The SoapBoxers

Sources around baseball believe that Albert Pujols will be making a decision about his future in the next few days – perhaps even today. One of the leading contenders for Pujols are the Miami (formerly Florida) Marlins. throwing $200 million at a player is a foreign concept to the Marlins, historically a very cheap organization.

Why do the Marlins want Pujols?
Obviously, Pujols is a great player.  But he’s also a Hispanic player, and 70% of Miami residents are hispanic.  Adding Pujols to current Marlin Hanley Ramirez and recently signed Jose Reyes would give the Marlins a trio of hispanic superstars.  In fact, all three are natives of the Dominican Republic.

The Marlins have been infamous for large expanses of empty orange seats.  Even with a new name, logo, stadium, and hispanic superstars, will the Marlins draw fans?  That’s the $200 million question at the moment.

Does the deal make sense for the Marlins?

Only if they are committed to building a winner around Pujols.  If they are forced to trade Pujols in mid-contract, they could be forced to pay a portion of the remaining contract in order to move him.  Big contracts are hard to move, even for great players.  Tom Hicks learned this the hard way when the Ranger unloaded Alex Rodriguez in mid-contract.  The Rangers were forced to subsidize the cost of A-Rod to the Yankees.

Then there’s the issue of money – likely to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $225 – $235 million over ten years.  That’s a ton of money, but the larger concerns is the length of the deal.  Pujols will officially be 32 when the season begins, although there has been speculation that he is older.  Even if he’s just 32, this means he’d be 41 in the last year of the deal.  There are a lot of great players who were washed up long before age 41.

Pujols is also rumored to be demanding a no trade clause.  He might accept a limited no-trade clause, but will likely want other concessions (or more money) to accept this.

Does the deal make sense for Pujols?

No.

Pujols has his hand in a lot of things in the St. Louis are.  He makes a lot more money than his baseball income.  He’s a revered figure, and companies line up to have Pujols endorse them.

Would Pujols also have a lot of endorsement opportunities in Miami?  Definitely.  However, as part of the trio, he might be splitting opportunities with Reyes and Ramirez.  In St. Louis, he’s clearly the main man, even in the presence of players such as Holliday, Carpenter, and Wainwright.  While the fact that he’s hispanic will play well in the hispanic community, it’s really never been an obstacle to marketing opportunities in St. Louis.

More importantly, the Cardinals are a franchise that has consistently shown a commitment to winning.  The Marlins, on the other hand, have often gone into slash-and-burn mode and cut loose high-priced players.  As a result, the Cardinals have a large and devoted fan base, while the Marlins do not.

Even if the money is a bit less, I think the experience will be better in St. Louis.

The Bowl Lineups are all set. This year we have 35 glorious bowl games until we then have to wait around for the NFL playoffs. Once the NFL gets out of the way, it is a whole bunch of dead air space until we hit the time known as March Madness (sorry Hockey fans, I am just not buying the NHL)

As always ESPN tries to make mountains out of molehills and stir up the pot before the over hyped BCS Selection Show, that was on Sunday evening. Did anyone really thing that Oklahoma State was going to leapfrog Alabama and take on Louisiana State in the BCS Title Game? Yawner here for me, I am not sure I would watch this game other than it is the only game on that night. To me, bowl game rematches are about as exciting as pulling staples out of large stacks of paper.

Large paper stacks make me think of one of my favorite sponsorships for the Bowl season this year. It has got to be the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl. I mean when I think of Football, I think of an accounting service with a supercharged name like TaxSlayer.

A general rule of thumb is that if someone has to do an internet search to see what the heck the sponsorship is, you need to be spending your money somewhere first other than on a Bowl Sponsorship. For those who are wondering, The Belk Bowl between Louisville and North Carolina State is some sort of retailer down south apparently. A northerner like me has never heard of this company. I guess that is why they are pitting two “southern” schools against one another – further optimizing their revenues.

