Tide, Tigers and Other Pro Football
ESPN tells me that the BIGGEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME EVAH is being played today between Number 1 LSU and Number 2 Alabama. Got a pretty tough hill to climb to beat the Stanford/USC game last weekend though; we shall see. No question about these two teams defenses, they are both big, tough and fast. The game is at fabled Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, so the home turf factor certainly goes to the Tide. But the Tigers have the Honey Badger X-Factor. The Honey Badger is LSU cornerback/roving hit man Tyrann Mathieu. Both teams have competent QBs, although neither Jarrett Lee nor AJ McCarron have really been tested so far in a situation where the game depended on their arms, so their stats are a little misleading. Really so far, it is basically a wash and the teams are pretty similar. Except Alabama has Trent Richardson, who is simply a punishingly good running back; by the end of the game, that may well be the difference.
A week or two ago, I might have thought #14 Kansas State could give #3 Oklahoma State a run for the money; but not now, and not in Stillwater. A third late game of note is #9 South Carolina at #7 Arkansas. Marcus Lattimore’s season ending knee injury cost the “Cocks maybe the best all around RB in the nation, but his fill in, Brandon Wilds has been picking right up where Lattimore left off. The Hogs just kill SC every year, but I am going to go out on a limb and say the Gamecocks get the upset. The fourth key game is yet another late game, with ASU traveling to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA. Hard to believe, but if the Bruins manage a win, they would be in the lead for the Pac-12 Southern Division berth in the conference championship game. The Bruins have rebounded from a lousy start to the season, but I don’t think they have the horses to match points with Brock Osweiller and the Devils.
Honorable mentions go to Texas A&M/Sooners; potential upset there, but it is in Norman. In early action, Iowa is Hawking all over the Wolverweenies so far as are the Longwhores over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Oh, and in the sick news of the week, legendary ex-Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been indicted on 40, count em 40, counts of various deviant sexual assault of minor boys over a fifteen year period between 1994 and 2009. Sandusky retired from PSU in 1999, but the current Athletic Director and a second school athletic oversight official have also been charged in the matter with perjury and failure to report. JoePa has been left out, presumably because he did report when he supposedly first heard of Sandusky’s conduct (which was in 2002 after Sandusky had left PSU), but it sure doesn’t look like Paterno did much in the way of followup when he had to have known nothing had come of his report. Pretty bleak day in University Park.
In more positive news, the fine folks in Deetroit have organized to try to unsuck the Lions’ home games. From the Free Press:
A petition to dislodge Nickelback from the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving Day game has turned into a whole mess of petitions.
Rolling into its second day, the Great Nickelback Debacle continued to generate heated Internet chatter and international headlines, as the original fan campaign against the rock band closed in on 35,000 signatures.
Now THAT is a worthy effort; here is the petition. Nickelback?? You gotta be fucking kidding me. Deetroit Motor City, what the hell were you thinking??
UPDATE: Aaaaannnddd here come the “other pro-football players”, the ones that work for money instead of Escalades, free tattoos and money. I get the choice of 49ers at Skins or the Jets Jets Jets getting Circled By Wagons. I am kind of watching both, but am more interested in the Bills. Say this though, Frank Gore is an animal. Dude is really good. San Francisco is not a fluke, they can play. Hey, look, Sanchez is on the ground getting dirty near his own end zone already! Fancy that….Hey, wait, the Sanchize drove the Jets all the way down to the Bills endzone ….. and was promptly intercepted with a 20 yard runback.
Actually, now that I look at the schedule, Skins/49ers may be the second best early game; yuk what a lousy slate. Tampa Bay and Saints might be interesting, but it is in Nawlins, and Le Bon Temps Roulet there. The late slate is much better with Bolts/Cheesers, Pats/Gents, Bengals/Titans, and Baby Jesus at the Black Hole all being pretty interesting matchups. This is the kind of weird game the Bolts often somehow win, but for the life of me, I cannot see how they are gonna stop the Cheese Offensive. I don’t think the Pats could stop Bad Eli, much less Good Eli. Isn’t this where the famed “gelling of the young Belichick defense” is supposed to be happening? No signs of that so far this year.
Most unfortunately, I will be watching none of those games, because I get the extra pleasure of being given the Rams and Cardinals as my only late afternoon game. That is a fair fight. Of losers. Oh well, the Sunday and Monday Night games are both superb this week. Big Ben and the Stillers are back in form, and they might just have some payback in the offing for the Ravens. And Flacco and the Baltimore offense are regressing. Bears at Philly just depends on which Bears show up. But it seems Vick and teh Iggles are starting to click finally, so Philly looks good here.
Crack open a cold one and shove some chips and salsa in yer maw and let’s rock.
More details about the Iowa-Michigan, please; it’s not on the tube up here.
Bob in AZ
@Bob Schacht: Herke Hawkeye up 17-9 with 12 minutes left in 4th quarter. It is on ESPN here.
Go Hilltoppers!
