Nitt Picks: In New Enhanced Size

by BSD on Mar 17, 2008 10:43 AM EDT in News Comment 12 comments

Just a few Monday morning Nitt Picks for you.

Part II of the Ann Arbor News report on Michigan athletics and academics is out. It's a pretty interesting read.

With the fall term drawing to a close, Jay Basten monitored students taking his final exam in Sport Management 111, a course at the University of Michigan.

During the essay test last December, one undergraduate - an athlete - caught Basten's attention.

"I could tell by the look on his face, and also based on the work he had done previously in class, that he had no clue what to write," Basten said. "It was a 50-minute exam, and he probably wrote three sentences."

Basten said the experience almost brought tears to his eyes. But the full-time kinesiology lecturer added that watching a Michigan student-athlete struggle is not an isolated occurrence.

"As far as the university's history, it's not all good," he said. "There have been people who have worked to do the right thing, but more often than not, athletic talent has won out over academic ability."

Again, I don't think there is anything earth shattering here. Maybe I was a bit overdramatic yesterday. Athletes taking easy classes for easy majors is nothing new. It seems to me all this series of articles is doing is pulling back the curtain to show the disgusting details of how the sausage is made. I don't think Michigan has anything to worry about so far, but it must be difficult for them to read nonetheless.

Our Beaver is Bigger

Who says size doesn't matter? I know I'm late on getting around to this, but starting this fall Beaver Stadium will now have the largest capacity of any college football stadium in the country. Don't panic. They're not going to take away two inches of space for you to sit on, so don't go buying that thigh master just yet. Michigan is having to remove seats in order to accomodate the handicapped Wolverine fans.

When the Penn State football team kicks off its 2008 season against Coastal Carolina, Beaver Stadium will be the largest stadium in college football -- at least for the next couple of years.

The nation's second-largest college stadium since 2001, Beaver Stadium will now seat more fans than Michigan Stadium because the Wolverines will add more wheelchair-accessible seating by eliminating other seats. By the 2008 season, Michigan Stadium -- which currently holds 107,501 seats -- is expected to hold 106,201 seats, according to The Michigan Daily. Beaver Stadium holds 107,282 seats.


Yay for disproportionately sized bar graphs!

Devlin Staying Put at PSU

The quarterback battle is starting to heat up. People are choosing their sides. Today the Collegian takes a look at Pat Devlin.

Aside from the 6 a.m. workout sessions, the redshirt sophomore quarterback often throws the ball around with a few teammates when classes are done for the day. As spring practices loom, Devlin said he feels good about his arm and his current status.

Competing for the starting quarterback position is Devlin's focus, and it won't change if Pryor decides to play for Penn State. And despite Clark being next in line for the starting position, Devlin said he has not thought about transferring.

So let's put that nasty rumor to bed. Pat Devlin is going to stick it out at Penn State. I found this quote interesting.

Devlin said he feels he has grown in a lot of areas when it comes to his football ability, like his eating, lifting and workout habits.

Great. Pat has improved in his football abilities like eating, lifting and working out. How about, um, improving your passing ability? Or reading defenses? Or working through your progressions? Is it me or was this not exactly a ringing endorsement for Jay Paterno? Maybe I'm reading too much into things.

The rest of the article is practically a Terrelle Pryor lovefest. Oh by the way, have you heard Pryor is going to announce this week? He says he's down to two schools, but won't say which ones. He does offer this thought on Penn State.

"It's like a country to me," Pryor said. "I don't really dig it."

What the hell does that mean? Was this a misquote? Is he saying we're "like, uh, country", or did he mean we're really like a country? And if we are like a country, which one? Are we more like France or England? Maybe we're like Uzbekistan, all mountains and rocks and that's why he can't dig us. I don't know.

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I see..

us as Switzerland... who knows, so long as we're not the 3rd Reich I could care less. Good to see Devlin is sticking around, I think this kid has a lot of upsides, but my thoughts are only from what ive heard in the rumor mill. Also, like you said, seriously... eating, lifting and training? sounds like Jay's got him working the clean-up shift at the mess hall

For the glory

by lionalum05 on Mar 17, 2008 11:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I find the Devlin quote

encouraging. Many high rated skill kids coming out of high school never had to do much training. The smart ones realize that everyone in college is good and you need to find something that will give you the edge on your competion. It's not about how well you can pass or run the ball in practice. It's how you can do those things late in the game after being pounded for 3 1/2 quarters. It took Austin Scott 4 years to learn it. Had he buckled down after his Freshmen season he may have been the super star we had hoped for.

I'm at ease that Devlin already has the knowledge to read plays, pass the ball and hand off. The key (for him and Clark) will be how fast they can progress with game experience.

by ageing lion on Mar 17, 2008 12:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well . . .

Penn State is like a country? Which means Ohio State is like a what, planet?

This statement along with his holdout kind of makes me think this guy is not going to be a team player.

by CDRS on Mar 17, 2008 2:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

quotes

These guys are just kids (Devlin & Pryor) and who knows what papers decide to print. In HS, I had a 20 minute interview with a local tv station and they chose to run an 8 second clip that was the dumbest thing I said all day.

by 31 on Mar 17, 2008 3:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

you don't have to be

a kid or an athlete for that to happen.

I, personally, don't care for Columbus. I wanted to like it - before I visited, I had an idea of what the town and the campus were going to look like - and I was wrong.

by PSUgirl on Mar 17, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Beaver Stadium has been the biggest since

2001. The only reason their stadium holds more is because they have the least amount of space between numbers on the bleachers in the country. When you look at stadium size and player GPA's, it looks like scUM's academic specialty is inflating numbers.

by Ab4PSU on Mar 17, 2008 5:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A tOSU alumni friend of mine says

that he doesn't want TP to go to tOSU. He said his head's so big they'll have to use the Brutus mascot head as a helmet. That he puts the "me" in team. As long as he stays away from the country of State College, I don't care where he goes. If only half the stuff you read about him is true, he's nuts - totally not Penn State material. We need players who bleed blue and white, not kids who use college as a steppingstone to a potential NFL career. My gut says he's going to UM - TP and RichRod, a match made in heaven.

by NJ lion on Mar 17, 2008 7:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Rivals........

has a big free story on him. Mike Farrell, from Rivals, not MASH, says its either Michigan or Ohio State.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Mar 17, 2008 7:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Soviet Union

Maybe he means we're like the Soviet Union in the late 80s. Old rulers, an incompetent bureaucracy, but still dangerous.

Enter someone who's not Morelli!

by MarkoMancuso on Mar 18, 2008 11:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ooops

I meant early 80s.

Enter someone who's not Morelli!

by MarkoMancuso on Mar 18, 2008 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm...

Mr. Pryor, during this recruiting foray, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about Penn State, and in the way Penn State feels about you. In here, there were four schools killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if Penn State can change, and you can change, everybody can change!

by RoaringSprings on Mar 18, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs