Yet, the protestations that he was singled out for his size seem misguided. More likely, he was IDENTIFIED by his size.

The sooner ALL these guys realize there are pseudo-bullseyes on their backs 24/7, the better off they’ll be.

I wish the best for him.

“My son was what you call a scapegoat for the team,” said Marion Baker, Chris’ father. “He was a young man who got caught in the system and got railroaded. I think it was more than just Joe. It was probably a lot of political pressure.”

Sure, Marion. You’re son’s expulsion from the team had absolutely everything to do with him being an easy target for dismissal and nothing at all to do with him laying the smackdown on fellow students. He was a scapegoat, you’re right.

Chris sounds like he’s on his road to adulthood finally. His father, on the other hand…

but I looked at his stat sheet a couple of weeks ago and it was sick. There is no question he is a VERY good football player.

I haven’t heard any bad news about him all year, which I’m glad about.

One Sunday morning about a month ago, Baker was lying on his bed, scrolling through numbers on his cellphone when he got to Paterno’s home number.

“I kept contemplating whether I should call him or not,” Baker said.

He did. And they had a conversation three months in the making.

“He said that he had to do it. He wasn’t sure if it was the right decision, but it was the decision he just had to make,” Baker said. “I was angry for a while because I just didn’t know why. It made me feel a lot better to actually talk to him because I never got a chance to. I feel at ease now with Joe Paterno and Penn State.”

Don’t often get the human side of these situations like this. Says a lot about JoePa (even if ’wasn’t sure if it was the right decision’ came from Baker); kinda conveys that he wanted to maybe give him another shot, but also that he felt he already had given him plenty of shots.

I feel like I should be on TV and someone should be watching me

It’s a shame the kid had to go, he’s obviously got talent, but there’s only so much that the team can put up with. If I remember right, wasn’t there some incident at a pool party up here allegedly involving some players right around the time that those guys got kicked off? I had always thought that was what pushed these guys over the edge, but I could be wrong. Anyway, sounds like he’s at least matured a little to get the balls to call Joe at home and discuss things with him.