(The formerly #120 out of 120 in FBS go for their 5th straight this afternoon against FIU)
Gators are up 20-7 over Vandy starting the fourth quarter, but they’ve left 10 points on the field and they’ll probably need those before it’s over. I think another coming from ahead loss is on the way…
@dakine01: Whoa. Wait. Five straight wins?? That’s five season’s worth!
Yahoo Hilltoppers!
Big East !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t wait for the basketball.
Think I have to go with my Cajun buddies in this one. If Bama loses at home they’ll definitely be out of the national championship picture. One more team out of Boise’s (who could beat either one) way.
Iowa Hawks win 24-16
Robinson and Weenies had ball for three plays on the Iowa 3 yd line at end of the game, but couldn’t get in.
@Bob Schacht: MI had 4 shots at the goal line from w/in 10. One was a probably TD first called out, w/o sufficient info to overturn. Another was a possible PI (though I’m more skeptical). The last play was, for some reason, not a Denard run.
Which meant they missed their opportunity to try to tie at the end of the game.
Thanks to a VERY generous non-call of pass interference against the Gators that should have put Vandy near the red zone down only 20-14 with about 3 minutes left, the Gators held on for a 26-21 win.
@Jim White: the Twitter sez ABC in south FL is showing the Stanford/Oregon St. game instead of A&M/Oklahoma, attributing it to the “suckforluck” phenom.
@rosalind: That must be the explanation. Here in Northern FL (where Jax and the Bucs are probably not in the running for that prize) we’re getting the Land Thieves and next year’s SEC patsies.
It probably counts for naught, but I once met Bear Bryant. Someone in my family had met the guy, maybe in what in those days was called semi-pro league play. Either one of those men probably would have some pointers for Harbaugh, Jim’s Handshake Statement Methodology. I was a teen, and Bryant had nil to say to me; the local high school coaches all thought I would not make an offensive end player on their team. I would have been offensive, though, I suppose; perhaps egregiously teleologically offensive. Plus, when airborne, it is preferable to keep rising instead of letting that cornerback emulate Ronnie Lott upon one’s frame while one is clutching the football, yet more difficult in those preIsotonerGloved times; though the guys all wore those plastic motorcycle helmets. rev, rev.
And thanx to bmaz for the musical interlude by a gent who was diverging from pentangle at the time, though i always liked Renbourn and Jansch’s kind of halloween folklore and dissonant composition style.
I was driving in Montréal yesterday morning, on the back of a city bus there was an ad for Nickelback’s upcoming cd, I threw up in my mouth.
Gator basketball had their only exhibition game of the season this week, hosting Div III Catholic U. On their roster: one Billy Donovan, oldest son of the Gator coach. Young Billy got 13 points, but his team was seriously outmatched as the Gators hit 20 of 40 three point shots to win 114-57.
The baseball team finished fall practice yesterday with a scrimmage I went to. They have some very promising freshman pitchers who should fill the big-name losses from the bullpen (although the best bullpen arm, “Paco” Rodriguez, is back). The rest of the team will be very experienced, with the team that made it to the College World Series final series returning all but one of the starting defenders and all three weekend starting pitchers. Look for a preseason number one when the polls come out.
for those watching the Stanford game, the latest on Owusu who was taken off the field in an ambulance, via StanfordFball:
@quebecois: I sort of take the NIckleback thing in stride with the Colts, rather than the Kitties (or the Bills or the Rayduhs) being on all the MNF games.
No one really expected anyone to be watching, I guess.
Enjoy!
@emptywheel:
I haven’t figured out the Superbowl halftime entertainment. It’s like they want people to watch it, but they either get entertainers for teens or slightly-over-the-hill Big Names, so why do they expect people to watch it? (I missed the Jackson wardrobe malfunction because a friend and I had to run out and get more salsa. It hadn’t blown up yet when we got back.)
W00t!
Hilltopper win 10 – 9, 5 – 4 on the year with 5 game winning streak (since they get to be LSU sacrificial lamb next week, oh well)
and Northwestern up 28 – 18 over Nebraska AT NE with 34 seconds left (NE 1st and ten inside the NW 20)
@rosalind: Hey rosalind — I loved your post over at FDL about Bill Graham and your days working at the Shoreline. The bit about how video stars don’t necessarily translate to the stage struck a chord with me.
I would like to add that imo football was better off with marching bands at half-time. When I was a kid, halftime of the Orange Bowl and Super Bowl were aberrations that made everyone in my house cringe in embarrassment for those who put on those shows.
I have no idea who Nickelback is, so I haven’t an opinion on either their music or their showmanship. All I know is I would rather see a college marching band or a drum corps out on the field. It probably doesn’t lend itself to the cross-promotion/marketing that the NFL is looking for though ; )
@dakine01:
NU 28, Nebraska 25.
NU is my alma mater, and Nebraska is the school for which Mrs Dr Peterr roots. (She’s got degrees from Mizzou and Kansas, but roots for the old family team.)
When news got out that Nebraska was joining the Big Ten, The Kid looked at his parents and said “Oh NO! What will you do now when these teams play each other?”
