Kudos to Mike

...over at BSD. He won the coveted B10 college football blogger of the year award, beating out such distinguished sites as MGoBlog and BlackheartGoldpants (which rocks the coolest, most Journey-esque logo of them all. Steve Perry, the silver throated mullet god, nods and smiles at Jebus and OopsPowSurprise).

Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats to Mike-he consistently produces a far superior product than I ever could hope to for. Although, Mike does not have the Seal of Akbar!!!!

Figure 1-1: BSD cannot repulse firepower of this magnitude!

I Keep having PSU Themed Dreams....

Last night's was interesting. There were several.

Dream #1
Joe tried me out at LT. I got owned.

Then I moved to right tackle. Better results-it had to do with my stance. I wasn't squaring up to the DE, and for some reason, it was heavily stressed that i place my right palm on the ground, but have my fingers pointing behind me. And then my side dominated. Especially in short distance scenerios. YOU HERE THAT MO EVANS? I'MA GUNNIN' FER YOU, BOY!!!

So then they put me in a game. It had to be an early fall game due to temperatures being high with bouts of rain. The weird(er?) part is that we were playing Michigan State. We played very well; I noted that about every play was to Dwill who was led perfectly on each pass, and Devlin was the starting QB. Further, I was charged with multiple blocking assignments, most of which I performed.

I am 32 years old, severely out of shape, balding, and barely stand 6'. Yet, none of this occurs to me whilst slumbering.

Dream #2
Gameday in Beaver Stadium. My seats were over the Visitor's locker room, and none other than JayPa the Terrible was sitting in my row. What's that? Of course I wasn't wearing any pants, which makes the dream slightly more believable.

Anyhoo-I moved down onto the field (visitor's sideline) with some friends. We found some old wooden bleachers-like the kind they have at little league games.

What irked me about this dream is that PSU had changed their Jerseys. Numbers like 144 and 169 were in play(and yes, I know they are perfect squares. even in my dreams i am a geek). Further, the new home unis looked like the "third jersey" which nobody wants to buy. The only reason anyone should wear them is if some dippy relative bought one for you, and they are coming over while the game is on.

More disturbing was the play of the Lions. We were trailing BC 17-0 in the first half. The players were given every oppurtuninty to be in this game, but couldn't fall on a fumble, and Scirotto(sp?) dropped a gimme int. The stands weren't even close to capacity, nobody was cheering, and I couldn't hold conversations with my friends because of the lousy piped in music. Through hand gesturing, it was determined that we should head back to Harrisburg, of all places.

So there you have it. In one night, I had every PSU fan's dream and worst nightmare. At least in the nightmare Jay wasn't on the sidelines.

O Them Silly Injuns....

It seems that FSU Seminoles are cock-slapping themselves after getting caught in another scandle:

"Florida State's sports teams will be on self-imposed probation for two years and some will lose scholarships because of an academic cheating scandal, the university said in a report released Thursday.
About 60 student-athletes have lost or will suffer some loss of eligibility. Two staffers, a tutor and learning specialist, already had been fired. No additional dismissals were listed in the investigatory report."

It's very simple, when you think about it. If you don't play football, you are fired/expelled. If you do, well, then I guess you are going to:

• Miss the Motor City Bowl. You don't get to go to Detroit in December. Note:this is probably not a punishment.
• Miss the first 3 games while the schedule is miraculously re-worked.
• Lose 30% eligibility. Considering the remarkable graduation rate of their football players(57%) due to early entry into the draft, prison, baby-daddying, etc., this really won't make a difference for most players.

The point i am horribly trying to make is that I really hope PSU does not get like this, i.e. a program unaccountable for their actions.

This past year's off-the-field issues cause me great concern, especially when they happen to the same people twice in one year. Just look at the crap I wrote above-FSU continues to be a bad cliche of everything wrong with college football.

By the way, what the hell is self-imposed probation? When I was in college, I slapped my one friend's gal in the ass in a stupor. I apologized, and vowed to put myself on probation. But you see, it was March, and I was gambling heavily on hoops at the time. Long story short, I "punished" myself by sitting alone in the dark drinking whiskey while yelling at teenagers trying to play a game. Usually, I would wake up in a pile of my own sick.

Lesson learned!

Interesting:

http://fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/39456

and more info nyaw:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3241643

Not saying he's guilty, but the allegations are pretty unnerving. Especially the alleged benefits his family garnered, including free rent, airplane tix, suits, etc.

Further, an agent named Michael Michaels (real name) has already settled in an earlier lawsuit with Bush-wonder if there is any confidentiality clause involved.

