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.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Boyd Crowder could not be reached for comment... I would love to hear Jon Lovitz read Obama's "You didn't build that" speech in his Master Thespian's voice. That would get a million YouTube hits easy... 18 Awesome Household Tips... Not sure who I find more heinous - Joe Paterno's son or Ted Williams' son. And yes I know John Henry Williams has passed away but he's still heinous... Very interesting story on Sherman Hemsley who just passed away. And by interesting - I mean bizarrely compelling... Orange barrel re-route! Orange barrel re-rout! Have you seen my baseball? Have you seen my baseball?... It would be cool if TV shows could trade actors the way MLB teams trade players... So it turns out that Ichiro was the player to be named later in the Jay Buhner deal... This is a real milk commercial...

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.

Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who won the NL Cy Young today, was the 7th pick of the 2006 MLB draft. The Tigers took Andrew Miller who had 5.54 ERA for Red Sox this year with the 6th pick... I still say that NCAA should give a blanket waiver exemption to any Penn State athlete who wants to transfer. Players should not have to sit out a year in order to get out of that situation... I had one of these mats once but if it was like this one I'd still be playing with it (probably NSFW)... Interesting point by Doyle Brunson - 100 years ago the population of Las Vegas was just 30 people. Amazing what can happen in a century... If the Tigers took Kershaw with that 6th pick instead of Andrew Miller in the 2006 draft would they be World Series champs today? Justin Verlander and Kershaw would be very tough to beat... John Amaechi on Joe Paterno: “You can’t be a part-time man of principle”. Amaechi perhaps the most eloquent athlete I can recall... I'm going to invent a version of Spanish Fly but for women. I'm going to call it Spanish Spider... I think the Red Sox should make a trade offer of 1st baseman Lars Anderson and outfielder Josh Reddick to the Dodgers for Andre Ethier who is free agent after 2012 season. I think that would be a win-win for both teams... Awesome photography... I'm still ticked that Andre the Giant wasn't even nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in The Princess Bride... Next time I'm in Las Vegas I'm going to put some coin on a prop bet that Jonathan Papelbon will lead the NL in saves for 2012. That seems like a lock to me.

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.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Has ESPN's Mike Tirico ever publicly commented on the Brett Favre dong pictures? Just curious because of his history... Toy Grit... Joe Paterno still holds a share of Brown University's record for career interceptions with 14... In the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut ran a Saab dealership in West Barnstable, Massachusetts.... That explains why Liz Lemon was so cool the other day... The lady in the Geigo commercial who thinks the lizard is Stanley must really like small penis. Or maybe the woman is a reverse Richard Gere?... An Atom walks down road when he suddenly bumps into another atom. "Are you okay?" he asks "No! I've lost an electron!" "Are you sure?" "I'm positive!"... Don Corleone's mansion in The Godfather movie is for sale: $2.9 million. How cool would it be to live in the Godfather's house?... It is never a good idea to tell a woman that she looks like Peter Gammons... What the heck?... I watched 10 second of Sarah Palin's Alaska - that was enough... I think Gronkowski is Polish for Ditka... Vince Young's career QB rating is just 75.7 which would be 28th out of 32 QB's this season. Why do people like him again? Titans would be better off if they went after Bruce Gradkowski, Kevin Kolb or Michael Vick in 2011 instead of Vince Young.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Jonathan Papelbon has 7 losses on the season of which 3 were against the Yankees. Rafael Soriano only has 2 losses for Rays. If Papelbon was as effective as Soriano then the Red Sox are still in it. If Daniel Bard was the closer then the Red Sox are still in it... Here's a girl spinning around in circles on an escalator . Admit it - after watching that you are thinking of trying it yourself... August was the 44th consecutive month in which Nevada led the nation in housing foreclosures. I'd blame Barney Frank and Harry Reid for that. I can't believe that one or both could be re-elected... Mike Cameron's and Adrian Beltre's seasons both ended so they could attend births of their children. Haven't they ever heard of family planning? Seriously - what if the Red Sox were still battling for a playoff spot?.... Unemployment in Nevada is 14.4 percent - how can voters in that state even think of re-electing Harry Reid?... The things you learn on the Internet - Joe Paterno still holds a share of Brown University's record for career interceptions with 14.... Barack Obama - more paranoid than Nixon and less competent than Carter... The coolest photo you will see all day... The death of Stephen J. Cannell brings up an old question - was the audience ever told why Jim Rockford went to jail? He was an ex-con turned private eye but what was his crime that made Jim Rockford an ex-con?... How about a Jonathan Papelbon for Carlos Beltran trade? Beltran could have 1-year rebirth just like Adrian Beltre just did.... The things you learn on the Internet - A single sperm has 37.5 MB of DNA information in it. That means a normal ejaculation represents a data transfer of 1,587.5 TB. Talk about TMI?.... Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley!

Penn State

Watching Joe Paterno's reaction after yesterday's game was tough to take. He's an old man and he knows it. This may have been his last shot at a national championship and he knows that too. Joe was almost in tears talking about the 24-23 loss to Iowa. It was tough to watch.

It has to be said though - Penn State has nobody to blame but themselves for the loss. The truth is - yesterday they played not to lose more than they played to win. How many times were they in the Red Zone only to seemingly play for a field goal? I can't recall a single instance where they took a shot at the endzone. Even on their 2 TD's - the Nittany Lions played it safe with rushes up the middle.

It also has to be said - Penn State even though they were ranked 3rd in the country are not close to being the 3rd best team in the country.

I still feel bad for Joe Paterno though.

Ohio State at Penn State

Just thought I'd note that Moses was 80 years old when he went up Mount Sinai to get the 10 Commandments. Joe Paterno is also 80 years old. Can Penn State climb the mountain today against the number 1 team in the country?

Ohio State under Jim Tressel has had problems playing at Happy Valley. I can see the Buckeyes winning a squeaker and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win exactly by 4 which also happens to be the Vegas line on the game. By the same token - I also wouldn't be shocked to see the Nittany Lions win by a hair.

If Paterno is Moses - who is Jim Tressel's Old Testament counterpart? One of the Pharaoh's of Egypt maybe? This is just a personal observation but when I think of Jim Tressel perfectly coiffed and in his sweater vest I think of the word "pride". And who is most associated with pride in the Old Testament? I'd argue that Lucifer is most connected to pride (cast from Heaven for thinking he was equal to God). Would anyone really be surprised if archangel headcoach Tressel has a fall from grace? Maybe that fall from grace comes today in Happy Valley against the Moses of college football coaches?