictable. He stayed at the helm too long, despite being asked to stop coaching at Penn State. The request to step down was early in the 2000's when he had built a reputation of a great coach and model for keeping a program clean. He had one of the highest rates of graduating football players throughout the country. He cared about his players. However, time had caught up with him. He did not recruit as well as he had previously and his teams were generally not ranked in the top 20 for a few years. However Joe refused the reasonable request claiming, quite rightly, that he brought more money into Penn State than anyone else. Besides , he said, what was he going to do on Saturday afternoons. Now that is all hubris. Yet it is understandable. He had taken for granted his status and his importance. In my opinion this is a gift; i.e. his great coaching and his great teams. He , in the end, viewed himself as indispensable and this gift had become a right and not something to be claimed as only his for all time. When you stick around too long something tragic is bound to happen. It just catches up with in some way, either directly or otherwise. A tragic figure and someone who may be remembered for the horrible events of the early 2000's rather than his great successes.