Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'm really happy the Patriots signed Darrelle Revis. Some are curious if his deal precludes New England from using the franchise tag on him next year. I'm curious if Bill Belichick will also use him as an extra receiver (like a reverse Troy Brown)... I'm starting to understand why some people are afraid of clowns... Put me in the camp of people who think the Boston Celtics having special St. Patrick's Day uniforms as a dumb idea. They're the Boston CELTICS!!... Interesting - did climate change allow Genghis Khan to invade with such success? Wonder what Dan Carlin thinks of this?... Heh heh - the Germans play Monopoly... How is Jerry Sandusky not dead in jail by now?... I laughed at the Obama Between Two Ferns interview but I agree that this Presidency and Between Two Ferns have officially jumped the shark... As a Boston fan I'm getting restless. It has been way too many months since our last championship... If I knew then what I know now I would have bought all the lawn darts I could before they became illegal and I would give the Jarts as a semi-joke gift every Christmas to friends who have pre-teen boys...  Interesting - a possible explanation for what happened to flight MH370... Patrick Laverty made a great point. The Florida Marlins complained that the Red Sox failed to field a major league team last time they played but the Marlins still LOST that game! What does that say about the Marlins...  RIP American hero and Band of Brothers icon Wild Bill Guarnere...

Bill O'Brien

Bill O'Brien is leaving Penn State to take the job as head coach of the Houston Texans. If you've been following the story - you've probably already read this excellent piece by David Jones.

As an outsider - I rooted for Bill O'Brien and his Penn State teams. I like O'Brien because he was from the Patriots but also because he just seems like a good man. Without O'Brien - I probably never would have rooted for Penn State - just the opposite. I would be wishing for them to lose every game because what they allowed Jerry Sandusky to do. And by "they" I mean both the University administration and Joe Paterno.

Penn State was Child Rape University before Bill O'Brien stepped in. His two years there haven't erased those painful memories but they have allowed the focus to come off of the innocent football players who were stuck in a very bad situation. A situation coach O'Brien gracefully helped them through.

The "Paterno people" make me sick. They make me think of this photo of a school in Northfield, MA burning while the football game continues. The "Paterno people" are so obtuse that they don't realize that without Bill O'Brien their chants of "We-are-Penn-State!" would be mocked everywhere with responding chants of "We-allow-child-rape!"

I'm done rooting for Penn State.

Why Penn State Won't Get Death Penalty

Many people are either talking about or calling for Penn State to get the NCAA "death penalty" but there is one simple reason why that won't happen - money.

Just as a guess the school will end up paying between $20-30 million per victim. With potentially 50 or more victims that's between $1 and $1.5 billion dollars in damages. Minimum. The school will need the football program to pay off those suits and if the program gets shut down for a year or more that might not be possible. The NCAA will have to punish the school in some way but the death penalty is not going to be part of the equation.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

How deliciously ironic would it be if President Obama's Executive Privilege ploy on the Fast and Furious scandal gets undermined by people leaking documents?... Pretty cool - navigating the solar system from your desktop... Is it just me or does Jarrod Saltalamacchia always look like he just came from a Phish concert?... 11 Authors who hated the movie versions of their books. Didn't know about the Mary Poppins story. They easily could have added Tom Clancy, Elmore Leonard and Ernest Hemingway to the list... Have you seen that Subway commercial where the fire chief steals and eats the fireman's sub? You know that same fire chief sexually harasses the female firefighter when nobody is around. You just know it... Wow - no wonder nobody is hiring! Obamacare adds $1.79 per hour to the cost of a full-time employee... My two word response to people who ask me why I support the death penalty - Jerry Sandusky.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not for nothing but I'm surprised that the Penn State students didn't go to Jerry Sandusky's house if they wanted to have a proper riot... 80% of U.S. millionaires are the 1st generation of their family to be rich. They earned it. They are the real 1%... Jim Cramer turned into a big bag of quivering mush when brow-beat by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show but now sees fit to yell questions at Republican candidates? Absolutely no respect for Jim Cramer - he's a clown... Very cool view of the Northern Lights over Norway... Mitt Romney's "away game" line last night was great but was that him saying he plays for the other team? NTTAWWT - was he making a play for Log Cabin Republicans? (Just kidding)... One thing the NCAA can do is give Penn State football players blanket waivers to transfer to any school without sitting out a year. Players are perhaps only innocents here... Wow - just wow!... I would like to see Donny Osmond sing the Trololo song. I think that would be comedy gold... Still amazing to me that Brian Urlacher was a safety in college... He's a question (not really a serious question) but Bill Clinton contends that oral sex does not count as sex and if that is so - how can Herman Cain asking for oral sex (allegedly) be sexual harassment?

Jerry Sandusky

Flay - verb; to to strip off the skin especially by whipping or by knife

Jerry Sandusky deserves to be flayed. Seriously. When people ask me why I support the death penalty - I will point to people like Jerry Sandusky. He really does not deserve to live.

Speaking of the death penalty - it will be interesting to see what the people who were calling for the NCAA "death penalty" for the University of Miami in the wake of the Nevin Shapiro allegations of wrong-doing have to say about Penn State. What the Penn State football program enabled for years and years is magnitudes of evil worse than anything Nevin Shapiro may have done. Not even close. How can anyone possibly root for Penn State football after this?

Woody Hayes was a great coach but for generations he is known only as the old coach who was fired for punching an opposing player. Joe Paterno is the winningest coach in college football history but now his legacy will be that he fostered a monster in his program. If Paterno knew even the smallest details about Sandusky - then he deserves for that to be his legacy.