I guess a lengthy 5-year court case and tons of lawyers' fees was worth knowing that Penn State coach Joe Paterno makes $512,664, at least that's what the Harrisburg Patriot-News would have you believe. I would link you to the three page article but I choose not to in defiance to a paper I hate. Suffice it to say, although that number isn't his total compensation, Paterno makes a lot less than most of us previously thought. Frankly, I don't give a damn and I think most Penn State fans don't either but the reason I'm posting about it is the light in which the Patriot wants to cast itself makes me want to puke. The Patriot would have you believe that they are beacons of light in the open records fight.
While some people no doubt see a tabloidish fixation in the quest by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg to unleash Penn State's salary figures, there' something much bigger at stake than gossip over JoePa's contract. It's nothing less than the ability to see what the state government is doing with taxpayer money, how legislation is influenced and written, and who's pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Bullshit. Blow smoke in the direction of someone that's a lot more gullible than me Patriot-News. I agree 100% that Pennsylvania's open record laws are some of the weakest in country and I am whole-heartedly behind opening up the books and exposing some of the shady dealings of our slimy state government but don't tell me the Patriot went after Paterno for that reason. Don't believe me? Go to Penn Live.com and do a search for "open records" and see what you get. You'll get very few, if any articles written exclusively about open-records laws. In addition, it's funny - for a paper that is so worried about open-record laws and not the "tabloidish fixation" on Paterno's salary they sure didn't mind writing a three-page (on the internet) article about his salary when it was finally revealed. Yeah, not tabloidish at all. No, this was about selling papers not about righting an injustice, the Harrisburg Patriot is NOT the Batman of Pennsylvania papers.
This is us... no really, it is!
Simply put the Patriot thinks that if it goes after a high profile guy like Joe Paterno, it will entice people to buy its paper. Why else would they pick Paterno and not go after state Senator Billy-Bob Smith? Because Billy-Bob doesn't sell papers but Joe Paterno does. In the end I agree with the court's decision, Paterno was getting compensation (albeit a small amount) from state funds which meant taxpayer dollars but his salary was exclusively paid by the university and not from the taxpayers. It's sad that Paterno ends up caught in the middle of a political fight and is used by a shoddy paper that routinely takes pot shots at Paterno in a feeble attempt to increase its subscribers. Come to think of it maybe I will get a subscription next year – I do plan on getting a puppy.
The Sporting News has released its 2007 Freshmen All-Big Ten team and Penn State is well represented with four Nittany Lions earning honors. On offense guard Stefen Wisniewski and running back Evan Royster received the nod while on the defensive side tackle Ollie Ogbu and end Aaron Maybin were picked. Redshirt freshmen were eligible for the list.
This has absolutely nothing to do with football (unless you’re former Dallas Cowboys star Nate Newton) but it is too funny not to pass on. A crew picking up litter on Interstate 4 near Tamp Florida found something you don’t see every day: two garbage bags full of marijuana.
Insert your own joke/caption here!
The total weight of pot: 60 pounds which could be worth somewhere around $54,000 on the street. The plants seemed to be freshly picked. Police said it’s not the biggest amount of pot ever found dumped along a roadside but it’s not a common occurrence.
It's Wednesday and that means Blue & White roundtable and this week I've got the questions and the rest have your answers so be sure and check them out. Of course I answer myself so it's kinda like I'm a tad on the insane side which I am.
It appears that Penn State is a lock for the Alamo Bowl, at this point are you ready to jump on a plane and head to San Antonio or is this game a TiVo moment while you find better things to do like clean the bathroom?
Galen: I actually have a friend in Texas that would be more than happy to let me stay if I headed down to the bowl game. Having said that… no thanks I'm not spending good money and vacation time to go watch this team. Mike from BSD and Run from RUTS have both said this before and I agree, it's very easy to dislike this team and I don't mean their play it's very easy to dislike these players on a personal basis. Between multiple fights, sexual assaults and public drunkenness, it's easy to just want this season to end and hopefully get rid of some of the bad apples that are rotting away the rest of the bunch.
Nick: I’ll watch it live on television. I have never traveled to a Penn State bowl game. I almost did go to the Orange Bowl, but packages were just too insanely expensive. The BCS bowls are the only bowls I would consider paying to travel to, traveling around the holidays is hectic enough and the game needs to be worth it, but I will make time to watch it for sure.
The rumor mill about the vacant Michigan coaching job is just getting started – who do you think ends up the next Skunkbear's head coach?