Apparently, Meineke has downsized as now instead of being called the Meineke Car Care Bowl, as in the past – it is now the Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl. This just furthers my conspiracy theories that the Republic will continue to seek to leave the union and become independent once again. First the Longhorn Network, then the hanging on by the skin of your teeth to keep the Big XII together, and now this. What do all of the other Meineke outlets think about this. It is OUTRAGE I tell you!

Another one I had to look up on line was the BBVA Compass Bowl, which matches up SMU and Pittsburgh. I learned that BBVA is in fact not really the name. It is the accepted “trade name” of BBVA Compass Bancshares INC. I think for truth in advertising, the bowl should therefore be renamed the BBVA COMPASS BANCHARES INC dba BBVA Compass Bank Bowl. Does the NCAA have no input on truth in advertising? Do you think ESPN wants this potential mess of false advertising on their network? At the very least this would give this bowl a runaway lead for the longest bowl name by far which would be way more exciting than this game is going to be for anyone to watch outside of Mustang or Panther fans.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Not because of the name, but because of the situation involving the bowl game. Illinois Coach Ron Zook is fired. On the other side UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel is fired, and better yet, the Bruins are technically not bowl eligible (as they have a sub .500 record) as they are currently 6-7 on the year. If they lose this game, which I think they will, they will end the year at 6-8. EEEEEESSSSHHHHHH! The NCCA gave them an exemption to go to a bowl game with this record as they were forced to play in the first Pac 12 title game match-up – because the USC Trojans are on probation and not eligible to play this year. A true genius move by the NCCA.

Good luck in all of your office pools. Stay tuned next week for the Johnny G Bowl Prediction Show.

Until next time – Stay Classy Edmonton, Alberta Canada

It all started in the Rocky Mountains with the phrase. “I have no plans to leave Utah”

But somehow this honest man forgot that statement that was made and ended up moving to Gainesville Florida where he coached the Florida Tebow’s to a National Title.

He indicated there were health issues. He indicated he was leaving coaching for good to take care of his health and spend time with his family.

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program, I haven’t even thought about anything after that, other than I’m a Gator and I’ll always be a Gator.”

Yep, always a Gator, huh??? I wonder what the Buckeye fans think of that comment.

And then from just weeks ago…November 11th of this year…. “I am very happy with my role at ESPN. I have no plans to return to coaching at this time.”

Yeah Urb, we get you loud and clear. No plans to return to coaching. Evidently you found four million reasons to change your mind in the next 3 weeks.

Like many other coaches in the game today, Meyer is smooth, he is polished, but he is a big fat liar.

You can name a host of others in the seats right next to him. Mack Brown – of the infamous, our own network does not give us a recruiting edge fame. Nick Saban who was never leaving LSU and then never leaving the Miami Dolphins. Bobby Petrino could fill up a book on stories he has told. Goodness knows what we might find out about Joe Paterno in the next few months in what he knew and possible covered up. Urb’s predecessor even got shown the door since he could not tell the truth at Ohio State.

Why do we, the fans and the general public, not hold these sports figures accountable for their blatant out and out lies to the media and fan bases? What the heck are these coaches telling potential recruits and the parents and families of these recruits when they are in their homes wooing them to come to the colleges that they represent. I mean it is a proven commodity that they openly lie all the time in the public forum. Do you think they instantly become honest behind the closed doors of that 4 or 5 star recruits home?

The fact is cheating is rampant in sports. There is too much money on the line. Too much fame, too many television deals and too many fans who simply don’t care about the cheating and lying as long as it helps their team win.

As for me, give me the controversial coach Bo Pelini of my beloved Huskers. He too often gets in hot water from the local and national media for being too honest – for speaking his mind too freely – for being too animated on the sidelines and he needs to be more calm, more cool, more in control. Or…do these same folks who constantly criticize him mean he just needs to lie to them more?

Wonder how long Mr Meyer will be at thuh ohio state. According to him it is one of his three dream jobs.

We will see how long it takes for that story to change.

Until Next time, stay classy Stillwater, Oklahoma!

