To me, JoePa looked like he was having a blast tonight. He could barely quit laughing at the first mention of Heffner. He smiled almost all night and seemed to just be taking it all in. I think this was a culmination of a couple years of frustration finally being forgotten and him reaping the rewards. He had the crowd eating out of his hand most of the night, and he simply wanted another laugh.
When it all comes down to it, no one in the country likes Ohio State any more or less based on that exchange. If someone thinks our academics are a joke, that perception will continue with or without reasonable backing. Case in point, "Tennecleat", "Tennecheat", "Free Shoes University", "Cryami", "Thug U"...must I continue? Like Grad said, if JoePa said the same thing about Miami, we'd think it was hilarious and enshrine him...yet think no different of the Hurricane program.
When it comes down to it, reasonable people know it was a joke...and a moderately funny one. Unreasonable people won't have their opinion swayed anyway, because their thought process is blocked by their own personal bias. Kirk did the right thing by not getting defensive and making the University look bad. We should take a page out of his book...Herbie has long been the kind of classy picture in the face of adversity, that our fanbase would do well to emulate.
