Show of Hands

Eye of the Lion

When someone stole the glasses from the bronze statue of Joe Paterno, it may have been prophetic.  According to Mark Brennan of FightonState.com, Joe Paterno has undergone eye surgery and no longer needs his hallmark glasses.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose thick-lens glasses had become a trademark in his 44 years at the helm of the Nittany Lions, has had surgery to correct his vision.

“I had trouble reading for the last six months, so I went down to Philadelphia to the Penn Scheie Eye Institute,” the 83-year-old said. “And the guy says to me … I think we can fix that up. So they went in and did it. I don't really need glasses any more.”

But anyone expecting the spectacle of major college football's all-time wins leader showing up on the sideline with a completely new look next fall will be disappointed. Paterno said when he walks around without glasses, “I feel strange.”

“When I don't wear 'em, and I put on a sweater, I reach to take the glasses off and I don't have them on,” he said.

My mom said the same thing after I removed her cataracts--she is 20/20 without correction but doesn't like the way she looks without glasses.
With his bionic hip and new eyes, Joe should be all set for another ten years of coaching.  He already had better vision than most of the refs.  But as one message board pundit asked, "will he be able to see how far off the line the corners are playing now?"

After the Super Bowl . . .

Bowden Loses Appeal

Per Heather Dinich of ESPN:

Florida State will vacate athletic victories from 2006 and 2007, including 12 credited to former football coach Bobby Bowden, as part of its penalty for an academic fraud scandal in 2006-07 involving 61 student-athletes, the school announced.

Last month, the NCAA upheld Florida State's appeal of sanctions affecting Bowden and nine other teams stemming from a cheating scandal involving an online music course. The vacation of wins was the only penalty Florida State appealed.

Bowden retired after the 2009 season with 389 wins over a 57-year career, the second most in major college football behind Penn State's Joe Paterno. The penalty leaves him with 377 wins.

Included in those vacated wins is a bowl victory as well.

LOI Updates

As the dust settles on another LOI Day, Penn State came out looking pretty good.  Personally, I have never been one to be too excited about recruiting--it's important, no doubt about that.  But it is such an inexact science.  I have seen too many highly touted recruits never live up to their billing, and it never ceases to amaze me how walk-ons or "star-less" athletes can become big contributors.

Here is the list of letters received:  National Signing Day Board

Rivals ranks our class 12th (best among Big Ten teams) but with 0 five star recruits.

ESPN ranks our class 8th in the nation.  They have Ohio State at 14 whereas Rivals had the Bucks at 25.  How's that for consistency?

And Scout.com ranks our reruiting class at 9th with 3 five-star recruits.

Overall, I think you'd rather have a higher ranked class than a lower, but it doesn't seem to bother Utah or Boise State not to be at the top of those lists.  But I also wouldn't want to have to face a grueling Big Ten schedule with their recruits either.

Punxsutawney Joe

Punxsutawney Joe saw his shadow this morning, predicting 12 more weeks till the Blue White Game!