The baseball owners and players have reached a collective bargaining agreement, meaning that there will labor peace for a span of at least 21 years.  As a fan who still has nightmares of the 1994 season, I’m ecstatic that there is a deal in place.  I’m anxiously awaiting for the CBA to be publicly available, so that I can print out a copy to read at my leisure.  (No, I’m not kidding).  Maybe MLB can throw baseball junkies a bone and put out a Kindle version …

The new CBA will result in some changes to the game I love.  Some of the changes are great; some aren’t.  Here are my thoughts.

Blood testing for HGH (human growth hormone) – I’m in favor of any rule that makes it more difficult to cheat.  I’d have even gone a step further and allow this to be expanded to include any drugs which are banned by MLB, including ones that are not currently banned.  Banning a substance without testing for it is pointless.

Revamping of free agent compensation – I have railed against the existing system for many years, and I’m glad that people finally listened to me.  Instead of the old Elias statistical rating system – which used seemingly arbitrary stats – teams will be forced to make a qualifying offer to pending free agents in order to be compensated if the player is signed by another team.  The qualifying offer must be the average of the top 125 salaries – currently, this would be about $12 million.  This makes sense to me – if you’re willing to sign a guy to a $12 million deal, he clearly has value to you.  In the past, there have been some odd situations where the Elias system put unreasonable values on players.  This ended up hurting the players – including my friend’s brother one year – because no team was willing to pay the compensation, which in turn limited the number of bidders for their talents.

Penalties for exceeding recommended bonuses for draft picks – Team can now lose future draft picks if they exceed MLB’s recommended bonus for that spot in the draft.  Every year, some guys fall down in the draft because of signability concerns.  Teams high in the draft don’t want to pay big bucks, so they drop down to a team willing to pony up the cash.  Penalizing these teams is a Rube Goldberg solution to the problem.  The most logical thing to do is simply allow teams to trade draft picks.  Currently, baseball teams can’t trade picks, nor can they trade draftees until one year after they signed a contract.  I guess this is to protect GMs from making dumb trades … but if you need that sort of protection, perhaps you shouldn’t be a GM.

Houston moves to the American League – Houston will move to the AL to create six divisions of five teams each.  This really sucks for Astros fans, who get stuck in the bad league.  Why not send the Brewers back to the AL?  Oh, right.  Because Bud Selig acts in the best interests of the Brewers, the team he formerly owned.

Expanded playoffs – One thing I love about baseball is the fact that it’s hard to get into the playoffs.  Only eight of the thirty teams make it.  In the future, this will get expanded to ten teams.  The two wild card teams will face off in a one game playoff – already being called the “coin flip round” in some circles because of the silliness of a one game playoff series.  This could create a situation where a weaker team is at a significant advantage in the one game playoff.  Imagine that the Red Sox nip the Yankees for the AL East title – 105 wins for Boston and 104 for the Yankees.  Both teams used their best pitchers in the final days of the season, due to a strong desire to stay out of the coin flip round.  The second wild cards goes to Tampa, which wins 91 games, 4 more than the next closest team.  Tampa spends the last week of the season getting its rotation in order for the playoffs.  The result?  The 91 win Tampa team sends its ace to the mound against the #4 starter for the Yankees.

It might be turning around for Eldrick Tont Woods.

He got blasted 7 & 6 in his first round match while being partnered with Steve Stricker.

He clinched the President’s Cup for the American side, giving Fred Couples the opportunity to do his best Muhammad Ali impersonation of shadow boxing in the beginning of the victory celebration.

Tiger Woods appears to have turned the corner. In difficult conditions at Royal Melbourne Golf Club he rarely missed fairways, showed improved bunker play, and found his putting stroke in the singles matches. This all on the heels of a 3rd place finish in another tournament down under just a week before.

Fred Couples called him the best player ever and stated there was no way you could leave that type of guy off of a team assembling the finest golfers on the PGA tour. No matter that Tiger had slipped to 50th in the World Rankings.

Tiger make Fred look wise enough with the selection. Having Tiger involved in the President’s Cup matches obviously made the television audience greater than it otherwise would have been. More importantly I saw a more balanced swing out of Eldrick, he looked in control of his shots in horrible wind condition. I think it could be a decent bounce back year for him in 2012. He seems to have his focus and now more importantly his swing appears to be back as well.

