In the world of sports, intelligent fans realize what it takes to be respected as a sports enthusiast. First off, in this shortened version, you do not ask Bob Knight to elaborate at a press conference right after a Texas Tech loss. Second, you do not hide Tony Gwynn's and Kirby Puckett's plate right before they're ready to dig in at a dining establishment. Finally, and most importantly, you do not fire Joe Paterno from Penn State.

The only person who would be able to fill the shoes of Paterno is his longtime assistant Fran Ganter who is in his 33rd year on Paterno's staff. While Ganter is the perfect successor to Paterno because of his familiarity with the program, it is hard to foresee him pulling the rug out from under his longtime boss.

While Paterno's teams have played poor as of late, there is no way Penn State can fire Paterno, a man who came to Happy Valley in the 1950s as an assistant and later as a head coach proceeded to build Penn State into a national powerhouse most seasons. Can you imagine asking the "godfather of college football" to step down from coaching at the school where he built a mountain out of a molehill? It would be similar to asking the Pope to step down from the Vatican because lately, his technique of dishing out the Eucharist has been subpar.

For many years Paterno has given so much to Penn State. It is time for the fans in Happy Valley to give something back to him, even if it means another season scraping the bottom of the Big Ten barrel.