As I am sure most of the campus tuned into, today I watched the two and a half hour memorial in honor of our late football coach and legend, Joseph Paterno. Out of the around ten speakers, there was one I could label as outstanding.
Yes, every individual who stood behind that podium had special memories to share and touching final words to Joe Pa, but Phil Knight separated himself from the others in a big way with his speech.
When Knight took the stage I had no idea who he was and therefore I did not know what to expect, unlike the former football players who I knew would reminisce of old days on the gridiron. Confidence and sincerity radiated from his poised stature, while he began describing how he met Paterno as the founder of Nike. He went on to say the unthinkable. Phil Knight actually acknowledged the elephant in the room! He spoke of the scandal that everyone else tried their hardest to dance around.
This speech was so moving because of the authenticity of Knight’s words. In a dignified way, he was able to implicitly express his opinion of the way Joe Paterno was villainized. He asked, “Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?”
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I felt the same way! His speech was so incredibly moving and I am also glad that he took the initiative to take a stand for Joe Paterno. The issue was swept under the carpet by the media so quickly, that people of importance did not support him like they should have. Also, I like the fact that you blogged about two contrasting speeches, nice touch!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree! I was at the memorial, and he definitely had the attention of everyone in the BJC. When he asked "Who will be my hero now?" so many people could relate because everyone's been asking the same question all week long. The fact that he addressed the scandal to me is an example of excellent rhetoric - it was on everybody's mind and there was no point avoiding the topic anymore.
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