Wow what a week in college football!

Oklahoma State loses on the road in Ames to a lowly Iowa State team. Those pesky Cyclones always seem to beat someone. RG III puts one hand on the Heisman with a big upset of Oklahoma. It appears that Texas Tech loss was no fluke. The Sooners cannot defend the pass whatsoever. Speaking of not defending, the Huskers get housed at the Big House losing by an “N” barrasing 28 points to Michigan.

Meanwhile back in the SEC, the teams have claimed the top 3 spots in the BCS rankings. The real question is does anyone north of the Mason Dixon line or west of the Mississippi river even care about the SEC?

J-E-T-S – Lose! Lose! Lose! Lose!

See what happens when you rag about how a guy can’t throw the football at all, talk about how bored you are going to be watching the other team run the football.

Well…that bum from the Florida Gators moved his team 95 yards and scored the go ahead touchdown to beat your sorry green butts.

Tebow Time in Denver! Amazingly all sports fans are correct about Tim Tebow. He is a lousy NFL passing quarterback, he can’t throw a lick. He is a winner, all he does is wins games. I can’t remember such a divided sports figure as Tebow in my lifetime where the pro’s and con’s are technically both correct in their arguments, but yet still stand firmly behind their side and won’t agree with the other side of the argument.

Discount Double Check!

Overheard by me at the Detroit airport when a sports bar was showing highlights of the Packers Game on Sunday. As soon as they show Aaron Rodgers the table of Viking fans behind me dropped the “discount double check” belt move from State Farm Commercials….Classic!

Until Next time….

Stay classy Gas City, Indiana

By claiming a trophy on Monday, Detroit’s Justin Verlander threw another can of gasoline into the age-old debate: should pitchers be eligible for the MVP award?

Detractors who say pitchers – in particular, starting pitchers – should not be eligible generally give the same reason.  A starting pitcher plays in only one in every five games.  In 80% of games, he has absolutely no impact on the game. 

I’m firmly in the camp that believes that pitchers should be included in the MVP voting.  I think that some people overestimate the involvement of the other position players.

Within a typical game, there are around somewhere around 250-300 plays.  In general, the critical piece of the play is a pitch (125 – 150 per team per game).  Sometimes the pitch is hit for a homer, sometimes the pitch is a 99 mph heater for strike 3, sometimes the pitch is high and outside for ball 2.  Regardless of the result, the play involves the pitcher putting forth effort.

Let’s use the low estimates of 125 pitches per team per game, or 250 total pitches.  If the pitcher goes 7 innings, he’ll participate in roughy 7/9 of those 125 pitcher, or 97 pitches.  That’s 38.8% of the plays.  Of course, the pitcher only plays in 20% of those games, so we divide that number by 5.  Thus a starting pitching should be actively involved in 7.76% of plays over the course of a season.

That sounds pretty low, huh?

Designated hitters are eligible for MVP consideration.  I’ll pick on the DH because I hate it and wish for it to be abolished.  The DH will typically account for about 11% (1/9) of his team’s at bats.  However, he plays 0% of the time on defense, so he’s involved in 5.5% of plays.  Should we remove DHs from MVP consideration.  (Better yet, abolish it altogether?)

The DH isn’t the best example, of course.  Let’s look at a shortstop.  In the course of the game, the shortstop might be record a “chance” (baseball term for a putout, assist, or errror) on six plays and glove the ball twice more on plays that go for hits.  That’s active involvement in 8 of 125 defensive plays, or 6.4%.  Average that with the 11% (1/9) of offensive plays, and the shortstop’s involvement is 8.7%.  More than the pitcher, but not appreciably so.

True fans might be jumping ahead of me here.  The catcher, of course, is involved in probably 75% of defensive plays (exceptions being balls hits into play and foul balls) as well as 11% of offensive plays – a staggering 43% of all plays!  While that’s true, in the vast majority of those case, the catcher is the tertiary actor.  I’d argue that it’s harder for the pitcher to throw a pinpoint strike, and harder for the hitter to hit the ball, than it is for the catcher to catch the ball and throw in back to the catcher.

