August 10th update

Wednesday spotlight: Joe Paterno

• Anyone who knows longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno was very concerned when a player collided with the coach during practice this week. It would be uncomfortable for anyone, but Paterno, or JoePa as he is affectionately called, is 84 years old. But just as people around him would be concerned, they would also be completely unsurprised when he refused to talk about himself, turning the attention to Penn State Nittany Lions football team, saying, "It's time for everyone to turn the attention to the team. We have a lot of hard work ahead in order to be as good as we think we can be."
• Paterno is one of two extremely long tenured coaches of power programs in recent memory, having coached at Penn State since 1966. The other, Bobby Bowden, has since retired but coached Florida State from 1976 to 2009.
• Paterno holds the record for the most victories by a football coach in Division I (now called the FBS), he has coached more bowl game wins than any other coach in college football history and is the first FBS coach to reach 400 victories. Additionally, he led five undefeated teams to wins in major bowl games including the 1986 team which won what many consider to be the first "true" national championship game over Miami.

*On a personal note, my grandfather loved Penn State and JoePa more than any other public figure as far as I can remember so he'll always a warm spot in my heart.


Fight for Denver QB job gets interesting

• Last year the Denver Broncos drafted Tim Tebow the reknowned college quarterback from the University of Florida. Tebow was expected to take a year or two to develop behind established, if maligned, starter Kyle Orton and then take the reins of the Broncos' (we never shy away from a good pun) offense.
• The issue with starting Tebow is that Orton developed into a pretty decent quarterback, throwing the ball over the field and helping make Brandon Lloyd one of the best receivers in the NFL last season. Additionally, Tebow’s development has been slower than originally planned. The cherry on the top of all this is the Broncos had a very poor 2010 season and fired their head coach, Josh McDaniels.
• Many fans expected Tebow to come into this season as the starter, but he has not shown the progression expected (heavily affected by the lockout which didn’t allow him contact with the Broncos). Orton, meanwhile, has performed very well through initial practices and has solidified himself as the starter in Denver.
• Controversy has ensued as Orton was almost traded, and has been booed by fans at training camp. Orton has said he doesn’t care if the fans like him, and he will continue to work hard to help the Broncos win.