Once Mrs Dr Peterr gets off the phone with her mother, I think we’ll find out . . .
My prediction is Bama 35, LSU 10.
@Peterr:
I’ve been looking for reports on the game, not having seen it, and all I can find right now are box scores. Kain Coulter (sophomore QB) apparently came in to replace an injured Dan Persa, and rolled up these stats:
passing: 4/6 for 115 yards and 1 TD, no INT
rushing: 17 carries, 58 yards, 2 TDs
receiving: 3 receptions, 57 yards, 0 TDs
That’s quite a combination.
@phred: (thx, phred! it’s been a kick to see where the post has ended up (and many thanks to ew and bmaz for their twitter linkage). found out it was linked on the Bill Graham facebook page early on. i borrowed my friend’s password yesterday to check out all the people who “liked” it and “shared” it from all around the globe. the internets are a very cool tool indeed)
@emptywheel: Yes, I have seen the replays now (I was looking at the wrong TV schedule before, and missed the game.) They’ve got a good reason to gripe about the Incomplete call, and the PI non-call. But the Hawkeye’s defense must have done a good job.
I just thought of a play they could have used, but maybe there were good reasons why they didn’t: a triple-option that looks like a normal option, except the receivers are also crossing in the end zone. QB gets the choice of running it himself, pitching to the back, or throwing to the receiver. Maybe you stack two wide receivers on the opposite side of the field to decoy the DBs. Oh, well, what do I know?
Bob in AZ
@Peterr: That was a heckuva game. Northwestern?!? Who knew?
Bob in AZ
@Bob Schacht: Eh. UM shot itself in the foot in the first half. Can’t whine about the last 4 plays when you blow the first half.
Homecoming weekend.
UMass beats No.#1 ranked BC in hockey 4-2 at the Mullens Center.
Yipee skippy….
LSU-Alabama turns out to be a game dominated by the defenses. Not very exciting so far.
Bob in AZ
I guess my prediction of Alabama dominating isn’t going to hold up.
meanwhile in the pac 10+2, where we have offenses, 20 seconds to play –
UCLA 29
Arizona 28
Arizona with da ball…
Edit: UCLA holds on FTW
@Bob Schacht:
great football games
great teams playing each other
are often low scoring
or if not low scoring,
have a very small margin of victory for the winning team.
for example:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Saturday_in_October
univ of tenn vs univ of alabama.
note the number of “close” games over a long time span,
including quite a number of games with field goal scores only.
I don’t see any chance of a rematch in the BCS championship. Bama didn’t play well enough tonight to deserve it.
Here’s an article from the Atty General of PA on the Penn State stuff:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=6270
This is outrageous. It was allowed to continue for years. The people that knew should go to prison. Joe Paterno knew, and should resign, but he won’t of course.
Meanwhile, San Diego is overrun with Cheeseheads. The Pack is favored by 5-1/2 on the road, and Qualcomm will be filled with Cheesers, so it’s a road game at home for the Bolts. Since no one is giving them a sliver of a chance in this game, it will thus be competitive and come down to a final drive, but the Bolts will ultimately lose in some new creative way.
A rematch??????????
One of the most boring games in history. If Boise doesn’t get a shot then the whole BCS thing is a joke. Oh wait – we already know it is a joke.
@Jim White: I went with a fellow LSU alum to a sports bar where there were also some Bama fans… We all had a good time, and in the end — we all thought it was a good game. Of course, I am glad LSU prevailed, but I think it was more the luck of the draw.
Shitty game, and of course it’s all ESPN can talk about.
Really?? It sucked. Can we talk about something else?
Where’s the outrage over the Penn State stuff?
@emptywheel Michigan was robbed. Both should have overturned call on field. It was an obvious TD. Knee was down before ball hit end line and he maintained possession–But, would they have converted on 2 pt conversion? and then OT? Still bitter. Why are they shackling Dennard’s innovation?
Wolverine Agonistes!
Booth, not both–…
Why no Duckie love? Next week’s visit to The Farm is now Important!
A little headsup… UN’s IAEA Report to ‘Suggest’ Iran Nuclear Weapons Work…
@sojourner: It was a great game… Bama should’ve won it by virtue of the three shanked FG’s…! But, that’s why they play the game…! ;-)
@sojourner: Sounds like a great evening. I’m definitely getting the feeling that a bit of humanity has crept back into the void where sportsmanship should have been in the SEC. First with Alabama and Auburn fans pulling together over the Toomers Corner Trees episode and then with everyone pitching in to help Tuscaloosa after the tornado, fans in the SEC are now realizing once again there is more to life than football. And that’s a very good thing. [Especially in a year when the Gators suck!]
@CTuttle:
The UN and IAEA have been bought, bribed, or threatened by Our Glorious Leader?
@P J Evans: Well, note that it is almost exactly two years since Nobel Peace Prize winner ElBaradei ended his term as Secretary General of IAEA. That’s about the right amount of time for a “new” attitude to propagate through the ranks and make the next report a bit more to the liking of the powers that be. The new SecGen is from Japan.