What’s my point?

My point is that a starting pitcher might only play in 20% of a team’s game, he has huge influence in those games.  Verlander giving up no runs and two hits over eight innings has more impact than Albert Pujols going 1-4 with a single.  Look through the game log of any hitter – there are tons of games where a good hitter does very little to help him team.  Perhaps as high as 80% 🙂

I have been focusing on Pennsylvania State issues the last couple of weeks, so I will touch briefly on that today ( we will be on this topic I am sure for many months if not longer) but will also take time to hit some other sports highlights happening around the globe.

Mike McQueary conducted an interview with CBS the other day. He indicated in that interview that he did go to police – and spoke to the official in charge of campus policy….and that he “broke up” the alleged incident in the showers involving a young boy and Sandusky.

Sandusky in a separate interview maintains his complete innocence and that he was wrong in showering with boys, hugging them, and participating in “horseplay”

The New York Times has also reported another 10 victims alleging that they had inappropriate contact with Sandusky have come forward, and that police are further investigating these recent developments.

The saga will continue.

With all apologies to Kosmo, I will talk a bit about Major League baseball.

Justin Verlander was named the unanimous American League Cy Young Winner. He won the equivalent of the leagues Triple Crown for pitching. He led the American League in wins with 24, Earned Run Average with 2.40 and Strikeouts with 251. Only two other players have accomplished this feat in the modern era and gone on to win the Cy Young Award and the MVP award. They are Denny McClain and Vida Blue . Doubt that Verlander will win the MVP as the baseball writers today would think that voting for anyone other than an offensive player for MVP would be an atrocity.

Meanwhile down under in Australia, the President Cup Matches pitting USA golfers against members of the “world” (players not from countries that can play in Ryder Cup Matches for the European team) are getting ready to get after it.

One of the biggest controversies was Captain Fred Couples selection of Tiger Woods. Woods since all of his off the golf course issues, has been colder than a TV Dinner in isle eight at your local grocery store.

Woods showed a glimmer of light on the radar screen with a third place finish last week. To add some spark to the matches, he will be playing last in the Thursday Foursomes matches he will be paired with Steve Stricker and they will take on K.J. Choi, and (gulp) Adam Scott.

Scott has employed former Woods Caddy Steve Williams. There has been numerous words of attrition in the news, twitter, the golf channel and any other avenue possible between Tiger and Steve Williams. This will likely not turn into anything, but it adds some punch to the news story that the President Cup Matches need in order to be considered significant.

Good Luck USA in the Presidents CUP!

Until next time, stay classy, Ann Arbor Michigan.

By now all of you are well aware of the situation at Penn State. Paterno has been fired, Spanier canned, replacements – – albeit likely temporarily named.

By all accounts there is still a football game to play this weekend.

Nebraska Athletic director has called for increased security to protect Nebraska fans who are travelling there.

According to remarks from NU Regent Tim Clare “Happy Valley is a pretty interesting place on a normal football Saturday,” Clare said. “Given what’s developed the last several days, particularly last night, we have a duty to ensure that our football student-athletes, staff, coaches and our fans are safe.”

And…while that game may pale in comparison to the bigger story going on at State College. ESPN has their announcing team in place for the game this weekend.

This was the topic of lunchroom conversation at work this week. Who would ABC/ESPN bring in to cover this game? Who would WANT to cover this game. There could be many moments of awkwardness. I would even venture to say that this is the most bizarre setting for a football game since the Army vs. Navy game played a mere week after the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

Well the choice of the crew to do the game day coverage is interesting to say the least.

Don’t envy this job for these guys. The setting is strange, emotions are high, there could be countless things (or absolutely nothing) happen this weekend. I think it is anyone’s best guess as to what side stories will develop during, and after the matchup between the Huskers and Nittany Lions.

