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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Home 2011 Archives for August 2011

Archives for August 2011

Stephfon Possibly Out; Fera Suspended

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As we close in on the Nittany Lions’ opening game, a couple of suspensions could get in the way. Well, not in the way of winning against Indiana State, but remember that on Week Two the Lions’ opponent will be Alabama, to whom Sports Illustrated  has given the #1 on da cover kiss of death this season. Surely, both of the suspensions, namely RB Stephfon Green and P Anthony Fera, will be detrimental to the PSU effort in that game.

At Media Day, Joe Paterno said that he “doubted” whether Stephfon Green would be coming back.

He should know. That sounds pretty much like a typical Paterno response when he throws someone off the team but doesn’t want to say so. Green has been known to be in Joe’s infamous doghouse for a while. Problem is, now how will we celebrate Christmas without Redd and Green on the team together? And who will back up and supplement Silas Redd?

Oy, so this we need in addition to the much ballyhooed quarterback controversy? (This Turkey prefers the term quarterback competition to quarterback controversy. The actual controversy is usually among a bunch of fat old guzzlers sitting at a bar each asserting which quarterback is better when a short lived fight breaks out, quenched when the bartender reminds them that they’re over 65, that they all have heart conditions, and then “cards” them just to prove it. Medicare card, not draft card — oops, I mean driver’s license. I’m showing my age. Hey, I’ve got a Medicare card. But I digress.)

Anthony Fera, the first string punter, had an off-field incident, the kind involving booze and people who don’t have enough brains to let their friends who are of age buy it for them. This, of course, means that Fera is an idiot. It is this Turkey’s hope that the multiple game suspension plus the $700 or so in fines and costs will drum some smarts into his damn kicker head. (You know, with all the ethanol our federal government pays corn farmers to produce, surely they could give free corn liquor handouts to needy punters.)

Sophomore Alex Butterworth will fill in for the shamed punter. Alas, Butterworth isn’t all that great. Last year as a freshman, he punted 12 times for an average of 38.1 yards. That’s what happens when you are born to a lady who is made of glass and filled with syrup.

So, I’m overdue for a pre-season pontification. I’m kind of like Phil Grosz of BWI — if any part of my prediction turns out to be true, I brag that “I was right!” next year; if it’s all wrong, I don’t talk about it at all. I’ll get around to posting some thoughts on another mediocre season ahead (that’s a hint — you may quote me on that) shortly, after I read everyone else’s sanguine projections and stop laughing. Now, who amongst you thinks Penn State will beat Alabama in Beaver Stadium? Tawk amongst yaselves. Discuss.

Maybin Ousted at Buffalo

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The Buffalo Bills gave up on trying to teach former Nittany Lion Aaron Maybin how to be a linebacker after two years, setting him free to pursue other interests outside of football.

Logitech Revue Epilog

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Last week I told you to go forth and buy yourself a Logitech Revue with Google TV. This week, I’m telling you: Not so fast! Here’s why.

I noticed that the sound is not a straight pass-through from the satellite/cable box to the receiver. Recall that the Revue box sits between the cable/satellite receiver and the AV receiver or preamp, with HDMI connections to both. The problem is that what starts as Dolby Digital 5.1 at the satellite/cable receiver often is output by the Revue as analog multichannel or PCM multichannel 2.1, at least in my case. This is apparently a flaw that has affected enough Revue users to be easily searchable via Google.

If you do the search, once you start reading the results, you’ll see that people have been complaining about this flaw since December 2010, but Logitech has yet to fix it. In fact, they’re not talking about it in public or even acknowledging that it exists. The situation is a mess because different AV receivers seem to do different things with the PCM output. People are suggesting all sorts of workarounds involving using the S/PDIF output to the receiver and the HDMI output to the TV, but avoiding that kind of awkwardness is why I went to an AV receiver with multiple HDMI inputs in the first place. Furthermore, I spent enough money on seven speakers for a home theater that I don’t feel like being told “you can’t do dat”.

As it stands, the Revue will be relegated to duty as an Internet interface for the TV, outputting its signal via an alternate HDMI input directly to the TV so AS can play Scrabble and torment her Facebook buddies without bringing the laptop downstairs. I cannot leave it in-line between the satellite receiver and the AV receiver for much longer without getting pissed off when I have no surround sound for NFL games.

I wonder whether Logitech reduced the price to $99 knowing that this problem existed. Perhaps they are not responding to comments about it because they intend to fix it in Release 2.0 — new hardware, which they might or might not ever put on the market due to the lukewarm response to the original device. So, they piss me off even if they do market the mythical machine.

It has been reported that there is degradation in picture quality, although I haven’t observed any myself, perhaps because of my old eyes.

I know that this issue is not deal killer to many of you, but for those who I led astray with my kudos, I humbly apologize.