Several changes ahead at Penn State as the football season kicks off on Saturday for the Nitanny Lions, and a couple of the changes have to do with the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Most obvious is that the team will have a new head coach, who was hired in January to replace Joe Paterno.
Also, out of concern for the lyrics—“touching you touching me”—university officials asked that the song “Sweet Caroline” be removed from the music playlist, the Altoona Mirror reports.
The song is popular at sporting events, and has been played at Fenway Park since 1998. It has a rousing feel-good course that is easy for all to see along.
Despite reports that the school banned the song because of the Sandusky scandal, the official word reported in USA Today, from Penn State’s Associate Athletic Director of Business Relations and Communications, Gregory J. Myford, was that the music changes up every year.
“Although the lyrics were brought up and discussed, to say the song was “banned” because of the lyrics would not be accurate. It simply became easier to rotate out in order to try something else. All part of the process of keeping our fans entertained while keeping what happens during the game fresh,” said Myford.
There are other changes ahead for the team, like dramatic uniform changes that now include each player’s name on the jersey. You can read more at the Altoona Mirror.