Not surprisingly Tom Rinaldi is going to be at the game. He has been covering most of the story for ESPN all week so it would seem natural that he would remain “in house” and likely add some bit stories during the telecast. I just hope that ESPN does not do what ESPN often does…..try to create some sort of Emmy award winning documentary situation with every little side story that gets talked about. My only concern with Rinaldi being there is that ESPN will want to be the story, the off- field stuff will continue to get top billing and the game coverage will be a complete afterthought.

Chris Spielman will be the color analyst for the game. Spielman is one of my favorites as he has straight-forward comments, mainly stemming from his status as a great player in college (he was a two time All American at Ohio State) and his time in the NFL. I always enjoy his commentary and his presence is normally good for any telecast. Interestingly ( and not surprisingly, Jerry Sandusky recruited Speilman to play college football at Penn State. I always enjoy his commentary and his presence is normally good for any telecast.

Dave Pasch will be the play by play person covering the game for ESPN. Pasch is most noted in the broadcasting world as being the voice of the Arizona Cardinals. Pasch has reportedly reached out to some fellow broadcasters such as Bob Costas, Mike Tirico and Sean McDonogh about preparing for the strange setting at Beaver Stadium this weekend. I think Pasch may have more trouble juggling the fact that he has not one, but two colors guys in the booth this week. The other being former Florida Coach, Urban Meyer.

The only reason I can explain that Meyer is at this game is that it is a “interview” process for taking over the head coaching job at Penn State. It has long been speculated that “Urb” was the heir apparent to Paterno – if and when Joe decided to hang up the black Riddel coaching cleats. Well the time frame just got moved up….. Meyer will have the chance to be at the pulse of the situation, doing a broadcast of the most unusual of circumstances, and if all goes well, it would be a huge Public Relations boon for Meyer if he looks to move into the spot as Top Lion.

Shame on ESPN for putting Meyer on this game. But it just proves to all of the conspiracy theorists out there that when it comes to football in particular, and it does not matter if it is NFL or College, ESPN has a far reaching spread of influence that borderlines on monopolistic.

My bet is Meyer will get “ a blank check” at the end of the year to coach at Penn St. This will be his first opportunity to shine in the midst of the current maelstrom.

Let’s all hope for a safe and good game this weekend in light of all that has gone on this week.

Until next time, stay classy Gainesville, Florida

This is our third article on the topic of Jerry Sandusky’s arrest and the subsequent impact on Penn State.  That’s a lot of virtual ink for our little publication to give to one story.  However, nearly every writer on the staff is a pretty big sports fan, and this is one of the biggest sports-related stories in recent years – it warrants considerable coverage.  You might even see 1-2 more stories today, as I sent a couple of emails late last night soliciting articles responding to the breaking events.

Last night, heads began to roll, as Joe Paterno was fired after 46 years as head coach at Penn State and university president Graham Spanier was also fired.  I doubt these will be the only people fired. 

Here are some questions about the scandal.  These are presented as they pop into my head, and are not intended to be in order of importance.

What are the rioters thinking?

I understand the mindset of sports fans.  I’m a huge sports fan myself.  I spend much more time thinking about how to abolish the designated hitter than I do comparing the tax plans of Ron Paul and Herman Cain.

However, when the same news story involves kids getting raped and a coach getting fired, the coach is not the victim.  Focus on the kids.

What did Graham Spanier know?

Spanier insists that he knows nothing.  But if he really knew nothing, would he have been fired?  If he was fired without just cause, he’d have a great case for a wrongful termination lawsuit.  I can’t imaging that the trustees would be dumb enough to walk into a lawsuit.  (However, I’ve been wrong about that sort of thing before – sometimes state officials really ARE that dumb).

Interestingly, Spanier is president of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).  If he is removed from this role, will this cause any changes to the BCS?

What did McQueary Tell Paterno?

There’s a discrepancy here.  McQueary says that he told Paterno the details of the shower encounter between Jerry Sandusky and the young boy.  When Paterno spoke with Athletic Director Tim Curley, he says that McQueary told him that Sandusky was fondling the boy or doing something of a sexual nature.

Was Paterno downplaying Sandusky’s activities?  Is McQueary lying?  Is Paterno lying?  Was there a misunderstanding?

