Friday Nitt Picks

by BSD on Nov 16, 2007 9:11 AM EST in News Comment 9 comments

Just a few things I want to draw your attention to this Friday morning.

Not only are Penn State players too stupid to control their fists, they are apparently too dumb to know when to keep their mouth shut too.

Sophomore defensive tackle Phillip Taylor is listed by police as among the "participants" in the incident at 1:46 a.m. Oct. 7. But Taylor, despite being implicated by the statements of a number of players as detailed in the criminal complaint, has not been charged.

Sloane said that is because the witnesses against Taylor are among those charged, so they likely would assert their rights under the Fifth Amendment.

The complaint also states that Baker told police he saw wide receiver Chris Bell jump off a table and try to kick the alleged victim during the attack. Bell missed and was not charged, although he was implicated by a number of his teammates, according to authorities.

Also in the complaint, the alleged victim identifies linebacker Bani Gbadyu as one of the Nittany Lions who attacked him.

Gbadyu also was not charged.

And Timmons told police, according to court documents, that "Taylor sucker punched" the alleged victim in the face.

But there's more. Baker is singing like a canary

According to the complaint, Baker said he saw football players Taylor, Abe Koroma, Thom McEowen, Chris Bell, Willie Harriott, Devon Fentress, Toriano Moody and Johnnie Troutman kicking Capehart while he was on the floor.

So Baker rattles off a list of players, and says he saw Chris Bell do a Jimmie "Super-Fly" Snooka off a table. Timmons says he saw Tayler "sucker punch" a guy. I guess you can throw the word "teammate" out the window when it comes to covering your own ass.

Disclaimer: This is not a commentary defending the players. It's honorable that they are cooperating with the police and telling their side of the story. I just find it odd how they are all naming names and pointing fingers instead of trying to protect their teammates. It's getting easier to see why this team never came together this year.

Enough of those losers. Let's talk other Penn State sports. I got an email this week basically ripping me for being too football heavy around here and not doing enough to cover other PSU sports, so let's do a quick rundown.

The defending National Champion Men's Gymnastics team is ranked #2 in the preseason coaches poll.

The #1 ranked Women's Volleyball team is rolling along and will host some tough competition this weekend when #9 Wisconsin and Illinois come to Happy Valley this weekend starting tonight. Win these matches and the Lady Lions will capture their fifth straight Big Ten title.

The Lady Lion soccer team starts the NCAA tournament this afternoon as a #1 seed.

The Penn State wrestling team dominated Maryland in their opener. As always, Galen has your Wrestling Wreport. They had more good news this week when they signed another top recruit.

The Men's Basketball team got a recruit of their own.

Moving on to Big Ten issues, you remember that crew of officials that worked the Penn State-Purdue game? They were supposed to be suspended for their poor officiating. But they ended up working the Illinois-Ohio State game last week and apparently blew a few more calls. This may have cost the Big Ten a lot of money. Like say $4.5 Million.

Michigan State preview to follow shortly.

0 recs | Comment 9 comments

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Comments

Who cares if people

think you're too football heavy? Like you said before, get your own damn blog. I like following/hearing about other teams aside from the football team but I don't expect to get full breakdowns of the volleyball or wrestling squads last match/meet.

by nittanyroar on Nov 16, 2007 12:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That's my thought too

I cover basketball just because it's something to do in the spring when football news is scarce. I try to recognize significant accomplishments, like when a team wins the conference or a national championship. But one, I don't have time to cover all those sports, and two, I don't know enough about volleyball and wrestling to sound reasonably intelligent in covering it. So any time I get an email asking me to cover the women's field hockey team I point the person in the direction of the diaries and tell them to have at it.

I would love to expand the roster here to add a few writers. I think it would be great to have one writer focused on basketball (mens and womens), maybe two football writers (myself included), a volleyball guy, a soccer guy, and so on. I just don't have the time and knowledge to do it all myself.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Nov 16, 2007 12:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

How 'bout this?

After I get fired from my job for zero productivity because I read this blog too much at work, you can hire me as a BSD staff member. I'll be your hockey/fencing/volleyball/soccer beat writer. Sound good?

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Nov 16, 2007 1:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Deal

I'll even pay you 5x the salary I make for doing this, which is probably enough to buy a loaf of bread for your family.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Nov 16, 2007 1:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fencing

Don't they have a dynasty in fencing or something?

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Nov 16, 2007 1:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

They've won something like 11 national championships in 15 years. They also have one of the worst graduation rates in all of college sports from a report I saw several months ago.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Nov 16, 2007 1:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

it sounds like our fencing team sounds like a Norht Carolina basketball team, minus 11 championships in 15 years lol. Hey how can people rip you for being to football heavvy, the title of the BLOG is BLACK SHOES DIARIES, that's a PSU football thing. Plus don't they understand you have a life and can't blog all day 24/7 lol. I must say it's disappointing to see our team unity, they go out and start a fight then point fingers at each other. Man they're just undisciplined and it shows on saturdays.

WE ARE, PENN STATE! http://bleedblueandwhite.blogspot.com/

by LinebackerU on Nov 16, 2007 2:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I have got to say...

I absolutely lost my mind this reading about the whole superfly snooka stuff...that is hilarious, but also sad...

by carolinaeasy on Nov 16, 2007 3:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Keep the football coming!

Like LinebackerU said "it's BLACKSHOEDIARIES.COM".......not everypennstatesportblog.com. I say keep it football heavy! One of my friends told me about this site around July and I have checked it out literally every single day since I first came here - except for the days that I was actually in Happy Valley for a couple of the football games. It's because I love Penn State Football and I think Mike does a great job of writing. Don't get me wrong, I'll cheer on any PSU team and try to keep up with them, but this is a FOOTBALL blog (again, check the address) and I expect to come to this site and read about FOOTBALL. If you want to keep updated on other sports, check out their sites!

by nittanysteelers on Nov 16, 2007 11:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs