In the end, Penn State officials had no choice. And so down comes the Joe Paterno statue.

There was the predictable caterwauling from former players and other JoePa apologists, but the university was thinking far more clearly. The statue, they said, had become a source of division and an impediment to healing, not to say a continual "wound" to the victims of Jerry Sandusky.

So of course it had to come down. For one thing, someone was eventually going to vandalize it, a consequence the pro-statue people apparently didn't take into consideration. And for another .... well, hasn't Penn State rubbed the victims' noses in it enough?

Leaving the statue up would be one more, yes, "wound" inflicted among many. So good for Penn State.