January 23th update

Giants and Patriots to meet again in Super Bowl

• The New York Giants are back in the Super Bowl after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in OT, the second time in 3 years that the NFC championship game has been won on a FG in OT. Vernon Davis caught two long TD passes for the Niners but a fumbled punt in OT put the Giants in prime field position and they used the very short field to allow kicker Lawrence Tynes to make the game clincher quite easily.
• Eli Manning was beaten up all day by the 49ers tough defense, getting sacked 6 times and knocked down 12 times, but he kept popping back up and will now go to his second Super Bowl, this one in Indianapolis, the hometown of his brother Peyton no less (who has only played in one).
• Eli's Giants will go against Peyton's longtime rival, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It's a rematch of the Super Bowl from 4 years ago when the Patriots entered the game 18-0 needing only one more win to become the first team in NFL history to finish a season 19-0. Instead the Giants upset them, keeping the Patriots from even winning the Super Bowl in a season where they may have been the best team in NFL history.
• The Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 after Ravens WR Lee Evans dropped a game winning touchdown that he had in his hands but was then knocked out by a Patriots defender, and then kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short FG that would have sent the game to OT.
• It was rough day for the Harbaugh family, as brother John and Jim are the head coaches of the two losing teams, the 49ers and the Ravens.


Paterno Dies of Cancer

• Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday from complications from lung cancer. Paterno, the winningest coach in NCAA football history, passed away less than 2 months after his condition was initially divulged to the public.
• Paterno was fired from his position at PSU earlier this year due to allegations that he covered up child abuse reports involving his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Whether or not you believe that Paterno should have been fired, or he was unjustly villified, he did plenty of good in his life and we will take some tine to review a bit of that life.
• Paterno and his wife were a fixture in the central Pennsylvania town of College Park. The library on campus, and other buildings on and around campus are named for the family. Patrons of many charities, Paterno and his wife have given countless hours and millions to different charitable organizations.
• Paterno will be remembered as a fantastic football coach and a beloved mentor. The number of lives he changed by giving an opportunity to play football, the number of coaches who have come from his coaching “tree” and the numerous charitable and philanthropic organizations he supported will be the bulk of the footprint Paterno leaves on this earth, to say nothing of the staggering numbers he put up in terms of wins, players drafted into the NFL and bowl game records, the likes of which will very likely never be seen again in the history of football.


USA Soccer has Big Month

• The Olympic qualifying tournament (Jan 20th-Jan 29th) for soccer is underway and the U.S. will try to first of all make the tournament, and then progress further than they have in the past. While the U.S. is not considered a favorite to win, they have been improving and will hope to make some noise. Argentina has won each of the past 2 Olympic tournaments, both in 2004 and 2008.
• The team defeated Venezuela 1-0 Saturday night for their first victory over a South American team since 2007. Much maligned US player Ricardo Clark headed in a corner kick in the 94th minute (extra time) to give the US the victory. It was Clark’s first goal since 2009, and a chance to help forget a blunder in the 2010 World Cup that cost the US team against Ghana.
• Meanwhile, earlier this month across the pond, US superstar Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick (3 goals) in the English Premier League. Dempsey and fellow US star Landon Donovan helped Everton advance in the FA Cup, a major knockout tournament of English soccer teams.

November 11th Update

Update on the Penn State Situation

• After our post Wednesday morning, Joe Paterno announced he would retire at the end of the season because of the situation with former coordinator Jerry Sandusky. However, this was not enough for the Penn State Board of Trustees. Wednesday night they announced that Paterno, who had been the head coach for 46 years, would be fired effective immediately. Tom Bradley, who replaced the accused Jerry Sandusky as the PSU defensive coordinator, will take over as head coach on an interim basis.
• Penn State students rioted after news of Paterno’s firing was announced. Taking to the streets and flipping news trucks as they chanted, yelled and cried about losing their football coach and patron. Penn State plays their last home game of the season this weekend against Nebraska. It remains to be seen how the students will react during this game.
• The scandal has potentially since grown with rumors that Jerry Sandusky would “pimp” out young boys to potential donors to the program. We want to stress these are currently unconfirmed reports. Mike McQueary, a current assistant coach who was the original "whistle blower" is being asked not to appear at the game against Nebraska for fear of his personal safety.


