TNL down for the count

Spent my holiday laying on the couch within 30 feet of a toilet at all times thanks in part to some alien bug that liquefied my lower intestines and my computer decided to kick the bucket so not going to be able to do much until I get things straightened out. In the meantime check out BSD, Mike says PSU has landed their ninth commitment, defensive back Stephon Morris and he also has a great breakdown of the running back targets for dear old PSU. Elsewhere in the PSU blogosphere, RUTS is back from his marathon in Vermont. Why is that important enough to link? Because typing 'marathon' and 'RUTS' in the same sentence makes me snicker.

Whose line is it anyway?

No, it's not a post about a Drew Carey show; things will get a little off this week as I've made two major purchases that will have my full support. Now that Blu-ray has won the High Definition format war, I broke down and ponied-up the $400 for a Playstation 3. (Damn you Sony and you're high definition games and video!) Secondly I've finally sent a hearty "Fuck YOU!" to Comcast and purchased Direct TV in HD with an HD DVR and it's getting installed today. With all that technology sitting at home waiting for a Techno Geek like me... well... you guys suffer. But it's not all bad, this means I'll actually be able to add some game film come next season now that I have a format that won't look like crap... oh my commentary will still be crap but the crap will have game film to back it up... and in 1080p! In the meantime here are some talking points for you to discuss.

It appears Joe Paterno is asking some interesting questions to Joe Tiller about naming a successor (HT: RUTS). Could retirement be far behind?

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller spent part of a recent Nike coaches trip discussing the ins and outs of coaching succession plans with another guy named Joe -- Penn State's Joe Paterno.

"He was asking me 'Why?' and 'Who?' and 'How?' " Tiller said during a telephone interview. "He didn't really tip his hand. But he did ask me 'Who's this guy?' and 'Why did I like him?' and 'Why now?' and those types of things.

"He didn't say, 'I'm thinking about this or I've got to do this.' But, after it had been announced, he seemed to be curious."

Tim Curley officially says there's nothing official.

PSU athletic director Tim Curley met recently with Paterno, though Curley said there is no timetable to make decisions about the future of college football's second-winningest coach.

"I don't think there's any deadline that's super-imperative right now," Curley said. "Obviously, when spring practice starts he gets pretty tied up and pretty focused. ... I wouldn't put a deadline on it. I don't think it has to be done before spring practice."

So let's all hurry up and wait. That's all for now. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go save the world in Call of Duty 4, plan my next two weeks of HD movie/TV watching, and take my new college basketball team (the State College Drunks) to NCAA tournament glory and fame. Perhaps Nick will be along to entertain you with one of his posts of genius (no pressure bud).

TNL: now with 10% more technology

I've finally had the time to catch up here at TNL and have added some things. I've updated my Big Ten Bloggers links to include all the members of our prestigious Big Ten Bloggers group – it's becoming the hip thing to be part of our merry little band and we're growing faster than Brittany Spears' police record. My apologies to all the great blogs of these here intertubes that have been part of our group for a long time and until now have had no recognition from TNL. Hopefully everything is 100% accurate now.

Also I've added one of them thar internet gizmos: the Schmap widget on the sidebar. It's an interactive schedule/map of the Penn State basketball schedule which has stats and various eye-pleasing graphics. Please, by all means give it a try and tell me what you think; the developers would like any feedback that I and my users can give. If you like it let me know, if you hate it let me know what could be better about it. Of course in keeping with our long-standing tradition of add-free blogging, TNL has received no monetary compensation for using the Schmap, it's there to make your blogging experience better. Don't get me wrong, we're whores here at TNL but we do it to cuddle not for the money.

Stewart Mandel needs a long vacation

Our good friend Run from RUTS points out that Stewart Mandel has gone a little on the nutty side (batshit insanity is one of the best tags, by the way) in his College Football Mailbag:

Mailbag: Stewart, you always say that conference strength is cyclical and always seem to defend easily bash-able conferences (i.e. the Pac-10, ACC). So let's see your rank all 11 Division I-A conferences.

SM: Big East: …The top four teams -- Louisville, West Virginia, Rutgers and USF -- stack up with any league outside of the SEC.

USF!?! Huh? I think Stewart has USF confused with USC, and Big East confused with Pac-10. Wow, do you think he re-read his response before hitting submit? Then he starts down the road that's going to make me puke before the season begins the "SEC is GOD" mantra:

1) SEC: Simply put, this year's SEC could be the toughest conference in history. I'm not exaggerating. It's extremely rare for a league to not only boast so many quality teams at the top (LSU, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee) but also so little dead weight at the bottom. Really, it's just Mississippi State. You've got two former national championship coaches, Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban, leading what may be only the seventh- or eighth-best teams in the league.

SEC speed: faster than a speeding bullet

Jesus. Just shoot me now.

Well, that just makes me want to validate this statement, so I'm announcing a new segment: the TNL SEC watch. I'm going to keep a close eye on our conference to the south because after all, why not watch the toughest conference ever? It's going to be the best football ever, right? I'm not going to bother posting about inter-conference matchups, but I'm going to keep close tabs on how the SEC does out of conference, let's see if Mr. Mandel is right. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Stewart Mandel but asinine statements like this cannot be left unchecked, and who better to do that than a lazy, obnoxious blogger who can't write?

Programming Note

Real life intervenes for the next couple days so don't expect much from me, not that you do. I'm on the road in an official capacity but don't worry, I'll be back next week with some analysis of all things blue/white. Also I'm moonlighting as a Sports Blog Nation writer over at Black Shoe Diaries next week as Mike has asked me to fill in for him while he's out on business – what a naïve, trusting soul. I'm going to invite all my nasty friends over and trash the Hell out of the place. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to keep posting my mindless drivel here that you've come to know and love. Whilst I'm gone feel free to comment on this week's Blue & White roundtable discussion, make paper airplanes, and finish that 18 century Spanish Galleon you've been meaning to put together.