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It takes decades to build trust in a brand.

It takes hours to destroy a brand.

Joe Paterno was a God-like figure at Penn State. He ran the university. He was there for half a century. He build the football program. He decided what happened. He had too much power, Give him credit, he took an agricultural school and built it to a national school. It took decades to build that up.

It took hours to destroy it.

Paterno was fired. He deserved it. The President was canned.

The Paterno brand is forever tarnished. His 50 years of building it are gone. His obit will lead with the cover-up and the dismissal. His fall from grace, Not his accomplishments.

The only way Penn State can start to re-build their brand is to ELIMINATE EVERYONE on the coaching staff and athletic department that was there. All of them need to be axed. A complete cleansing is the only way to rebuild. Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer said that ‘everyone on the staff had to have known.’ It is disgusting that this cover-up is so wide-spread.

Paterno is gone and his reputation is dead.

Penn State can re-build, but it must start fresh. All of the people associated with the program need to leave.

I also think the football program should get the death penalty and go on a two-year hiatus.

Over 20 years ago, mystery writer Sue Grafton came up with a tremendous hook to sell her stories. She titled them alphabetically. Starting with “A is for Alibi” and through the alphabet until she has hit “V is for Vengeance.”  So she has four left to complete this massive series.

All of the books are in print in mass market. Each of the mass market titles are $7.99. All about the same length and the covers all match.

But the eBooks pricing on B&N nook is all over the map:

A distro of the eBook prices:

• $2.99 – 3
• $3.99 – 2
• $4.99 – 3
• $5.99 – 2
• $6.99- 2
• $7.99 – 9
• $14.99 -1

I attended the Comic Con on Sunday. I took my 15 year old son. The event ran from Thursday-Sunday, with Thursday for professionals and the press only. The other three days were open to the fans. And boy did the fans come out. The show was sold out. The aisles were packed. I saw lots of excitement for new items and people were truly energized by the place.

I attended the NYCC for the first time, four years ago. It was quiet. It was small. Yes, fans could still come but it had not opened up like it was this year. It is amazing to see how much growth there has been in a few years.,

Some thoughts:

• Having fans come together and pay admission and also buy goods is a good idea. Instead of having shows where industry people talk to others, let the fans come in. The business can be done on a single day, and open it up to others and see what happens.
• Captain America was the most popular costume from my unofficial observance. Followed by Green Lantern and Superman.
• The Black Eyed Peas new dance video game drew the biggest crowds.
• There were 200+ artists in ‘Artists Alley.’ Most looked bored, but a few were doing business.
• A lot of Japanese vendors.
• The crowd was very multi-cultural. Although the male-female ratio was probably 75-25%.
• A lot of women in “Lolita Fashions.” I didn’t make-up this phrase, I saw it at one of the shops. A bit strange.
• Probably 1/3 of the people were in some sort of costume.
• Javitz has no free wi-fi and the signals in the convention center were horrible. Give us free wi-fi.
• I saw publishers Abrams ComicArts; Simon & Schuster; Penguin and Disney.