After watching the memorial service held in the Bryce Jordan
Center commemorating Joe Paterno’s death, I am overcome with immense feelings
of pride toward my university. The speeches were incredibly powerful and
moving, to say the least. The rhetoric used by the speakers was so respectful
and impressive that I was left speechless after every single delivery. The
words of the CEO of the Nike Corporation, Phil Knight, particularly grabbed my
attention. His delivery made it seem as if I could listen to him for hours; he
was so steady and collected, it just exuded respect for the entire service.
While also honoring and commemorating the life of a great man, Knight bravely
addressed the situation no one else dared to speak of: the scandal. During his
speech, Knight stated, “If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that
investigation, not in Joe Paterno’s response…Joe is my hero for twelve of the
last twelve years…begs the question, who is the real trustee at Penn State
University?” Knight received a standing ovation for these words shortly after.
I think these words were so well received because he touched on a subject so
taboo at the time that its delivery was almost appreciated by Knight’s
audience.
I believe Knight’s words demand a reaction from Penn State’s administration because of the way they were so directly stated. The beauty of this rhetoric is that is has made us as a university think about our actions and how we have handled the whole situation in the past ten weeks. His expression of disappointment in Penn State almost jumped out at the audience during his speech and was felt with so many different emotions. I think the power of his rhetoric gave him the ability to connect with thousands of people over such a sad service. Knight was incredibly well spoken and clearly put a lot of thought into the structure and diction of his speech. It was admirable to see such educated and well-spoken people such as Knight be able to celebrate Joe Paterno’s life and comment on the impact he has had on them.
I believe Knight’s words demand a reaction from Penn State’s administration because of the way they were so directly stated. The beauty of this rhetoric is that is has made us as a university think about our actions and how we have handled the whole situation in the past ten weeks. His expression of disappointment in Penn State almost jumped out at the audience during his speech and was felt with so many different emotions. I think the power of his rhetoric gave him the ability to connect with thousands of people over such a sad service. Knight was incredibly well spoken and clearly put a lot of thought into the structure and diction of his speech. It was admirable to see such educated and well-spoken people such as Knight be able to celebrate Joe Paterno’s life and comment on the impact he has had on them.
I think Knight's speech was perhaps not the most powerful emotionally but definitely the most stirring. He was able to get thousands of peolpe up on their feet. not just those in the stadium either. I know my friends and I watching from south all stood up shouting and cheering when he made those comments about the board.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. And I'm definitely glad that someone wrote about it. Phil Knight left me speechless. Plain and simple. I was in the crowd, sitting in the seats on the floor, and to just stand among so many great people, and hear the thunderous applause coming from above was an amazing experience that I'll never forget. While I have always been partial to Nike, Knight's speech makes me one of the many vowing to from now on purchase only Nike products. His way of "sticking it" to the university made me proud and left me in awe. He was nothing short of incredible.
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