Penn State fans can say “Ba-ba-bye” to a football tradition
The embattled university has pulled the classic Neil Diamond song, “Sweet Caroline” from its musical program for the upcoming season, according to a report by the Altoona Mirror.
School officials made the call to pull the plug on the popular sports anthem after expressing concerns about the nature of the song and its lyrics.
The song’s chorus features the line “Touching me, touching you” and was written to describe an 11-year-old Caroline Kennedy.
The decision to pull the tune comes in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal that rocked the University and the college football world. Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and faces up to 442 years in prison.
The removal of the song represents just one of the changes the scandal has caused the university to make to its football program.
Last December, the late legendary football coach Joe Paterno was fired following the scandal and last month the NCAA announced a series of harsh sanctions resulting from it as well.
Penn State was fined $60 million, lost 40 total scholarships, received a four year ban from postseason play and all program wins from 1998-2011 were vacated, moving Paterno from the all-time wins leader (409) to fifth on the list (208).
The school also had a statue of Paterno removed from outside of Beaver Stadium last month.
Other changes to be made on gameday include the players arriving earlier than usual and will not wear their uniforms on the team bus and new introduction videos to feature all varsity sports rather than just football, according to the report.
Penn State opens its season this Saturday at home against Ohio University.