Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" dropped from Penn State game days

Neil Diamond attends a ceremony honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Aug. 10, 2012, in Hollywood, Calif.

/ Getty

(CBS/AP) STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State won't play Neil Diamond's song "Sweet Caroline" during football games any more.

The Altoona Mirror reported there was some concern about the lyrics "touching me, touching you" in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-sex scandal.

But since the news hit, Greg J. Myford, Penn State's associate athletic director of business relations and communications, has clarified the decision to drop the song.

Myford said the lyrics were discussed but it's not like the song has been banned from Penn State games. He said "Sweet Caroline" has no connection to Penn State; they just want to rotate new songs into the game day repertoire.

"Sweet Caroline has been brought up in recent years as to whether or not it should remain a part of the playlist," Greg J. Myford, Penn State's associate athletic director of business relations and communications, said in the statement. "We hear from fans each year on whether or not we should continue it, given that it happens to be played in so many other professional and collegiate venues and has no real origination here at Penn State."

He told the Altoona Mirror some "updating" will occur, and "'Sweet Caroline' was one of the songs we decided to switch out."

"Sweet Caroline," released in 1969, has become a popular song at sporting events. Boston's Fenway Park, for instance, has played the track for years during games.

The song also appeared on the 1996 soundtrack to Ted Demme's "Beautiful Girls," starring Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman and Rosie O'Donnell.

Earlier this month, Diamond, 71, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After his tour winds down in September, Diamond plans to start work on a new album, according to the Los Angeles Times.

[bluetunes]

Remove all jukeboxes within 300 feet of the game with police checkpoints to search & arrest anyone caught with iPods containing Best of Neil Diamond tunes or touch screen computers.

[ssporleder]

OMG - political IN-correctness has reached an all time low.

Who ARE these people that scrutinize every single word ever said?

Get a real life.

[AOCGUY]

Good Lord this is stupid.

[john92021]

Should substitute it with "another brick in the wall". By the time the lawyers are finished with them they won't have a band or football team. Today's news is that there is no news but they have to crank out something to justify our jobs.

[sentry88]

, Greg J. Myford, Penn State's associate athletic director of business relations and communications
SOUNDS LIKE MY CAR (MYFORD) THEY SHOULD DROP HIM ALSO. tHIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IDIOTIC THINGS I HAVE EVER SAW, THE SONG IS ABOUT CAROLINE KENNEDY AS A CHILD NOT CHILD PORN

[ammo17]

i think they should take the name of sandusky ohio off the state of ohio`s map.my GOD WHAT KIND OF IDIOTS DO THEY HAVE RUNNING THAT SCHOOL,NO WONDER IT TOOK THEM ALL THOSE YEARS TO FIND OUT ABOUT THAT PEDIFILE.BESIDES I LOVE NEIL DIAMOND!