AOW 11/14: Penn State Plays After Turmoil

This week's article comes from Rivals.com, a division of Yahoo Sports. AP writer, Nancy Armour writes about the game between Penn State and Nebraska this past Saturday. Besides the high quality of the teams, it was the first game after news broke of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. A lot of speculation and discussion occurred about the absence of coach Joe Paterno and how the players will play in the wake of the scandal. Armour tries to describe the moments of the game that directly related to the Sandusky scandal. She rarely mentions any part of the game other than the final result. She writes this article to a wide audience, anybody who is interested in college football or has been following the news of the Sandusky scandal. She wanted to describe how the fans and players reacted to the scandal and how that would affect the traditional game-day environment at Beaver Stadium. She appeals to a person's pathos by describing many of the emotional events of the day. She does this effectively by using quotes from many people who were close to Paterno. His son, Jay Paterno, sent a letter to his dad before the game that talked Jay's experiences growing up and how his father made him the person he is today. She also describes in detail about the prayer at midfield for the victims. Both teams, Nebraska and Penn State, led a prayer for the victims of the scandal and were accompanied with the fans in silence. She also mentions about how Penn State must learn to live without Paterno and continue the rest of the season and start a new era for Penn State. She used strong diction to display the change that is needed and the emotions regarding the game and the scandal. Armour accomplishes her purpose because she described everything surrounding the game, but not the game itself. She also brought out the emotions of the fans in attendance as well as the emotions of the players and coaches.