I’m glad someone is trying to give the other half of the story to what ESPN conveniently left out.

I have to say as someone who is a heavy ESPN watcher, I feel strange watching their Sports Reporting now. It’s like a trusted friend has done wrong by someone in my family, and I’m not sure if the relationship will ever be repaired.

makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t think we are worse than any other program out there in regards to players getting into trouble. If you look at the big picture (say, the past 50 years), we are probably far under the average in regards to off field incidents. But unfortunately, that doesn’t amount to much of anything in the minds of recruits, fans, and now media. OTL did a butcher job and tried to cram a whole lot of people under that proverbial bus, but at the same time, these kids ARE getting into trouble, and it p*sses me off to no end. Even in the years that our team was not successful and borderline bad, i at least was able to look at the miami fans and the florida state fans and say, “yeah, well at least we graduate our athletes and don’t ship them off to jail when their eligibility is up”. Now that is being taken away from me, and the reputation of our school is being tarnished. These kids, and I am talking all big time NCAA athletes here, have the world in the palm of thier hands, and they are throwing away opportunities for free education and athletic advancement to the next level. IMO, there needs to be stricter NCAA rules to punish players, instead of leaving it up to the team to kick the player off of scholarship after repeated offenses, only to basically have their recruitment start all over again for other schools…

longest rambling post ever… i’m done

Too bad this prof’s statements can’t reach as far as ESPN can with OTL. It’s sad to think that this slander piece may actually influence people.

we need to think about what this piece actually did. Did it make us look bad? Sure. Did it make us feel embarrassed? Sure. Did it completely tear the team to shred by placing small pockets of doubt into every current player’s mind? With the exception of Phil Taylor, it would seem, absolutely not.
If ESPN’s goal was to make us look bad on national television, that’s a weak goal. One would hope that they have no agenda at all, but most people seem to think they did. Most people also stop short of the worse case scenario which would be a spark for a mutiny over JoePa, and the total lack of faith from our players to our coaches. While I don’t believe OTL ever intended that, it’s good to see people like D-Will and Clark step up and just show complete faith in Paterno. It’s good to see the recruits still happy to come (even if their mothers aren’t) and it’s great to see our fans sticking behind this team. As I’ve said before, what has happened has happened. It’s time to stop justifying it and just leave sleeping dogs lie.
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Also, for what it’s worth, I believe the interview with Mrs. Thomas was more than likely slanted to say one thing when she meant another. Or, she could be incredibly naive, or never have visited the University with her son. It just seems like that was not a full-blown, sit down interview… perhaps just a side comment or a 2 minute phone interview.

next week’s OTL on Georgia football. Oh wait, they are in the SEC and they are fast so we can’t bash them.

I agree with dawsonPSU10. This was a well written article and one that should be shared in a source like ESPN.

with a good view of the situation. And yeah,it is a shame his story couldn’t get picked up by the national media. However, I hope this is the last piece on any of the past off-the-field troubles. I’m just ready for real football now.

And that is a great statement by Nichols.

Also, I love that he uses the term “jock-sniffers”

With the OTL episode being aired and all the hooplah about ESPN contacting recruits, It is good to see the recruits and parents making statements about knowing how they are expected to behave. The ones that are showing concern must not have confidence that they have taught their young men how to act appropriately.

I have daughters that will be attending Main Campus in the fall. Yes, I am worried. However, I trust that I have instilled good morals and values that they will practice while attending.

These players and students that have brought on the skepticism have made poor choices. It is not Paterno’s or any other coaches responsibility to “babysit” these young men. They are their to get an education. FOOTBALL should be a priviledge.

I commend the parents that trust thier children to make wise responsible decisions. I am proud of the players that are able to make the statement that they know “Right from Wrong”.

Everything will be just fine.

Thankfully this new MD recruiting article is buried in ESPN HS football page, but its ridiculous that ESPN would even put it up. It’s an article about nothing, about what is not happening. How is that considered sports reporting? Where’s the “Tressel not considering NFL jobs” article? How about the “Clausen not considering transfering from ND” article? This is a blatant attempt to call more attention to a 16 month old story.

it’s what they do. That fight happened over a full year ago. ESPN ran a ‘feature’ on it last week, masked as an investigation except they wrote the conclusion before doing any research. Then, after it airs, they show it to recruits and attempt to get them to change their mind. When they do not, they report that as a ‘recruiting update’...when, as you said, nothing has really even happened.

Is a disgrace and beating a dead horse.

What is the point of contacting these recruits? Is ESPN contacting other recruits from the Fulmer Cup list also??? They are obviously trying to help bring down the program/Joe. I think they didn’t like the angry reaction from nittany nation and how JoePa said it was a “witch hunt”.

Looks like the WWL will not let up until Joe steps down/fired and new regime comes in…probably from outside the program. Truth is…america loves when the honor student/judge/etc gets in trouble and looks bad.

When I was at PSU I was good friends with a defensive back who was recruited from Texas. The reason he ended up coming was because his mom liked the person recruiting him (I don’t remember who). But the funny thing was she didn’t even understand where he was playing after 2 years (he wasn’t starting). She thought he was going to U penn, and would tell her friends how he is going to an Ivy league school and how smart he was. This example is a little extreme but shows how perception of the program by parents who really don’t understand what their kids are getting into effects their recruiting. Any bad sign/story is going to make a parent leery.

M1EK hasn’t reared his ugly head to post unintelligent dribble about this article???? Of course ESPN would never put a slant on an article…..or fail to give the whole story…...or actually report what happened according to the DA and police investigation…...or talk about how A Scott’s life was ruined by a known liar…...or talk about what really happened with Scott Paxson….....or talk about all the other NCAA 1-A institutions that recruited our troubled athletes…...or talk about how Tennessee and Maryland are drooling and fighting over Phil Taylor…....or FAIL TO EXCLUDE INTERVIEWS FROM RESPECTED FACULTY THAT FIT THERE PREDETERMINED STORY LINE!

when it might have been relevant?