Still Peachy?

Seven months after my posts of Say it Ain’t so Joe and Holding Out for a Gyro, much has toppled here in un-Happy Valley. Last week, the halo was removed from Joe Paterno’s image on the same local mural that Sandusky was also painted out of. The statue that was a place to pause for vigil the night before Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s passing, ( Goodbye Ol’ Joe), was removed yesterday. The reasons are all intermixed with the same terrible events that have come to light on our local University Park Campus of Penn State.

Today, Penn State not only has a gaping void on the east side of the stadium (I now dub it the No-Pa Memorial) but also in its pocket book. The NCAA has fined Penn State $60,000,000.00 (roughly a year of football revenue), dismissed the team from participating in bowl games for the next 4 years and wiped away all of the teams wins from the year 1988 to present. This changes the history so that Joe Paterno will no longer be crowned major college football’s winningest coach, dropping him to 12th.

Pennsyltucky does and will feel the impact of these decisions. I am personally glad to have heard the $60 million will be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at the university. These funds are not to come from non-revenue grossing PSU sports nor academics but it is difficult to see how they (and the local economy) will go uneffected.

As for food (vegetarian and otherwise) in this area, I notice the Fraser Street Deli changed its menu in February and dropped the Tim Curley – Corned Beef. It still retains the Graham Spanier – Roast Beef sandwich that was listed above the Tim Curley sandwich in the photo I took at this link. Notice also in my new menu photo on this posting, that the Mike McQueary sandwich is still present. Does this mean they are there to stay? I have my doubts.

I made a prediction in November that the Peachy Paterno flavor of ice cream at Penn State’s Berkey Creamery would be removed. According to an article in USA Today, as of last week they had no plans of removing it. That, of course, was last week; before statue was removed and hefty fines, sanctions and penalties had been levied against PSU. I am sticking to my prediction, it won’t be too long until the name of the ice cream won’t sound so sweet to official ears and it will go the way of the Sandusky Blitz.

Holding Out for a Gyro (local lament and luncheon lexicon)

For the second post in a row, I start with my Cryin’ Lion icon. Since I last wrote about the prospective changes in Penn State’s food names, head coach Joe Paterno announced his retirement and was fired (in that order) and University President Graham Spanier was also fired. Both terminations are related to being associated with the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.

When the terrible allegations of Sandusky’s misdoings and molestations came into the news less than a week ago, it started a chain of events. Sandusky was arrested, Penn State’s Senior Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley both stepped down from their posts late Sunday, one day after the charges were announced. Sandusky Blitz ice cream flavor was wiped clean from Berkey Creamery’s menu as well as his face from a local mural. I made a final prediction that Peachy Paterno flavor as well as the Joegie’s restaurant might be a limited edition too.

It is all a little closer to reality now and I watchfully wait to see the fate of JoePa’s foodie namesakes. His isn’t the only named items I am watching. Jim pointed out that the Fraser Street Deli, that used to name its sandwiches after movie stars, has quite a few menu items named after Penn State icons that prominently figure in the Sandusky case. Highlighted to the right, you will see sandwiches that today are still named after Spanier, Curley and Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary who, as a 28-year old Graduate Assistant, witnessed Jerry Sandusky raping a ten-year old boy in a shower then chose to leave the scene.

What’s in a name? Why change the names of the sandwiches at all? They are made with the same ingredients (none that are in focus are vegetarian you notice) so what does it matter that today’s turkey breast sandwich is called an Evan Pugh when used to be called a Walt Disney? Today Fraser Street Deli’s Bobbie Jo Solomon sandwich is what used to be called a Fred Astaire. If the idea is to keep it fresh and interesting to the customers, there is also the risk of people judging the sandwich by the actions (or inactions) of whom it has been named for.

There will always be intriguing regional differences in names for almost identical food creations. Taking the example of a specific sandwich, depending on where you are from you might know it as a sub, poor boy, torpedo, Italian sandwich, rocket, zeppelin, blimpie, garibaldi, bomber, wedge, muffuletta, Cuban sandwich, spuckie, gyro, hoagie or… HERO. They are all the same sandwich with different names. The sad difference with choosing to a hero after a celebrated living person (a hero) is that they are still creating their legacies.

It will be a long time until we will be able to tell if justice has been done to Sandusky’s alleged victims. The above mentioned ice creams and sandwiches were named for local sports heros and university demigods. What we are seeing now is what happens when those we have built up and allowed to fly high above us fall, Icarian-like, from grace. Our heros become zeros and their glorified gyros are wiped off of the cute chalkboard menus throughout Penn State campus and downtown State College. It may be superficial and instantaneous but it’s a step in the right direction to see them as sapiens and not superstars.