Nitt Picks is Stalling
by BSD on Jun 25, 2009 10:49 AM EDT
in Nitt Picks
47 comments
I believe RUTS will have a little BSD roundtable for you later today...or maybe tomorrow...or next week. He's currently AWOL and not responding to email. So we figure he either a) finally had the reality of marriage set in and jumped on a plane to Las Vegas to indulge in hookers and booze one last time, b) he's been abducted by an Amish cult that has enslaved him into giving up his worldly ways to pull a plow and impregnate the hairy women folk, or c) the last batch of home brew went horribly wrong. So here is a quick Nitt Picks to keep you occupied.
The Examiner asks if their glowing post about Penn State's awesome running backs was a little over the top. So they polled around to some of the other preseason publications and came to this conclusion.
Everybody seems to be saying the same things. Penn State does have the best running back unit entering this season, at least in the Big Ten. The hype is real. Some may even consider Royster a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, albeit a very long shot considering Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007 Heisman winner) and Sam Bradford (Oklahoma, 2008 Heisman winner) both return this year and Colt McCoy (Texas) is a trendy pick.
Really. It's ok to admit Penn State might be good at something. Gregg Doyel and the SEC homers will laugh at you, but sticks and stones and all that. After a while you get used to it.
Not surprisingly, the NCAA presidents shot down the Mountain West's proposal for an eight team playoff system. One of their main points of contention was the interference with the academic calendar, which The Nittany Line rightfully shoots out of the water.
As for the 'academic calendar' bullshit, please, please give me your schedule. Give me two weeks between Thanksgiving and the middle of January and I'll give you an 8 team playoff.
Week 1: 8 teams become 4
Week 2: 4 teams become 2
Championship game is played the same time it always is.
You're telling me your academic schedule can't handle that?! You're telling me you even care about academics in football? I seriously doubt it.
I have nothing else to add to that. Teams already practice three weeks for the bowl game with the final week being on location. If the NCAA can pull college basketball players out of class to travel for away games in the middle of the week and send the best teams to a month-long tournament where the first two rounds are played on Thursdays and Fridays, you give up any moral standing when it comes to concern about a student athlete suffering in school. (Ok, maybe I had a little bit to add to it.)
Here is a fascinating read I came across in a message board about an Alabama fan who struck up a poolside conversation with a former Penn State coach while on vacation.
This person, we’ll call him "Glenn" (because that’s his name), wasn’t bragging, because it was me pulling the info out of him over that two hour conversation. Instead, what he revealed was a content fanbase, confident in their leader who was committed to doing things the right way, with class. We swapped stories, though his were much more interesting. But he talked about Coach Paterno helping him get his start in coaching, letting him coach at Penn State for two years before setting out to coach elsewhere. He said Paterno didn’t recruit players, he recruited families, and if he got a bad vibe about a family, that was it.
There's more there including his encounters with Virginia Tech and Florida fans, so go check that out.
In Scores of Other Games
- Since I'm too lazy to do these myself, Eleven Warriors has an Indiana Hoosiers preview.
- This just in: Tickets to the Ohio State game might be expensive.
- SI has a nice article on Talor Battle. (H/T 20,000+)
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Poor 11W must be bored if they’re doing Indiana preview.
Like me. Except I just used it as a chance to post Bob Knight videos.
BTW, any chance that RUTS is currently happy as a clam, working in a factory that makes the Obama collectible stuff?
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 25, 2009 11:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Strangely, these sell better than the John Kerry flip-flops.
(Post scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Hilarity and angry discussion ensues.)
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Jun 25, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I hear these are huge in the Middle East
Putting someone’s face on a foot like that would be a huge insult over there.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
by BSD on Jun 25, 2009 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nice post from the Alabama fan
Quick question – any BSD’rs have a read on Alabama? I’m considering a move to Huntsville from TX and was looking for some opinions on what its like there.
BTW the Alumni Association stuff looks dreary with only one club in the state and it appears to be in the process of reorganization.
Thanks
by brubby on Jun 25, 2009 11:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I *think*...
Our own PaigePSU is in charge of the PSU alumni association down there, though I haven’t seen her here in a while.
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Jun 25, 2009 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well I'll be on the lookout for her then...
nothing like message board stalking to liven up the dog days
by brubby on Jun 25, 2009 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed
Really liked the sound of that guy. Nice he’s setting the table for our 10-11 series too:
I challenge all fans, but especially the Bama faithful, to start leading the way in showing the kind of class displayed in State College.
Bama is one state I’ve never been to, but damn sure am psyched about visiting in 2010.
When I say to a kid, ‘Hey, get ready to get knocked on your rear end,’ I also tell him, ‘Learn. Learn why you got knocked on your rear end. --Joseph Vincent Paterno
by jtothep on Jun 25, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, can't wait for that one...
My wife’s an LSU alum so we’re both pumped for the trip to Tuscaloosa and a Lion Victory
by brubby on Jun 25, 2009 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I know where RUTS is
He’s in Argentina.
by dmoney350z on Jun 25, 2009 11:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I call it "hiking the Appalachian Trail".