Galen: The rumor of Kirk Ferentz leaving Iowa to coach Michigan makes me want to laugh out loud. Don't get me wrong, the Michigan job is attractive to any coach and Ferentz is a great man and a good coach but he's also a smart guy; he's not going to leave Big Ten school A to coach Big Ten school B and slit his own throat. He's been loyal to Iowa and they've returned the favor so he's not going to create a new rivalry between Iowa and Michigan just to coach the Wolverines. I think Les Miles is a done deal it's just going to take a fake "national search" by Michigan so they can say to their Alumni and boosters that they did everything to ensure that Michigan got the best man and that man is Miles.
Nick: I really have no idea, Kirk Ferentz may have been announced by the time this is posted, but just for the hell of it let me say Bill Callahan – people want a more open offense in Ann Arbor, more than “throwing rock”, and he took Nebraska away from run, run, run, and run some more to pass. I’m sure he could even find a game plan to beat us if he was the coach at Michigan. I imagine this could beat us as the coach of Michigan, that’s just our luck:
Last week we had your list of the three players that vastly exceeded your preseason expectations, I'm a pessimistic prick (my friends call me captain morale) so name me the three players you had high preseason expectations for that have totally let you down.
Galen:
#1)I made number one big and bold so I can get the point across that there's a huge gap between one and the rest. Without a doubt the biggest disappointment this season was Austin Scott. What a waste of great talent. This kid never matured and never figured out the sacrifice that is necessary to become an elite running back and he had all the tools to accomplish it. Regardless of the outcome of the sexual assault trial, Scott should have never been in the situation he was in. Everyone thought he could have a breakout season this year and it never came close to happening.
2) Speaking of public intoxication, Andrew Quarless checks in at number two. With a breakout freshmen season a lot was expected of Quarless, but he got kicked off the team, ended up in Joe's doghouse and played poorly when he finally saw the field. He made boneheaded mistakes and really wasn't the matchup problem we all thought he'd be.
3) While Anthony Morelli threw for over 2500 yards with 18 TD's and only 9 INT's, a lot of that came against the sugary part of Penn State's schedule and as I stated earlier this week, in big games he often fizzled out and so did Penn State's chances of winning.
Nick: Justin King – by far the biggest disappointment of the season, hands down, all the talk coming into this year was that this was going to be his last season before jumping to the NFL. It made sense, last year he was great, however, this year he has been badly exposed in several games and has no choice but to return for his senior season. Hopefully, he takes the challenges that have come up seriously and work hard to sure up all aspects of his game going into next year. Andrew Quarless – I was expecting a monster year from him this season and despite having to sit the first couple games, really never had any doubts about him. In reality, he’s been terribly inconsistent and dropping lots of important balls, the Illinois dropped TD replays in my head as I’m writing this. Austin Scott – this one pains me, because I saw him when he was a world-beater, an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime performer. He ran for 3,863 yards and 53 touchdowns his senior year in high school leading Parkland to their first state championship in football. It was really something to behold.
Lightning Round
The BCS is a total mess right now who ends up in the championship game?
Galen: I'm praying for West Virginia and Ohio State because both conferences are considered "weak" by many and it would really, really piss off the SEC… you know the guys that DON'T want a playoff system.
Nick: West Virginia will play Ohio State, sorry Missouri.
Will the BCS shakeup this year finally cause coaches to start pushing for some sort of playoff (I'm looking in your direction SEC)?
Galen: No there will be a lot of whining and the BCS will get changed again but we're not going to see a playoff any time soon.
Nick: Coaches? Maybe, JoePa has wanted a playoff as long as I can remember. AD’s? Not so much. Bowl officials? Definitely not. I don’t foresee a playoff ever being instituted in major college football. At this point I would be willing to accept a Big Ten, where every team plays each other and doesn’t their season a month earlier than everyone else.
In honor of Black Friday, are you the type of guy that a) Christmas shops early and puts a lot of thought into your gifts b) waits until the last minute and buys whatever's left on the shelf c) gets everything from E-bay & Amazon or d) has a significant other that does all the shopping for you (bonus points if that significant other reads your blog)?
Galen: Without a doubt I'm a last minute guy the way God intended men to shop, although online shopping is getting more and more attractive every year.
Nick: I try to shop early and put thought in whenever possible, but will rush around at the last minute if all else fails.
