Penn Staters Showed Their Colors

Penn State won the ESPN Wear Your College Colors Contest and the $10,000 prize for the general scholarship fund!

Monday Cartoon

I saw a comic strip last Saturday that made me think of the "leadership" we have currently at PSU.  As I have been prone to do in the past, I changed the words a little to make it more Penn State-y.  But given the delicate nature of the situation, I decided to ask permission from Scott Adams to use his Dillbert cartoon in this manner on my blog.

Unfortunately, he responded:

Hi Todd,
Thanks for asking. I don't approve mash ups of Dilbert but I'm glad you enjoyed the original.

I'm hurt.  I've never been turned down (by a cartoonist) before.  What's even more interesting, you can do "mash ups" of Dilbert cartoons on their site . . ."if you think you are funnier than Scott Adams."   So with that inspiration, I made my own comic strip.  My artistic abilities are exceeded only by my singing talent.  Thankfully, this is my blog and not America's Got Talent.  

Before you say it, I will:  Scott Adams doesn't have to worry about me taking his day job!

The Next Chapter

One Pride.  One Purpose.  One Family.  ONE TEAM.

UK Sports Editor Blasts Freeh

Neil Monnery describes himself as a ‘Former Sports Editor now SEO & Search Marketing Guy. Hospital Radio DJ, Sports Fan, Sleep Lover, Liberal, Freelance Writer & Broadcaster.’  I don't think he's found himself yet, have you? 

But he has found some things to say about the Gospel According to Freeh.

Reading the Freeh Report and somehow not throwing up all over my desk and surrounding carpet is I think an achievement in itself.

The Freeh Report is full of holes and did not speak to many of the important people involved due to various reasons. Basically if I was using another American scandal I’d say it was the Mitchell Report which was ready to bury people based on just one source – Brian McNamee.


This time round Louis Freeh is ready to bury people on the strength of 14 and 11 year-old e-mails that may or may not be out of context. We all know that if this was a prosecution case in a criminal trial then no-one would be found guilty but the court of public opinion is a very different one to that of a court of law.

Now I am still what you call old school. You are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and deserve to be treated as such. You are not innocent until a report into your conduct which only looks at a small portion of the evidence deems you as such. That isn’t how we do it in the democratic world – well it isn’t how it should be done anyway.   There is surely plenty of blame to go around. We just don’t know where the blame should be laid yet. We all have opinions but opinions and knowledge are two very different kettles of fish.   When people like Mike McQueary, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz etc… start speaking publicly and/or under oath then we might start getting the full picture. Until then we have seen half the story and to form an opinion based on half a story is not much further elvolved [sic] than what happened at the Salem witch trials.

 Monnery also takes a good jab at Rick Reilly, who was particularly outspoken against Paterno recently.

But Rick--and others--would call us Paterno apologists.

I am an apologist . . . I'm very sorry that due process has been ignored and our society feels this crushing desire to harm innocent people without said due process.

A LITTLE More About Paterno

A photographer close to the Penn State program for many years writes on his blog about Joe Paterno after reading Posnanski's book . . .

No matter which camp you reside in, this book will not change your mind or sway you in any direction. I am a photographer and this is the only Paterno book I have ever read. I am not a writer or a book reviewer. I am a man that spent 25 seasons (somewhere north of 200+ games) covering Penn State football from as close as you could get.

Of course, that is less than 100 games since the NCAA sanctions!

If you are looking for the Holy Grail answer as to why Joe did what he did or didn’t do, you will not find it here. The Book did one thing for me, and that was all I was looking for. It filled in some of the blanks. We all know the core story: Brooklyn, Brown, Engle, George, Sue, Coach, Bear, champions, players, education, age. This was the hit music we heard over and over and it became lore. The book feels like the Album to those greatest hits. The songs you didn’t hear when you were only listening to the hits.

In all the years I covered Penn State football with all the people I knew, players, coaches, reporters, photographers, workers, fans, students, and everyone else you can think of after doing this for 25 years, I was as stunned as anyone when the Sandusky story broke. I didn’t hear a rumor, a whisper, a sentence, or a single word about Jerry Sandusky. Nothing. I was very close to the program and gained the trust that you only get from being there that long. I heard nothing.

