Billy Paultz Reconsidered

  I was ready to pick the Buckeyes 4-5 days ago. Then I read and heard some things that seemed designed to sell the Ohio State case but had the opposite effect on me.

I don’t think what each team did last week matters as much as what happened the previous seven. In fact, what happened last […]

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First, the restaurant, the remarkable St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis. Exactly what you’d think a big-city, downtown steakhouse would be, including hundreds of signed celeb photos on the walls, if that sort of thing appeals to you, and more importantly large slabs of perfectly prepared meat. Very, very strong stuff. Even in the current economy/culture, sometimes […]

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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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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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One interesting thing about the Penn State investigation on “Outside the Lines,” was the contrast between what Joe said and what University president Graham Spanier said.
Confronted with the raw numbers - 46 players arrested since 2002, 27 of them found guilty of something - Paterno went into knee-jerk defensive mode, using the word “witchhunt,” several […]

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I wrote this last night during the Barnstormers’ game and then got occupied writing alternate ledes to that 10-9, six-error, 217-minute mess of a game. Random observations while getting ready for the Barnstormers game with Newark at the Clip…
ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” is reportedly planning a look at some of the off-field issues with Penn […]

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The plan for tonight had been to do a full-blown live blog for the all-star game, but there’s a bit too much chaos at chez Gross (involving an ink stain; don’t ask) for that to be practical. So we’ll just watch the game and jump in from time to time.
Meanwhile, in other news:
One of the many excellent […]

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This is from a transcript, provided by Penn State sports information, of JoePa’s press conference before the Blue-White game. The questions are in bold, Joe’s answers in regular type, and my comments in italic. Maybe I’ll do this for every Joe presser during the season…
How has the Blue-White Game evolved since your first Blue-White […]

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More trouble for JoePa: Wide receiver Chris Bell has been kicked off the team after being arrested for threatening another player with a knife Monday night.
University police filed a report on an incident that took place at the Nittany Lion Training Table, the athletic dining room. Bell had apparently threatened freshman defensive end Devon Still, […]

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Now here’s a class I could guest lecture: “Joe Paterno, Communications and The Media.”
Mike Poorman, who conceived the course and will teach it, is an old friend. I don’t think Joe is quite as crafty and calculating in his dealings with us as Mike does. Still, Joe’s been doing what he does, in the same […]

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