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Sorry about the lack of posting lately but it was Thanksgiving and I spent a lot of time away from my computer doing family & friends sort of things but Nick kept you occupied and now I'm back rejuvenated and ready to talk some Penn State athletics. With the season officially over and the Nittany Lions waiting for a crap bowl berth I think it's time to take a look back at the season on a position by position basis. We'll start with a look at quarterbacks.
Expectations
Coming into the 2007 season most felt that Anthony Morelli would improve on his 2006 campaign with an experienced receiving corps returning all three wide receivers and (what many thought was) a top notch tight end. Sure there were questions about his ability in big games but the Tennessee bowl performance had people buzzing about the strong-armed quarterback's potential. Needless to say that was tempered by the fact that he was coached by Jay Paterno, but most Penn State fans had visions of decent improvement over the previous year.
Reality
The season started out promising as Morelli feasted on three cupcakes to the tune of a 63% pass completion percentage with 8 touchdowns and only 1 interception but that all came to a screeching halt when Morelli laid a big egg in Ann Arbor. Against Michigan Morelli completed only 15 of his 31 passes for a measly 169 yards against a Wolverine defense that previously got torched by a Div I-AA opponent. In fact Morelli was great against lesser teams and lousy against quality opponents in 2007. In Penn State's eight wins Morelli completed 64% of his passes for 16 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. In the Nittany Lions' four loses Morelli's stats dipped to a 51% completion percentage with only 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. It's easy to see that when Anthony struggled so did Penn State. Now an argument can be made that some of those losses were more play calling and less execution on Anthony's part but in the end the stats don't lie – when Morelli played poorly Penn State lost.
Prospectus
With this being Antony's last season we need to look to the future. I know for some of you that last sentence probably bought out a hearty cheer but are we going to be better off next season? The two front runners (Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin) have thrown a whopping ten passes this season so there's going to be a very green quarterback starting for the Nittany Lions. On the positive side whoever wins the starting job will have all three wide receivers back, a kick-ass offensive line, a hard-nosed running back to take the pressure off, and a (supposedly) athletic tight end.
Both bring something completely unique to the equation: Clark is a poor man's Michael Robinson, athletic and made to fit into the spread attack and Devlin gives you a classic drop back passer with pin-point accuracy and several Pennsylvania high school passing records. On the negative side, Paterno is notorious for quarterback controversies when there is no absolute clear cut winner and a controversy is inevitable, and lest we not forget, Jay Paterno is still the quarterbacks coach.
With the help of questionable officiating and possibly the worst kicker in the nation, Notre Dame was able to hold off Stanford 21-14 to win third game of the season. Thanks to a change of rules in the BCS, they are patiently awaiting their January destination. Originally, not slated to go into effect until next year, it was instead put into use immediately upon approval. Among the more intriguing aspects was the stipulation that:
if fewer than 10 of the top 14 teams in the standings are eligible for an at-large bid, the qualifying standard will extend to the top 18, Notre Dame will have first choice if ranked in the top 119. If enough teams are still not available, the standard would be pushed back four spots until the pool is big enough to fill all the bowls.
Charlie Weis was upbeat upon hearing the news:
I’m really looking forward to spending another month coaching these players. The more time I can spend not teaching them anything and possibly making them worse the better. The soul crushing demolition that only a BCS Bowl can provide is paramount to smother the self-esteem and confidence we may have built up by beating Duke and Stanford to wrap up the regular season. You can be certain this will really pay dividends going forward into next year. It just makes sense, Notre Dame IS college football and frankly you can’t have a season without a Fighting Irish bowl loss.
What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. I want everyone to remember, why they NEED us!
Continuing the theme of fall sports, the number 1 seeded Penn State women’s soccer team was upset at home yesterday 1-0 by West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. For those unfamiliar with soccer, it’s the football known to the rest of the world, played by actually using your feet and with a round, white ball. For those still not paying attention, let me introduce you to Amanda Cicchini of the Mountaineers, she had the assist on the game-winning goal against the Nittany Lions.
I'ma get get get get you drunk
While very successful in the Big Ten, winning their 10th straight title this year, Penn State just cannot seem to get to that overall elite echelon in soccer, despite being awarded their second number 1 seed in the last three years. Generally, it has been Notre Dame and North Carolina standing in the way, however the future does look very promising with an upgrade in facilities on tap and more time for new coach Erica Walsh to get everything in order. In spite of the disappointing ending, congratulations to the team on another great season.
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