After reading the Sandusky report and asking his kids about public opinion of him, and they were totally honest, he said: “How could they think that? They really think that if I knew someone was hurting kids, I wouldn’t stop it? Do they know me? Do they know [sic] know what my life was about?” Exactly. That is exactly how I feel. He never liked Sandusky, that was known, for a very long time, by people anywhere near the program. He would never protect anyone who did that to kids. He would walk to the police station and report it, in person, if he had any idea what was going on. That’s what I think. Read what you want, believe what you want. Many times, in this book, Joe speaks to you about this. If this man was acting all his life doing everything he could the right way, turning boys into great men, and working to improve everything around him. Why would he protect someone hurting children? He wouldn’t. It’s that simple.

Too simple for the haters though.  And to this day, I still can't understand how turning Sandusky in would have been bad publicity for the University, or the football program.  On the contrary, they would have been heroes for bringing the monster to justice.  Don't you think if Paterno/Curley/Schultz/Spanier knew what we all now know that they wouldn't have put forth the effort to stop him?  Paterno and Spanier have said that in fact.  Curley and Schultz will echo those sentiments during their trials probably.  The motive for a cover up is highly suspect.

Pat Little concludes with:

So, how do I feel about Joe Paterno?


That’s easy.

I miss him.

I miss him too.

The Other Ohio

In past years, I have previewed the season as a countdown from the game I felt would be the easiest to win to the game that I felt we were most likely to lose, or the most difficult game to win.

But as I look at this year's schedule, and contemplate the team we have, I realized something crucial . . .


The Old Paterno playbook.

I have no idea what to expect from this team.

For the first time since I have been following Penn State football, Joe Paterno is not at the helm.  And while there were games he missed the past few years due to health issues (or being unceremoniously fired without due process) his fingerprints were always discernible on the game plan.

With Joe, there was a certain constancy that was on the one hand comforting, and on the other hand terribly frustrating.  There was always a quarterback controversy--you never knew for sure who was going to start.  O'Brien has eliminated that doubt.  Barring an injury, McGloin will start the game.  It's crazy shit.  The man picked a starting QB.  Before fall practice even began.  I know!  Can you imagine this?!

I think it is safe to assume that we are going to see a different kind of offense.  While that may not necessarily mean a pass happy, fun and gun, kind of up-tempo offense that scores oodles of points, it is going to be different than the stodgy, vanilla excuse for an offense that has mired Penn State teams down since Fran Ganter "resigned." 

I expect the defense to be pretty good and perhaps more aggressive than what we Penn State fans are accustomed to.  Even though Bradley is no longer the defensive brain, the heart of those defenses--the defensive line and linebackers--should be solid, though depth issues may become a problem.  But those two areas should be okay due to the retention of Vanderlinden and Johnson.

Our kicking game took a hit with the transfer of Fera, but special teams can only be an improvement, as they have been sorely lacking for the past, oh, two decades?  I think we pretty much brought up the rear in kick off returns the past few seasons.  But I don't see a dedicated special teams coach, and I am not sure who or how many coaches will be involved in that aspect.  I still think things have to be better in this department, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.

With these issues in mind, I realized the task of assigning priority to games on a countdown became an exercise in futility.  Without some specific knowledge of how we stack up against teams, it is very difficult to predict outcomes.  We could beat Ohio State and lose to Indiana.  It's going to be that kind of year, I'm afraid to say.  Probably not, but I can wishfully think so here.  Actually, if we are going to wishfully think anything, then we'll think undefeated season.

So with a new staff and a boatload of unfair sanctions, I decided not to present a countdown, but instead to preview each game in order.  We are going to take this season one game at a time.

First off, the Ohio Bobcats.

This is the game of Successors.  Frank Solich succeeded Tom Osborne.  Bill O'Brien succeeded you know who.  Of course, Frank was modestly successful and still got canned, and Ohio is where he fell.  The verdict on O'Brien may take years to determine.

Ohio is picked by the Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook to win the MAC.

Ohio has a young team coming off perhaps the school's best season ever in the modern age of football.  According to SB Nation:

Solich has built the Ohio program the way he learned to at Nebraska: stock up on locals, redshirt like crazy, and bring in just enough outsiders to make things interesting.