That, and how I got bowling-ball sized biceps, coming soon!

update: Lloyd Lake (seriously, do agents have to have unique names, a la porn stars?) has walked out of today's deposition being run by Bush's lawyers, citing "intimidation" as the reason.
Things are starting to look a little shady 'round there....

linky

Some Love for BSD...

Mike over at BSD must have the patience of a saint. On Friday, he aired his displeasure with Shaw committing at the last second to Michigan.

Immediately, he was bombarded with comments denigrating his credibility, without paying attention to what the message of his post was. Even MGoblog slammed him, providing specific examples on how PSU did the same thing. Again, it missed the point.

What Mike was trying to get at (see edit below) was that it is rather dubious that a person who had committed to PSU signed an LOI to another school without notifying said first school. And that it occurred on LOI signing day. And that Shaw's friends are now going to Michigan. And that the B10 coaches have a gentlemen's agreement not to bother a recruit once he verbals.

I still believe Mike to be correct-his followup post was the kind of arguments that I fully expect out of Mike-accurate and thorough. The problem I have is how many reactions were so far off the point. I visited Michigan this year for the game, and I have to admit-their fans are well mannered, and for the most part, very knowledgeable about their team. I thoroughly enjoyed all activities peripheral to the game. I guess I just expected a better argument.

Edit: What I failed to realize (thanks joisy) is just how offended the Michigan folk were over what Mike had stated. After reading the posts a few more times, I realize what Mike posted could be considered slanderous, especially "stealing recruits". Ouch.

O, and if any Michigan fan reads this, the PSU fanbase really doesn't think we get screwed by the referees in general. Just Dick Honig.

I'm pissed...

And here's why:

Figure 1-2: What a horrible message

Every blog I read (except for EDSBS and KSK. bully for them), at one time or another, goes off topic. Now, it's my turn.

The above pic was taken from the following story on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/berkeley.protests/index.html

Not that i agree with the cause, but protesters do have rights. The problem I have is with the message conveyed from the above:

1. Marines kill indescriminately
2. People join the marines to kill other people
3. Marines are killing the wrong people

To lay such a blanket statement on a self-sacrificing institution is downright unfair. Many Marines join as a means for a way out of an optionless future, many need the income, etc. Watch an episode of "Over There"* and you'll get a small idea of how dire some enlistees' situations just might be. Not every town is Berkely. Some people just don't have the options that others, like myself, have been blessed with. Others get to go to war and try to come back alive.

The U.S. military is always under the scrutiny of the world eye. Being the most powerful nation, the U.S. has to hold itself to the highest conduct standards. Media wise, this leads to the bar being set much higher for the conduct of our troops; hence why you hear more on what we are doing wrong than what we have really accomplished, or about a car-bombing in a public market in which women and children are mutilated. One slipup, and the military never hears the end of it. Hence, why the U.S. tries to go out of its way NOT to hurt the innocent. Read Stephen Coll's "Ghost Wars", and you will know that this is the only reason that Bin Laden is still alive.

Further, let's look at these "strange and exotic" peoples (i.e. "the enemy"):

• They hate everything about our way of life
• Their idealism is to die for a fundamentalist perversion of a beautiful religeon
• They are not big on human rights

Suddenly, "strange and exotic" looks to be defined a little differently. Especially when "strange and exotic" is pointing the business end of a Russian-made Kalashnikov in your direction.

We are all aware that Joker stated said quote in "Full Metal Jacket". Yeah, it was a funny line back then. Remember, Joker killed off a dying Vietnamese girl with a .45 caliber slug to the head. If he had any reservations about killing an ancient people, i am sure they were lost when the sniper killed Cowboy. And it wasn't warning fire. It was the other, malevolent kind.

O, and one more small, insignificant thing. The Marines killed "strange and exotic" peoples in WWI, WWII, Korea, etc. Protest that, you smarmy, righteous, pricks.

Protesting is a fundamental right of this country, as is freedom of speech. With such liberties comes the burden of accurately representing your cause. Screaming obscenity-laced factless information while reaking of pot/shit/patchouli will not sway me to your cause (see Protesters, Mumia-abu Jamal). Nor will I ever give credence to some of the 911 conspiracies due to an obscene lack of proof. And while I strongly disagree with the views presented in the article, the misuse of a Hollywood quote on a t-shirt to promote a relevant movement sends on of the worst kinds of messages:"Will sell out people who have been covering our asses to promote my cause".

*Only recent miniseries that comes close to accurately representing what grunts actually are put through. Thanks Q.

Huh? Whazzat?

Figure 1-1:Should never wake up prematurely

Penn State beat Mich. State in basketball? The Giants beat the Pats in the Super Bowl?

What year is it? Dammit, HOW LONG WAS I SLEEPING?

Yawn-Going back to sleep until the world regains sanity.