However, the point becomes a bit moot when you consider that McQueary then met with Curley and VP Schultz (in charge of the campus police).  Regardless of what Paterno told Curley, McQueary had the opportunity to give his full story to Curley during that meeting.

Why didn’t McQueary stop the assault?

That’s a great question.  The only thing I can say in his defense is that perhaps he was in shock and temporarily lost the ability to make good decisions.

Why didn’t anyone go to the cops?

Another great question.  I heard Mike and Mike on ESPN raise a good point on this issue.  VP Schultz was in charge of the campus police.  Perhaps McQueary and Paterno saw his involvement as police involvement.

It would have been better, of course, to go to the police.

Why did Sandusky have access to university facilities?

Finally, an easy question.  He negotiated a status of coach emeritus, which gave him access to the facilities.

Why did Sandusky retire?

Sandusky stepped down in 1999 shortly after Paterno told him he would not become head coach at Penn State.  The official reason for Paterno’s proclamation was that Sandusky was spending too much time with his charity, and would thus would not be able to devote sufficient time to a head coaching role.

Is is possible that Paterno’s real reason was that he knew what Sandusky was doing and didn’t want to put a pedophile in the head coaching role.  (Isn’t it also interesting that the sitting head coach is making decisions on the future coach instead of the Athletic Director?)

Is it possible that Sandusky’s frustration at losing his shot at the head coaching job served as a trigger to his criminal activities?

Did Sandusky create The Second Mile charity just to troll for victims?

That’s a scary thought, isn’t it?

Where’s the grand jury report?

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf

This is the last hurrah for Penn State Football coach Joe Paterno.

News of the allegations against former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky permeate the newspapers, talk radio, and the network newscasts. I will not delve into that topic here. There is a grand jury document that can be found doing any reasonable search on line. The information is graphic, horrific and deplorable.

I will not take the time to attempt to “judge” as many are doing right now the rights or wrongs of Joe Paterno in this incident. It is clear he was made aware of a situation. It is clear that he did report the situation to his immediate contacts within the University. What is not clear, and is being questioned is why he did not do more?

Paterno will be forced to leave after this season as the football coach of the Nittany Lions. Some would argue that he would retire this year anyway, as he has finally secured the record for all time wins from College football Icon Eddie Robinson.

Unfortunately this will be the thing that Paterno will be most remembered for in his post coaching days.

We have seen it before. In no way am I trying to compare the severity of incidents between the coaches at these various programs. But legacies can be tarnished based on decisions that are made, and then become debated for years to come.

Woody Hayes was the heart and soul of the Ohio State Buckeyes, had his career end by throwing a punch at a player on the opposing team during a bowl game.

Most of you reading this are too young to remember or know, but Ohio State played Clemson in December of 1978 in the Gator Bowl. Ohio State Quarterback Art Schlichter threw an interception late in the game that was intercepted by Clemson nose tackle Charlie Bauman. Bauman returned the interception to the Ohio State sideline and upon getting back to his feet was punched in the throat by Head Coach Woody Hayes.

Hayes was ejected immediately from the game. He was fired the next day by the University.

Other college coaches have had their legacies tarnished by decisions they made. Nebraska’s Tom Osborne, who won three National Titles is still often most associated with his handling of troubled player Lawrence Phillips.

Phillips started his junior campaign with a bang, leading the Huskers to a large victory at East Lansing, where he led the Huskers with a four touchdown, 200 + yard day on the ground. This instantly vaulted him to the top of the Heisman talk. This lasted about two days as he was arrested for assaulting Kate McEwen, a Nebraska women’s basketball player. He was suspended from the team, but brought back at the end of the season for the bowl game against the Florida Gators. Phillips had a large role in that game, left for the NFL, where he continued to get into various troubles with abuse and assault incidents even after being given chances with a variety of teams.

There are many others, that have not been so eye popping as these. The sex scandals involving Rick Pitino, the University of Colorado Football team, the player shootings at Baylor and even Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach getting fired.

The upcoming weeks and months will be interesting to say the least.