Anyone who thinks Joe Paterno was born a cranky old man and has now grown into his persona or who is convinced the 80-year-old Penn State coach doesn't care deeply about his image or sports issues beyond the Nittany Lions winning should read the following anecdotes:

The night before a Nittany Lions game at Notre Dame several years ago, Paterno met informally with media types and a few others in a hotel room in Michigan City, Ind.

As the low-key social event was breaking up at a modest hour, a wide-eyed fan and his daughter asked Paterno if he would pose with them for a photo.

Paterno bowed his head and declined. The man was crushed and embarrassed. Perhaps later the man realized Paterno was just protecting himself. Paterno had had one, maybe two, drinks throughout the evening and although he looked, talked and walked perfectly fine, there was no way he was coming within 100 yards of the slightest risk he would look disheveled in a photo. And that was before the widespread use of the Internet.

After Johnny Majors returned to Pitt in the early 1990s, Paterno agreed to a phone interview for a story on the friendship the two coaching icons had forged, primarily during trips arranged by Nike, the athletic apparel company.

Paterno was asked about one trip to Hawaii where an old-fashioned squirt gun fight broke out, complete with some huge names in the sports world ducking behind tables, launching ambushes and generally having a great time. Paterno was incredulous that anyone knew about it and wasn't very pleased that the public would soon read about it. Imagine people knowing he could have fun like a kid.

Once, in a moment when he was relaxed and receptive, Paterno was asked about the Dodgers abandoning his hometown of Brooklyn after the 1957 season to relocate to the West Coast. His shoulders drooped, he shook his head slowly a few times and uttered something that was more of a discouraging tone than it was words. You could almost see some mist forming behind those thick glasses.

You all know about Paterno's reaction anytime he's asked about resuming the Pitt-Penn State football rivalry. That is when his voice reaches its finest high-pitched whine and he blasts the Panthers for failing to fall in line with his early 1980s idea of an Eastern conference. Never mind that the Pitt administrators from then are mostly gone or dead, and the current players on both teams were born at least a decade after Pitt's "snub." Paterno wanted to be the visionary, and it haunts him that no one listened.

You see, Paterno doesn't do or say much that he hasn't thought a lot about.

He wants to control what you know and how you come to know it. He is much more careful and calculated than spontaneous.

That's why it was puzzling, and even troubling, that Paterno last week mentioned he might continue to coach from the press box.

He backtracked a little at the same Big Ten media day function, talking about running onto the Beaver Stadium field with the Nittany Lions at their Sept. 1 opener against Florida International, but anyone familiar with how Paterno operates should see his press box comment as a red flag.

It is possible Paterno is simply concerned that his legs won't hold up during a game yet. He finished last season coaching from the press box after he got plowed into on the sideline Nov. 4, leaving him with a broken left leg and torn knee ligaments.

It is also possible something else is going on.

Or at least there is reason to wonder, especially if he continues to work from home a great deal, something that seems out of character and odd for a major-college head coach.

Paterno talked about having a better vantage point and enjoying his seat in the press box.

But he has to know that, even if he lets his staff do 99 percent of the in-game coaching, he has an effect when he's on the sideline.

Paterno has some influence on officials (as long as he doesn't physically assault them).

He has an influence over players who must face him after they take a costly penalty or make a crucial mistake.

He has an influence on prospective recruits and the nation in general as the face of Penn State.

You certainly hope there aren't other health issues.

Perhaps Paterno is just stubbornly hanging on long enough to finish ahead of Florida State's Bobby Bowden in Division I victories -- Bowden has 366, Paterno 363.

Or maybe he wants the focus to shift to his staff to give those coaches a better shot at being kept on in the post-Paterno era.

Seeing Paterno on the sideline this season would eliminate a lot of questions. Let's hope that happens.