Non-Penn State Story Lines this Weekend

• Can New England recover: New England Patriots at New York Jets – a rematch of a game from just a month ago, where New England defeated the Jets, occurs while the Patriots are in the midst of a rare two game losing streak. The Jets have won three straight games since their last matchup with the Patriots. The winner of this game will have at least a share of the lead in their division.
• Many other great NFL games: The New Orleans Saints travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons for supremacy in the NFC South Division. The Houston Texans travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers as the Texans face one of their biggest tests this year. The Oakland Raiders defeated the San Diego Chargers in the first Thursday night game of the season, sending the Chargers to their 4th straight loss. For the rest of the regular season there will be one game on Thursday night.
• NCAA Game of the Week: Oregon Ducks and possibly the best RB in the nation (LaMichael James) travel to Stanford to take on possibly the best QB in the nation in Andrew Luck and his the Cardinal. If Stanford wins, they will likely move to #3 in the BCS Standings but both teams are undefeated in the Pac-12 and the winner will play in the first ever Pac-12 championship game. It's the only matchup of top 10 teams this week.

November 9th update

Smokin' Joe Frazier loses fight with cancer

• In the ring, Joe Frazier's legendary left hook could beat almost anyone, but a different type of opponent overwhelmed one of the greatest champions in boxing history on Monday as liver cancer unfortunately claimed his life. He was 67.
• Born on January 12th, 1944, Frazier was an Olympic and Heavyweight champion of the world whose professional career lasted for 11 years from 1965 to 1976 (and one comeback fight in 1981), Frazier was undoubtedly known best for his rivalry with Muhammad Ali. After Ali's return from a ban induced by his protest and refusal to partake in the Vietnam War, Ali challenged Frazier's title in 1971. It was dubbed as the "Fight of the Century" because both fighters were undefeated, considered themselves world champions (Ali had been the title holder before his position was vacated due to his ban) and had rabid followings. Frazier won the fight of the century and retained his title but ultimately lost it to George Foreman (although that was the first loss he suffered and it was not until 1973) and then lost his next 2 bouts against Ali including "The Thrilla in Manilla" in 1975. The 2 losses to Ali made up half of the losses all time for Frazier who was 31-4 overall.
• Despite their mutual respect, Ali was a promoter at heart and put on a persona to garner interest in his fights. One of the ways he did this was by mocking his opponents outside of the ring and Frazier was one of his biggest targets. Calling him the white man's hope and an "Uncle Tom," a "gorilla" and mocking his South Carolina upbringing, Ali tormented Frazier in the media during their rivalry and even after their fighting days barbs were frequently exchanged, both from Ali and Frazier. Despite their differences, Ali had nothing but kind words following the sad news.


Scandal Threatens a Legend’s Legacy

• Over the past few days, details of a Grand Jury investigation have been exposed that detail a shocking scandal at Penn State, which is ironically referred to sometimes as "Happy Valley." The basic details: Jerry Sandusky, the long time defensive coordinator of the Penn State football team, is being accused of having sexual relationships with 8 different boys over the span of 15 years, including at least one alleged instance that took place at a Penn State facility.
• A graduate student reported witnessing an incident (we are not going to delve into the particulars, but they are widely available on the internet if you care) including Sandusky and a 10 year old boy in 2002. He reported this to both the Athletic Director and the VP of Business and Finance at PSU, and nothing was done.
• There was a long time when Sandusky was the expected heir apparent to Joe Paterno (JoPa) who is nothing less than a living legend in college sports. This fact is beyond doubt. He is the all time leader in victories in Division 1 College Football history (409 and counting). Paterno and his wife have also given back to Pennsylvania community as the terrific Library and many other buildings on Campus at PSU are named after the Paterno family.
• The full facts remain to be seen but Paterno’s legacy will undoubtedly tarnished to some extent. He has been a mythical figure in that state of Pennsylvania, deified by some the way Bear Bryant was in Alabama. He also obviously held a very special place in the heart of players (an example being Matt Millen's reaction while discussing this) but it’s hard to justify his place in the cover up. If he knew about this for nearly a decade but did nothing to make it public, choosing instead to take action to protect his team, university or legacy, that action is inexcusable.
• As of the time of posting, Paterno is still the coach at PSU. There are calls and rumors that he will be asked to resign, stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

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.