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Jun 25, 2009 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Three cheers for whichever staff member came up with that excuse.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 25, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
If only he was a Midwestern governor:
by Aaron PSU on Jun 25, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I doubt you'll make it 83 miles without a broken wagon tongue.
I think John Boy has contracted dysentery too.
by Cairo on Jun 25, 2009 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
PSA: you cannot forde the kansa river in the spring time. your oxen will drown.
We are not normal. We are legends.
by NittanyAlum02 on Jun 25, 2009 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Anyone else
Play that game just for the hunting part? I use to just keep hunting while everyone in the party died from measles and snakebites. Needed that space for more bison and deer.
by jigalion on Jun 25, 2009 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That was totally me too.
I hated it when it got to the point where it said, you can’t carry any more meat. I always thought, “Suck it up pansies, I just went on hunting rampage over here, and were not letting this shit go to waste”.
I would also add myself as a passenger, and fill in the rest of the names in the caravan with people I hated, so I could actually be happy when they got bit by a snake, or succumbed to their injuries after falling off the wagon (always pissed me off, were not driving through the mountains, so you were obviously horseplaying in the wagon, and I laid down that ground rule from the start, so it’s your own damn fault, and I don’t feel sorry for you, now do some work damn you!)
Ahhh…miss this game
by dawsonPSU10 on Jun 25, 2009 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The hell with wishing snakebites on 'em
You’re out on the frontier, just shoot the bastards. Won’t be any questions unless the Lakota learn how to talk English.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 26, 2009 1:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dude, I think I just channelled John Wayne
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 26, 2009 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
A little late, but
Was looking for an oppty to post this. It’s a rattlesnake that showed up in our campsite at the mountain bike race I did a few weeks ago. Actually, I suppose we showed up in its camp.
When I say to a kid, ‘Hey, get ready to get knocked on your rear end,’ I also tell him, ‘Learn. Learn why you got knocked on your rear end. --Joseph Vincent Paterno
by jtothep on Jun 29, 2009 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Cool vid
For a minute there I thought you’re friends had just happened to also bring along their snake catching gear while you were camping. Do yo know what kind it was? I’m a bit of a herpetology buff, so I’m curious where you were when you found it (and how you found it in the first place, did someone see it go into the high grass, or did someone, and they must be one lucky asshole to miss getting bit by a dangerous snake, just decide to trounce through high grass. I was also happy to read you relocated it instead of killing it. Kudos for the good vid.
by dawsonPSU10 on Jun 29, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Don't know what kind of rattlesnake it was
I’ve been less around snakes in general since my pops passed; he used to always have boas and pythons as pets. But it’s only the second rattler I’ve ever seen in the wild, and both of them have been black, which really adds to their fright value. The diamond-shaped head looks mean enough—they just look pissed with that shape of a head. And then when they tell you they’re pissed by shaking that freakin rattle, it’s definitely time to bounce.
One of my buddies discovered it first. We were all lucky assholes, cuz we were setting up tents a few feet from it, and walking past it a bunch of times running wire to the generator we stashed further into the trees. This was at Big Bear Lake, near Hazleton, WV. A very cool mtb race, btw. The race organizers have been doing it for a number of years, so somewhere along the way they manufactured that snake-catching gear, which got put to good use this year.
When I say to a kid, ‘Hey, get ready to get knocked on your rear end,’ I also tell him, ‘Learn. Learn why you got knocked on your rear end. --Joseph Vincent Paterno
by jtothep on Jun 30, 2009 6:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It sounds like it was a Timber Rattlesnake that you saw
They’re very common up and down the east coast. They’re one of two venomous species (there is a third but it’s very rare for it to live up here, it prefers the South) that come this far north. Since it was West Virginia, that limits it to the two: Timber rattlesnake, and the copperhead (but that has bright copper colored bands on it’s sides, so it definitely wasn’t the one you saw, it also doesn’t have a rattle). They can be darker than this picture, but I don’t know any other rattlers this far northeast that it could be.
by dawsonPSU10 on Jun 30, 2009 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Missisauga (spelling?) rattler maybe?
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 30, 2009 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nah, nevermind
They’re more of a brown-ish color. And I don’t think they live in WV anyway.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 30, 2009 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Massasauga
Yeah thats the rare one. I found a map of where it’s primary habitat is found. No WV, and very, very little PA:
And like you said, it’s more of a brownish color:
The timber rattler is the most likely, just given the habitat range:
by dawsonPSU10 on Jun 30, 2009 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wow, this looks a lot like it
Maybe a little blacker with less coloring even. Since you’re ‘a bit of a herpetology buff’ I’ll tell you I’ve also mountain-biked past a King Brown about 4hrs south of Sydney. I had, until just now when I did some googling, always thought of this as the ‘most deadliest’ in the world. But this author goes a way towards debunking some Australian snake myths. Thankfully, he only looked this scary:
and not this scary:
When I say to a kid, ‘Hey, get ready to get knocked on your rear end,’ I also tell him, ‘Learn. Learn why you got knocked on your rear end. --Joseph Vincent Paterno
by jtothep on Jul 1, 2009 6:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Or this scary
When I say to a kid, ‘Hey, get ready to get knocked on your rear end,’ I also tell him, ‘Learn. Learn why you got knocked on your rear end. --Joseph Vincent Paterno
by jtothep on Jul 1, 2009 6:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, the "deadliest snake in the world" thing is mainly BS
Since the snakes with the drop for drop most potent venom are often very shy, and very isolated away from people (the most toxic being the Inland Taipan from Australia, or species of sea snake, both very isolated from people).
