Billy Paultz Reconsidered

“I have no idea who’ll win this World Series. But for once, let’s not be mealymouthed. We all know who should win it.”
That was Tom Boswell of The Washington Post, in a preview of the 1983, Phils-Orioles World Series. Boswell was right- the Os were the better team, and in that case the better team […]

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Penn State’s start looks a bit different in light of Oregon State-USC, doesn’t it? The Beavers, who killed USC on the line of scrimmage for a half, did not compete for one second in Happy Valley.
Are the Nits in the national picture? We’re about to find out. I see a big night for Daryll Clark.
Penn […]

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The following post to the web site newslanc.com (Motto: “Break free from the monopoly press!”) came in reaction to my feature last week on McCaskey High School athletics…
An implication of the Sept. 21st Sunday News article “McCaskey’s Challenge” was that McCaskey High School’s teams are performing so poorly because the players are subject to all […]

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The Owls probably have the best defense the Lions have faced so far (although, like so many statements that apply to this season, that’s not saying much has to be appended).
Penn State has been clinical so far, laughing off the off-field issues and maybe even using them. There’s an “us-against-the-world,” feel to this. Doubt the […]

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I somehow missed this, which happened late Friday, until today (Monday). “David Foster Wallace, writer of dark, manic irony, has committed suicide…” Reading that made air rush from my gut. It was as if I’d lost someone from my own family, which sounds ridiculous and celebrity-obsessed, like those simps who make a annual vacation of going […]

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We are live from the fabulous Doubletree Hotel in Syracuse, where the Nittany Lions are ready to turn the Orange into juice.
It’s my first time in the Cuse, which seems like a decent mid-sized city. Hard to get a good taste of it last night, since the downtown area was largely blocked off for the premiere of […]

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Completely forgot to do this yesterday, so we’re live from Happy Valley. Although rain is expected later, the weather’s pretty nice right now, just cloudy, hardly any rain up here all day. That means OSU should be able to throw the ball, and pass defense is likely a vulnerable area for Penn State. On the […]

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Remember when the ACC added  Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami and was supposed to become a Super League?
The Super League went 7-4 on week one, and exactly one of the wins was against a BCS foe, and that was Baylor. The rest came against  Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, Delaware (barely, by Maryland), James Madison, Kent […]

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Two of my favorite journalists are Michael Kinsley and Christopher Hitchens, Kinsley because of his calm, relentlessly logical parsing of bullcrap, and Hitchens because he’s almost always either brilliant or hilariously insane or both.
Anyway, each of them has a fine dissection of campaign nonsense currently on Slate. Kinsley on John McCain making lack of experience […]

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