@rosalind: Yeah, that was, quite unfortunately, my suck ass ASU Sun Devils, not Arizona, that lost to the freaking Bruins.
@GulfCoastPirate: Bama and LSU both have fantastic defenses. World class for college football/New England Patriots. But I absolutely believe, with no doubt, that not only can Boise State play with them, they may well beat them. Boise’s defense, while not as good as LSU or Alabama, is still way bigger, faster and better than people think. And they WILL score points. Somebody has gots to beat Oklahoma State though.
@bmaz: Oh, Oklahoma will take care of Okie State.
But no, I don’t think Boise can hang with LSU or Bama. Wouldn’t even be close…
@bmaz: I think you’re correct. Although both Bama and LSU have great defenses I think Boise could put up somewhere in the 20’s (at least) on either of them and their defense is good enough to win with that against either offense.
I think OU rolls Okie Lite. What I can’t figure out is how they lost to TT? Either Tech has quit on Tuberville for whatever reason or OU just had a terrible, terrible night. OU has enough team speed to win that game which is what you need against Okie State.
Now who is going to take out Stanford? LSU scored in the 30’s (IIRC) against Oregon so Luck may be able to light them up. How do you think Mack Brown feels about Luck these days? Luck begged to go there and Brown took the Gilbert kid instead and had Colt’s little brother coming along. A galactic mistake.
@Jim White: Wouldn’t be close? Interesting. Georgia is on the verge of winning the SEC East and Boise went into that dome in Atlanta and put a beatdown on Georgia. Either the SEC drops off quickly after LSU/Bama or Boise would do quite nicely against either.
@GulfCoastPirate: It’s the first part. Huge dropoff after LSU and Bama. Georgia (or South Carolina) won’t put up much of a fight in the SEC Championship game this year. And the Boise “beatdown” was 14 points.
@Jim White: Yeah, that was exactly what was said about Boise when they played Oregon, Stanford, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Boise beat all of them. We see all their games here. They are better than you think. Way better.
@randiego: Mike Wise in the Washington Post:
Whole article worth the read.
@Jim White: Well, none of those SEC teams other than Georgia was willing to schedule poor little Boise, the fuckheads all play Louisiana-Lafayette or some shit in non-conference games. Let Boise play and let’s find out.
@GulfCoastPirate: Mack Brown is a dunce.
@Jim White:
Comes into the job with a prearranged attitude, I guess.
@bmaz: Exactly
So just who at freaking FOX decided that the 49ers/Redskins game was the appropriate early national game for me to watch?
Bleech.
Thank god America’s Team, the Buffalo Bills are on CBS. Hope Rex Ryan’s sexy feet don’t get cold.
@bmaz: Oh, I’d love to see Boise in the championship game just to put the talk to rest. What’s missing in the claims about them is that they have never played a championship caliber team in the year that team won the championship. There is a big gap between a championship team and the other also-rans, even teams that have other championship years to their credit. Think the 1995 Gators. They swaggered through the regular season undefeated and then got their asses handed to them 62-24 by Nebraska.
This year, Arkansas is a very good top ten team, but Bama beat them by 24. That’s about where I see Boise.
Have updated the main post with this:
@Jim White: Far as I am concerned, teams like LSU and Alabama have yet to show they can hang with a real offense like Boise. They need to prove they can do that before they deserve very much respect.
@bmaz: Hey, the Niners deserve the attention.
Meanwhile, I get to watch the Jets-Bills. Really really pushing for the Bills here–Rust Belt Revenge!
@bmaz: I think the Bolts might surprise, too.
And while I agree the Pats have had zero D of late, it is in New England. Somehow that streak is still alive, even w/their shitty ass D.
We get Bucs-Saints here. I’m torn, since I like both teams. Shaping up to be a close game, I think.
And, Mark Sanchez throws it to the Bills in scoring distance. Again.
@emptywheel: Uh, I guess he threw it to them but they didn’t catch it. Overturned.
@emptywheel: You know, I have come to the conclusion Mike Shanahan somehow forgot completely how to coach when John Elway retired. Wonder if there is some correlation there? Skins were better with the retread Joe Gibbs; and he didn’t even really seem like he wanted to be there.
oh lordy, tbogg up with his latest – There Will Be TeBlood: Week 3 – The Black Holing
fav comment so far: “Fuck, he can’t even maintain possession of the football in a tattoo.”
@bmaz: That’s the thing right there. They’re both playing in a league with not a lot of spread offenses. While they both have great defensive speed there are quite a few teams across the country with spread offenses that have just as much, if not more, team speed. Boise is one of them.
@bmaz: Maybe he misses Kubiak? :)
@emptywheel: Cris Carter was pretty funny on ESPN’s morning preview show today, talking about the Patsies’ “D”. He launched into a routine, reminiscent of Rodney Dangerfield, working from the premise that “the Pats’ D stinks. How bad?” …. You get the idea.
And, you know what? Their D really does stink.
And tonight’s Ravens at Stillers promises to be Football. Straight. No Chaser.
I think Hines Ward will be duking it out tonight. Looks like fun.
Hey, LaDanian Tomlinson just rushed for a yard. That’s gotta move his season total up to about 14 or 15 now.
Patsies will be okay with ochocinco’s I-Hop meal this morn
http://twitpic.com/7bfg7n
@Bay State Librul: Seeing as how OchoCinco’s usefulness on O has been limited, I’m skeptical his breakfast at a shitty restaurant will help the Pats’ shitty D.
@Bay State Librul: Cheatin’ Bill and Bieber* will be pleased with 85 lobbying for more passes from a booth at IHOP.
* Now that Bieber’s namesake has what’s alleged to be a Bridget McCarthy problem, too, the Biebers are revealed as even more closely connected – twin brothers from different mothers, separated at birth, so to speak.
I had a client once who, by age 17, had a child support obligation, no job and a domestic violence restraining order to stay away from her house. She would call him up to make up, he’d go over, they’d get on for an hour (or until her parents got home), the cops would be called, he’d get busted (and sometimes spit on a cop or kick out a cop-car window), and my partner and I would make money.
Dolphins 1:40 away from their first win! Up 31 – 3 over the Chiefs.
No Nicks, Knickerbockers, nor Knickers?
My predication: Pats 27 Giants 17
Welker and Ochocinco best Eli
Brady shines, Belichick forgives Edelman
Defense improves…
From the rag (NY Post)
GIVE ’EM SOME AIR
Eli Manning is having a career year, so much so that his passer rating of 102.1 is not far off the 104.4 rating that Brady takes into the game. Manning won’t have Nicks, his main weapon. That means Mario Manningham and Victor Cruz are the key targets, tight end Jake Ballard will see the ball coming his way, and may be even Ramses Barden.
Might the Giants, even without Nicks, take to the air more than usual against the league’s 32nd-ranked pass defense?
“I know everyone thinks you have to run the ball to control the clock,” offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. “I’ve been many years with many teams that have controlled it throwing the ball. It’s just your efficiency.”
It’s 54 and rainy in San Diego. I’m freezing!
Can someone please tell me how the KC Chiefs were killed en masse this past week and I didn’t hear about it? Surely, there can be no other explanation for losing to Miami 31-3. I bet the high school kids that KC brought in at the last minute were inspiring to see…
And don’t get me started on Buffalo. Another depressing week in my football pool, sigh…
the pass-interference penalty in the NFL needs to be completely scrapped and re-written. Garbage.
@bmaz: Thanks for the excerpt from the WaPo about Penn State. Randiego, I’m right there with you on the outrage. What continues to amaze me is the number of people who either participate in or turn a blind eye to appalling behavior that seem to think it will never come out in public. What can they possibly be thinking? Joe Pa needs to go as does every other official and coach still at the university who did nothing.
Bieber’s getting all day to check off his progressions.
Long day for NYG coming up.
@randiego: Whatsa matter? You think a ball thrown 25 feet beyond a receiver shouldn’t give you a PI call?
Rut roh. Gonna be hard for the Bolts to surprise the Packers if Rivers keeps throwing to the Packers for Pick 6es.
@emptywheel: And I gotta say, that pass really looked like Rivers was pushing the ball, not throwing it.
@emptywheel: He looks bloody awful. Staring at the guy the whole way, and he’s floating his passes. Lots of talk here that he is hurt, but it sure didn’t matter on that one.
@emptywheel: There have been SO MANY terrible PI calls against us this year (not to forget the two Offensive PI calls on MNF last week) – I assume it’s happening to everyone, but I only watch SD games. It’s really terrible. Until they figure it out they should just be 15 yards or something, or give those guys a clinic on it, or make them reviewable – SOMETHING!
following the Oak/Den game via the ESPN play-by-play widget, seems Carson Palmer is finding his rhythm and Tebow is…, er, not.
joe paterno has released a statement.
it concludes: “I understand that people are upset and angry, but let’s be fair and let the legal process unfold. In the meantime I would ask all Penn Staters to continue to trust in what that name represents, continue to pursue their lives every day with high ideals and not let these events shake their beliefs nor who they are.”
(via an Attackerman tweet)
@rosalind: I still think Joe Pa needs to resign.
Watching the Patsies, Bieber tossed an INT which then turned into a NYG FG a few plays later.
Patsies get the ball back and the NYG force a fumble on the Patsies’ 10 or so, stripping Bieber of the ball. Next play, Brandon Jacobs runs in untouched for the TD.
Bieber now has the ball again, and he just threw an incompletion to 85, the first time I’ve heard his name called all day. Bieber’s throwing incompletions left and right. Buck and Aikman are speculating on whether people (Owboys, Stillers and now Jints) have solved the Patsies.
Somewhere along the line the Jints got their D together.
OTOH, their special teams leave something to desire. The D stopped Bieber on a 3 and out, and then they fumble the punt back to the Patsies at the NYG 37. Another incompletion, a bomb to 85, badly thrown and missed in the end zone.
Bad Eli throws off his back foot and lobs an INT in the end zone.