The snakes that kill the most people are species of cobra, and a snake called the Russel’s Viper. Both live in India and often bite people walking through or working in rice patties, and of course they’re most likely too far away for treatment. The Russel’s in particular not only has a strong venom, but is extremely agressive, and may bite more than once, or just hang on and continue to pump venom into you.
by dawsonPSU10 on Jul 1, 2009 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
What, no one had a shotgun at hand?
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 29, 2009 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Funniest thing I've seen in my entire life
One Memorial Day I was at a cookout at my uncle’s house. My aunt, who is TERRIFIED of snakes, spots a milk snake, and runs to tell my uncle. My uncle grabs an axe and long story short my aunt argued with him for about ten minutes because while she was afraid of the snake she didn’t want it to be killed.
I think the snake left eventually.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 29, 2009 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Maybe I played a kiddie version of OrTrail
but I don’t remember a “Shoot your compainions, and feast upon their flesh” option in the Oregon Trail. Unless you’re talking about Donner Party 64 for N64.
by dawsonPSU10 on Jun 29, 2009 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
At least Sanford still has better hair than Blago. So, I guess that’s a plus for him to remember.
Also, “hiking the Appalachian trail” is probably sexual slang now.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Jun 25, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Write that one down
“Hey, baby. Want to go hike the Appalachian trail with me?”
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
by BSD on Jun 25, 2009 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
RUTS is a pompous jerk?
No, he’s getting a “Pampas Jerk.” There’s a subtle difference.
by Cairo on Jun 25, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
It was a bad cell connection
they simply misunderstood “Getting Argentinian Tail”
by PSU Mudder on Jun 25, 2009 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
/threadjack'd
I see on our CBS4 widget that Michael Phelps earned four ESPY nominations. Amazing that a story about nominations for a self-serving sports award show makes any impact on anything. So weird. ESPN rules us all.
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Jun 25, 2009 12:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Either this guy is an idiot, or lying
“But the BCS is the best postseason arrangement that has ever existed in college football. I say that after reviewing the matter from all standpoints, including student-athlete welfare, fan enjoyment, the academic calendar, the significance of the regular season, preservation of the bowl system that benefits a broad base of universities, and business.
No, the FCS postseason arrangement is the best that has ever existed in college football. The only reason it doesn’t generate as much money (or “success”) is that few people care about the teams.
“In the last six years, I’ve read pundits, heard the pronouncements of broadcasters and collected several cubic feet of e-mail printouts from advocates of an NFL-style playoff system. Even those that go beyond sound bite certitude share two intertwined and fatal deficiencies: They disrespect our academic calendars and they utterly lack a business plan.”
I’m not saying I can come up with the best system, but I could definitely come up with one that doesn’t disrespect the academic calandars (at least any more than they already are by football or basketball) and one with a rudimentary business plan (I’m not a businessman, I don’t know what fully goes into a business plan, but I do have a plan that doesn’t upset the status quo that much). I’m not going to post it here, because I don’t feel like getting into the “which playoff format is the best” debate (and I’ve posted variations a few times in past threads), but I’m sure if I can do it, one of the e-mails in his several cupic feet pile has to contain something similar. Hell, I can do it with a 12 or 16 team playoff, as well.
by The JuggerNitt on Jun 25, 2009 12:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
probably a Florida or LSU fan...
"I was looking for four things. Honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness and a man of character. Joe Paterno has all of that." - Derrick Williams
by Stately NOVA Lion on Jun 25, 2009 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The BCS isn’t even better than what preceded it. At least before, we all knew the championship was totally mythical. They went and disrupted the traditions of bowl season in order to bring us an undisputed national title decided on the field, which would be perfectly fine with me if they delivered the goods. But they don’t and, most years, can’t.
by SpartanDan on Jun 26, 2009 3:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
excellent point
I’m guessing their intentions were good when they set up the BCS, but really it seems like we were all asking them to fix the leaky roof, but they gave us a bunch of pots and pans instead and said “problem fixed” and washed their hands of the whole thing.
by The JuggerNitt on Jun 26, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't like the "...at least in the Big Ten" comment
Just say we’re the best in the country, all right? Don’t qualify the statement. We’re the best.
by Mr. Rosewater on Jun 25, 2009 1:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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