Ohio has won at least eight games in four of its last six seasons, and not only did it bring home its first ever bowl win last December (in dramatic fashion, no less), but it did so with a ridiculously young squad.

Matt Zemek breaks down the Bobcat team and concludes that returning junior QB Tettleton is a key.

Bringing Tettleton back is big for the Bobcats and head coach Frank Solich, who has never had as good of a returning starting quarterback in place during spring camp in his eight years in Athens, Ohio. Tettleton threw for over 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns last season, and was second on the team in rushing in 2011. Despite all of this, the offense has some retooling to do in 2012. The Bobcats need to replace two wide recievers including LaVon Brazill, and need to place two tackles on the offensive line.

On the defensive side of the ball, Ohio's 4-3 front seven lacked a bit of toughness last season, unable to apply consistent pressure on the quarterback. The biggest question mark for the Bobcats is that for the first time in four years they are without a stud middle linebacker. They lost Noah Keller to graduation. Despite this, they still do return nine starters on defense, including the entire secondary. If Solich and his staff can find someone to plug in the gaps at the middle linebacker position, they should be in good shape to once again challenge for the top spot in the MAC and claim the East Division flag.

On special teams, consistent junior Matt Weller returns to handle placekicking duties. The Bobcats must find replacements on kick returns, at long snapper, and at punter this spring.

This could be a dangerous first opponent.  But when I look at the out of conference schedule, only Navy didn't go to a bowl game, and of the three schools playing in bowls last year, only Virginia lost.  I vacillate between us going 4-0 and 0-4. 
But the die-hard, Kool-Aid drinking fan in me insists that we win this opening game, which may feature one of the largest opening crowds since Arizona came to Beaver stadium in 1999.

The game is key for a variety of reasons.  First, it is Bill O'Brien's debut.  Secondly, the whole world will be watching to see what happens at Penn State in the after-math of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. This game could set the tone for the whole season. 

I think our guys are going to come out on that field, to a full or nearly full stadium of fans anxious to put the past nine months behind us and MOVE ON, and score a solid victory for the Blue and White.  A win will do wonders to ease the pain of this past off-season.  Erickson can even apologize afterward if he feels the need--and he will.  The players can't control the sanctions.  They can't control the media.  But they can control their own destiny. 



Bobcats Like to Crack Nuts!



Holding Out for a Hero

The more I read about this whole situation at Penn State, with the mad rush to pass judgment and punish without due process, the more frustrated I become.

Not one NCAA rule was violated.

Not one Penn State employee has been convicted of any crime or wrong doing.

Yet, we have what we have.

I keep hoping each day that something will surface to change the risen tide of public opinion and emotions that swept over Penn State like a tsunami.

But I am deluding myself.

We no longer have men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Will Rogers or John Wayne.  Or, dare I say it, Joe Paterno.

We live in a country where the President isn't impeached, because he changes the definition of sex.

We live in a country where the Supreme Court fails to protect its citizens, because we define the unconstitutional behavior as a tax.

So why should I hold out any hope that Penn State and Joe Paterno will ever see truth and justice.

Instead of writing off the wrong as a misinterpretation of a word or calling it a tax, we call it a "consent decree."  And we do nothing to stop it.  Truth is, the very people (lawyers, politicians, media, etc.) who have allowed this kind of thinking won't allow it to be stopped.

Be honest.  If you have no legal training, had you ever heard of a consent decree before this?  How many member institutions have ever signed a consent decree with the NCAA?  It's very existence is proof in itself that this whole approach by the NCAA was shady--or why would they need a consent decree in the first place?  Res ipsa loquitur to quote the legals.  The thing speaks for itself.

One might argue that this is a special case, and should not be compared to other situations using the same criteria.  To some extent, that is true.  There is no other instance that I know of where a volunteer organization imposed penalties on someone or something for a crime that has not even been settled in court yet.

But either way, a consent decree is simply another way of changing the rules to justify an unjust situation.

It shouldn't have been offered.  It shouldn't have been signed.  The NCAA has no authority to do what it did, but will now hide behind their redefinition of the situation.

And no one will stop it.

I am holding out little hope.

Where have all the good men gone


And where are all the gods?

Where's the street-wise Hercules

To fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?

Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

I'm holding out for hero.

I just don't know how long I can hold on.