@phred: Typical cover-your-ass delaying tactic: “let the legal process take its course”. Bullshit. Either deny it or resign. Inexcusable, and the program should face serious NCAA sanctions.
@randiego: shorter Paterno: hoocoodanode?
@scribe: Bad Eli’s INT turns into a Patsies drive and TD, taking what would have been a 13-3 or 17-3 score into a 10-10 score.
don’t look now, but Denver just tied it. 24-24.
edit: uhm, did the TD get called back? score is now showing up as 18-24. anyone have the game on?
@randiego: Yeah, the bit rosalind added from the end of the statement really turned my stomach… translation: Dear Boosters, please keeps those checks coming.
Ick.
@rosalind: All of you: Instead of relying on the newspaper reports alone, go read the grand jury presentment (i.e., their report on what they found).
In short, you’ll find that the report from the grwaduate student assistant coach went to JoePa who, in turn reported it up the chain. At a critical point in that chain – the University’s general counsel’s office, the system broke down. Why? Because Sandusky was using a foundation he ran, “The Second Mile”, to meet the boys. The general counsel of the University was also the general counsel of “The Second Mile”. And, instead of his advising the U of a possible conflict of interest and recusing himself, the reports died in his hands.
Calling for JoePa’s head might be satisfying, but calling for the head of Wendell Courtney, Esq., might be more accurate.
@randiego: Thinking more about your NCAA sanctions comment… If the NCAA goes after players for accepting gifts, they had damn well better come down like a ton of bricks on a school that covered up criminal sexual assault of minors.
@rosalind: Sorry, just watching the Pack, but for randiego’s sake, I figured I wouldn’t say much about it ; )
@scribe: whatever. you’re the head coach of a major college program and a graduate assistant brings you an EYEWITNESS report. You run that shit to ground – or kill yourself trying. Its your fucking job to protect kids. They should all fucking go to jail.
Bad Eli peeks his head around the corner of the curtain, and Bieber suddenly starts dissecting the Jint D.
Another drop by 85 – his fifth today. I think those pancakes are weighing him down, or he’s all foggy-headed and logy from the sugar overload dissipating. Worse, he goes out to lobby for more passes, gets them, and goes 0 for 5.
Look for 85 to be available after being cut this week.
bmaz, this game got slightly more interesting.
Scribe has put his finger on the entire thing. The EW commentariat knows all about looking the other way. The moral enormity that stands out is that he used football to convince people that he was helping these kids to become men in a less-than-sick sense.
@scribe: If Joe Pa knew Sandusky had assaulted a minor in his locker room, Sandusky should have been fired the next day. Period. There may be lots of people at fault here, but Joe Pa is absolutely responsible here.
I know people who lost their jobs very very quickly over porn-at-work stupidity. To allow a sexual predator known to have committed a crime at work to continue to work and to not immediately report it directly to the police is shocking, really really shocking.
@randiego: No. You report it to the proper authorities – in this case the University, which has its own police force.
Which he did.
As I said, it’s clear from the presentment that it died in the general counsel’s office and that the general counsel was simultaneously the general counsel for Sandusky’s foundation. The inevitable conclusion is that the general counsel killed it to protect (at a minimum) his position with the foundation. It’s also clear he was conflicted and should have gotten someone in his office who was not conflicted, to handle it – and that includes getting it into the hands of the University police.
Go read the presentment and, before you do, leave your anger (justifiable though it might be) behind.
@phred: NO ONE expected the Chargers to win this game. Followers of the team that understand what they are seeing know it’s just a matter of time that Norv is gone. They are an undisciplined mess. Philip Rivers has saved Norvs bacon so many times. It’s unacceptable that he’s still here given the reasons used to fire Schottenheimer. The GM is on thin ice as well, and I won’t mind seeing him gone.
@randiego: Since you won’t mind seeing Norv gone, would you mind if they lost just one more game first? ; ) Pretty please??? ; )
@phred: Sandusky had retired several years before this incident. He was an emeritus professor at the time of the incident that forms the basis of the charges. As an emeritus professor, he had access to the campus and facilities (just like other emeritus professors).
So, it was not like JoePa could up and fire a guy who’d already been retired several years.
Go read the presentment.
@scribe: dude you need to read what you’re writing. Yeah yeah yeah, go after the lawyer, but Joe Pa should have gone to the press. Kids! MOLESTATION!
Bieber goes to 4th and 8, and nails Gronkowski in the end zone with a BB to go up 20-17.
Eli has plenty of time to let Bad Eli show up.
@scribe: Emeritus access is a privilege not a right. Knowing what he knew, do you seriously mean to suggest that Joe Pa could not have demanded Sandusky be banned from the facilities? Seriously? Call me crazy, but big time NCAA coaches tend to get whatever the hell they want.
Further, it would have been obvious to Joe Pa that the university didn’t do a thing. At that point he could have dropped a dime to the local constabulary. Just because universities have campus police does not mean that other police lack jurisdiction to pursue local, state, and federal crimes that occur on campus.
You’re the lawyer, not me, but isn’t sexual assault of a minor a felony? Seems like someone should have risen to the occasion.
