Paterno still going strong :beer: Veteran Penn State football coach celebrates 80th birthday today Thursday, December 21, 2006 BY MICHAEL BULLOCK For The Patriot-News http://www.pennlive.com/sports/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1166660702155680.xml&coll=1 Sometime tomorrow, with many of his belongings packed snugly inside travel gear, Joe Paterno will board yet another airplane for yet another flight to yet another distant destination for yet another bowl game. For those keeping track, Penn State's latest postseason scrap will be the 36th with Paterno parked somewhere on the Nittany Lions' sideline and the 32nd with him firmly in command. But who's counting? Sometime today, with his mind focused on the inner workings of Tennessee's Outback Bowl scheme, someone within Paterno's immediate family or Penn State's extended one may have the nerve to interrupt the legendary coach's concentration just long enough to slide a birthday cake in front of him. One sporting plenty of candles, 80 of them to be exact. With perhaps some Peachy Paterno ice cream on the side. Again, who's counting? Certainly not Paterno, the seemingly ageless skipper who is as comfortable quoting the literary giants he studied enthusiastically as an undergraduate at Brown University as he is squawking at some back judge on a sunny Saturday afternoon over some questionable pass interference penalty. Certainly not his players, who still see the unquenchable passion and fire in the Brooklyn-born Paterno's eyes. That could be at practice on the day of the game or in a face-to-face discussion that could cover a wide assortment of topics ranging from academics to social life to, of course, football. Certainly not his family, the concrete-strong foundation and support group that includes his devoted wife and confidant Sue, a handful of children and a busload of grandkids. They see a man spry enough to bounce up and down nearby Mt. Nittany during family picnics, behavior hardly typical of most octogenarians. NO AVERAGE JOE: But Paterno, who is rehabbing after suffering a broken leg and two torn ligaments in his left knee during a sideline collision on Nov. 4 at Wisconsin, isn't your typical octogenarian. According to a lengthy piece on Jay Paterno that appeared recently in The Daily Collegian, Penn State's student newspaper, the Nittany Lions assistant coach vividly remembers a question his father once raised. He said, "If nobody told you how old you are, how old would you be?" So, once again, who's counting? "I didn't know he was 80, he seems like he's 30. I thought he was about 35 years old," All-American outside linebacker Dan Connor said at last Thursday's Outback Bowl media day. "That's something, but you can't tell the difference in Coach Paterno," Connor added. "Since I've been recruited here four years ago, he was the exact same as he is now. When I hear stories from past players talking about him, he's always the same."
