The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Archives for September 10, 2008

Get Out, Ed!

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The Colts’ owner, Bill Polian announced that Ed Johnson would be waived Thursday as a result of his drug arrest. While the Colts consider every disciplinary issue on a case by case basis, Johnson essentially had been on probation with the Colts because of his history at Penn State. He screwed up once and he was gone.

He’s pretty much dead meat in the NFL now, unless the Raiders have a spot for him.

Another round of negative publicity for Penn State Football.

See my earlier post about Johnson and read the ESPN story about his dumpage.

Putting Lipstick on Pigs

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I am not one who believes that Barack Obama was referring to Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin when he made his “put lipstick on a pig” comment. I think it was ridiculous for the Republicans to spin it as if it was meant as a misogynistic slur, but I know that the game has to be played that way sometimes and both sides do it.

Let this Mouse get back to the original context in which Obama used the much maligned phrase. He was referring to “change.” I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about “change” from him. He’s now saying, in essence, “My change is better than your change!”, or perhaps more accurately, “Your change is not change at all!”

It was in that connection that he accused the Republicans of espousing conservative economic and social policies, as well as Karl Rove politics. “You put lipstick on a pig… and it’s still a pig!”

It was not a cut-down of Sarah Palin.

“Change” is this campaign’s big rhetorical boondoggle. Obama’s version of “change” is to bring in a Washington old-timer as a VP candidate. What’s going to change? Talking about “change” is not going to change the Way of the Beltway Boys. Meanwhile, McCain says that Palin represents “change” from business as usual, as she is a Washington outsider. Change, change, change! Enough, already!

Biden, McCain, and Obama all have been complicit in the congressional logjam and the expansive spending of the congress. What about that suggests that any “change” is on the horizon? However, McCain has promised to veto spending bills; Obama has only promised to create new ones. The former would indeed be change, whereas the latter is business as usual.

McCain has reached across the aisle in rather graphic fashion to co-sponsor a couple of bills with which I disagree, but he nevertheless reached. Obama has never reached across the aisle for anything, even for a cigar offered by the opposition. Which candidate would be more likely to be a uniter in the White House? Certainly not Senator Obama, with the most liberal voting record of all senators. He would achieve unity with Pelosi and Reid, but not with the right side of the aisle. That’s not the kind of “uniter” we need.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving?

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Ed Johnson, former Nittany Lion and now starting defensive tackle for the NFL Indianapolis Colts, was arrested early Wednesday on a drug possession charge.

Ed’s Penn State screwups are still fresh in most of our minds. You’ll remember Ed from the sexual assualt episode back in 2005. He was reinstated in 2006, but didn’t play in the Outback bowl due to a violation of team rules.

This Turkey thought that Johnson would straighten out his act when he got the stint with the Colts and happened into the starting job when Booger McFarland went down. He was an undrafted free agent, who was lucky to find any interest in him by the NFL and even more fortuitous to get a starting job by happenstance. He has a very supportive coach in Tony Dungy, who is often referred to as a “players’ coach.” Dungy had a talk with Johnson when he was brought on board and thought they had reached an understanding about behavior issues. However, clearly, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Ed had a fine year last year, starting all 16 games and recording 63 tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. He won’t be playing this week for sure, according to Head Coach Tony Dungy, and his future is uncertain.

Johnson was stopped for speeding on I-465 north of Indianapolis. The cops subsequently charged him with both possession of illegal drugs and possession of marijuana. (This Turkey doesn’t know why there were two separate charges, but I guess there is a legal distinction in Indiana.)

“As in any other incident of this nature, it will be reviewed under the league’s substance abuse policy,” league spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “A player’s prior history can be considered in evaluating potential discipline under the program.”

This underscores what I’ve been saying about guys like Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma. First of all, not keeping their noses clean gets them the “character flag” on their NFL scouting report, which alerts teams to character issues and, in the worst case, keeps them undrafted. Then, later on, if they should happen to actually land an NFL job and get into even a minor jam, the league will look back at their college record and brand them as repeat offenders. This does not portend well for the health of their wallets.

Ed’s checkered past, along with the plethora of recent off-field incidents, could impact Penn State players trying to enter the NFL. I hope Penn State is not developing a reputation for producing tainted players, but the more incidents that come to light, the more NFL teams will shy away from Nittany Lions.

Time will tell whether Ed Johnson’s NFL career will survive this incident. If it does, he better reform his ass, or he’ll be gone for good.