@randiego: Stop acting like a fucking lynch mob and go read the fucking presentment.
Don’t look now, but the Holy One has a 14 point lead over Team Evil with less than two minutes to play.
you gotta be kidding me.
@phred: What I said to randiego immediately upthread.
@scribe: I’ll tell you what – you go read my link first. It’s all there, he fucking knew. The rest is just fucking smoke. Fucking lawyers. People are angry, justifiably so. Get over it – apologist.
@scribe: Sorry, I’m not buying what you’re selling.
Patsies pass interference at the 1.
GMen TD w/ 0:19 to go.
Patsies lose – the hook and ladder play failed.
Good Eli!
Well, so much for that home winning streak in Foxboro.
@randiego: You called it:
I don’t know about the losing part, but it is coming down to the final drive. Your guys are killing me…
@emptywheel: Un-f-ing believable. I put my highest points on the Pats this weekend. Tell BSL I’m holding him personally responsible for being last in my football pool this week ; )
Sorry randiego, the only problem with winning is someone else has to lose. It was a fun game, and it sure came right down to the wire… It was fun watching with you : )
Wow. Cards rookie Patrick Peterson out of LSU runs a punt return back 99 yards in overtime for the win. His third punt return for TD this year, which is like already more than any other Cardinal has ever had in a career.
@phred: Sandusky was already retired at that point. That boy was 2002, Sandusky retired in 1999.
That said, I sort of wonder whether PSU knew and encouraged Sandusky to retire when they did.
EW, it was not their fault. The Giants have been winning on pass interference calls all year.
It sounds as if the Cardinals don’t win that game without Peterson even in regulation, but the Rams’ incompetence should not be discounted.
@phred: Hah hah… do I know my team or what? I just can’t explain Philip Rivers… brilliant at times and so awful at times. He’s the new Brett Favre. Throw in the terrible officiating… ugh.
This just in… Aaron Rodgers is really good. He couldn’t miss today and those receivers have great hands. They were making outstanding plays all day.
@4jkb4ia: Eh, the Pats own their very own suckitude this year.
Can’t win w/o a D.
Though, not having seen the game, I am curious how the first half went scoreless. Good Eli AND Bieber scoreless through 30 minutes? How’d that happen?
@emptywheel: Good Eli didn’t show up until later. It was Befuddled Eli in the 1st half. And it was good Giant D making Bieber’s life miserable.
@scribe: Here is where Paterno has a problem. He let Sandusky keep an office and full use of facilities for many years at PSU AFTER he knew what was going on. That is NOT just on PSU, that is on JoePa too.
And now, the main event.
Football. Straight, no chaser.
No cheerleaders. No mascots. Frickin’ Steely McBeam sleeps with the fishes next to Jimmy Hoffa in the former end zone of Giants Stadium, now a parking lot.
Just large, angry men beating up on each other, playing football on real grass in real weather.
Nice to see Silverback Harrison back in uniform, with a faceshield to protect his broken-and-healed eye.
@bmaz: Might be that university policies concerning emeritus professors overruled even JoePa.
Tenure is a powerful thing – in some instances even a criminal conviction isn’t enough to strip a tenured professor of his rights and privileges. Sandusky was surely tenured and there was no charge lodged, let alone a conviction.
@bmaz: Yup. Emeritus or no, JoPa could have told him not to set foot in his facility once he knew what the bastard was doing. Office space could have been arranged elsewhere on campus, like under the dumpsters at the campus recycling facility. That’s the least of what JoPa could have done short of calling the real cops once the university process broke down.
Uh, Tebow?
First two paragraphs of the lead story on SI right now:
Joe Pa as Captain Renault, He’s SHOCKED! Hoocoodanode??
The statement was also issued by his son, the lawyer and ‘political operative’. Awesome.
@scribe: Bullshit. Paterno owns that joint, his word is god. Plus, all he has to do is tell Sandusky “screw you emeritus baloney, get the fuck out of here and do not ever come back or else”.
BCS rankings just came out. Alabama at #3. Ahead of Stanford and Boise. Total load of crap. Obviously the computer didn’t watch that stinker of a game.
@emptywheel: That makes it even stranger that they fed it up the food chain at the university. They should have called the police.
@randiego: That is fucked up. Jesus it is just rigged. OccupyBCS.
@randiego: Yep, you know your team : ) Once you lose Norv, you’ll be in clover… I look forward to cheering with you, except when they take the field against the Pack ; )
@scribe: That’s simply not the case where I work. Emeritus professors lose their offices when the need arises. Usually, they are gracious about it and usually it is because there is not enough space. Emeritus access is a privilege, not a right.
@phred: One other thought about the tenure thing… I know zip about Div I football departments, but I would guess that many of the coaches/staff are not tenured. Tenure usually comes through academic departments, which would mean that the coach/staff member would have to be teaching courses through a specific department like Kinesiology or Exercise Science or … It would be interesting to find out if the guy did have tenure. Not that it matters, they should have called the cops.
@bmaz: Stanford came in #2 in the Coach’s Poll. the ESPN gurus opine that Alabama ahead of Stanford is a computer thang, that if Stanford beats Oregon next week they’ll move into #3 and stay there, performance willing.
From the AG report:
From JoePa “statement”:
Lie, or shading the truth?
Tim Tebow has the Donkos only one game out of the division lead!!
@phred: Eh, no worries. I’m going to celebrate our almost-tie with a bowl of ice cream.
Besides, I got bigger stuff to worry about – I got a kid on the way!
@randiego: Depends on what the definition of “is” is.
@bmaz: if you look at Ortons stats over the last 15 games or so… Tebow sure couldn’t do much worse. And John Fox is a heck of a coach. Ex-Aztec and Lightning Bolt.
@randiego: You’d best be sharing that bowl of ice cream with you know who then ; )
So when’s the big day???
Congratulations on your almost-papa-hood!
@randiego: Heh. Congrats. And start loading up on sleep now.
@phred: Coming soon… MsDiego is 31 weeks, so 8 or so more. Due first week of January.
@Jim White: That’s the thing that freaks me out the most – I’m an old guy playing a young man’s game…
Thanks everyone…
@randiego: At least JoePa testified to the GJ it was sexual. The other two did not.
And yeah, that doesn’t justify it or excuse him for not doing more to protect these kids.
@bmaz: Don’t tell that obnoxious bmaz guy, but I’ve been saying all week that people may have overestimated Tebow’s suckiness based on last week’s game.
The Kitties’ line is young, but it is still brutal, one of the toughest in football. Against easier D, he’s going to do better and better.
@randiego: Perfect! A new baby for a new year : )
I can’t wait to hear all about your new bundle of joy : )
9 to 6. Hmmm. That sounds familiar somehow.
@phred: Duh, that’s what I was thinking.
Yawn yawn yawn. Breeders cup glory and all ya got is LSU – Bama?
*g*
@randiego: Unbelievable.
Oh and hey – can we talk about Donavon for a second? Dudes a Rock Star AND a Pro Surfer. Think about that ! Its like Spicoli’s dreams come true, in real life!
Donnie is my hero, and he puts on a fun show.
totally OT: doing research for an upcoming event, i stumbled upon this gem – H’wood Director Paris Barclay recounts a story to Variety:
(emphasis mine)
/filing for future comedic reference
@Randiego: And he dated Lolita, i.e. Sue Lyon. Check out this version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTuPbJLqFKI
@bmaz:
Could you provide scores & dates, particularly for any Boise victories over Stanford? The ones over Oregon were at a point at which Oregon was hurting due to injuries. Yes, they beat OK. Don’t know about the others.
Sorry, I have little respect for Boise and the difficulty of their “schedule.”
@rosalind: John Roberts in drag. Oh, the value of that if someone found an old photo, or better yet, a home movie to digitize.
Of course that robe looks a little like a dress.
Hmm, might have confused Stanford with another Pac-10 team, the others are quite clear. And yes, not only do I think boise can hang with Stanford, I think they would beat them. Any team that is too chickenshit to schedule Boise does not get talk about how their schedule is not good enough. They beat everybody and actively try to schedule the best teams in the country. Are even willing to play them on the road. Not many takers. There is a reason, they will beat most of them.
@Jim White: (mr. wikipedia tells me the High School was La Lumiere in Laporte Indiana, a Roman Catholic Boarding School for Boys (now Co-Ed). Mr. Roberts interests included wrestling, choir and drama.)
@Jim White: Yeah, yeah, yeah. ..Apropos of the discussion..
F’g Ray Lewis gets away with murder every f’g week. If James Harrison put a hit on, say, Bouldin like the intentional head-to-head Lewis put on Hines Ward, he’d lose his whole paycheck and spend a month on suspension.
Lewis, OTOH, will get nothing from King Roger the Clown.
@phred:
My apoligies to your well-reasoned picks.
A guess for Time’s Man of the Year
http://goingconcern.com/2011/11/please-watch-your-language-around-grover-norquist/#more-51176
Can I say fuck Sergio?
The Patriots regained the lead, 20-17, with 1:36 to play. Facing first and 10 from the New England 21 with 35 seconds left, Patriots safety Sergio Brown was called for pass interference as he tripped up Victor Cruz in the end zone.
Brown was in for Chung who was injured on an earlier play.
The Giants received a fresh set of downs at the 1.
“I got my head back looking at the ball – tried to make a play on the ball and I guess we got tangled up,’’ Brown said. “I was looking at the ball trying to make a play on it. Our feet got tangled up and they called the penalty on me.’’
From the Globule
@Bay State Librul: Thanks BSL. I’m still harumpphhing, but I feel better now ; )
Maybe next week… ; )
And the drumbeat continues…
Joe Paterno Should Resign as Penn State’s Football Head Coach
The Chicago Fortes have started out well.
And Roy Williams STILL has ping pong paddles for hands.
GO BEARS !
Coach Reid can thank us later …
Smokin’ Joe Frazier, RIP.