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 August 2012

So, what’s up with Sunday BOT meeting?

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The Penn State Board of Trustees plans to meet tomorrow at 5 p.m. via conference call, with a single item on its agenda: to ratify (or reject) the consent decree signed by PSU president Rodney Erickson and NCAA president Mark Emmert agreeing upon sanctions against the university in the wake of the Sandusky scandal.

Rod Erickson
Erickson signed decree without full board approval.

Much speculation surrounds this impending board meeting, not to mention the obvious controversy introduced by several dissenting board members who have challenged the sanctions and written an appeal directly to the NCAA through their high-priced counsel. The dissenters allege that the NCAA should have conducted a thorough, independent investigation instead of merely accepting the Freeh report as written, warts and all, rushing to judgment and punishment of Penn State. They further allege that the full board should have met to consider the proposition, and that Erickson’s signature alone without board approval nullifies the agreement.

Another appeal letter was sent to the board through the same law firm by a group of former Nittany Lions football players and one former assistant coach. The Paterno family has also expressed its intention to appeal the NCAA decision, especially as the sanctions affect their patriarch’s legacy.

Inasmuch as the NCAA has repeatedly stated that the Penn State sanctions are not appealable, the appeals could represent the groundwork for a Federal lawsuit against the NCAA. However, such a course of action would be unlikely to succeed because courts have held in the past that membership in the NCAA is voluntary. To prove that is more than illusory would require an anti-trust suit against the NCAA, and it is doubtful that the USDOJ, at least as it is composed at present, would initiate such an action.

Karen B. Peetz
Chairwoman Peetz wants to move on

So, what appears to be happening here is a preemptive move by the complacent, docile majority on the board to quash an internal rebellion before it gathers steam and before it garners more public awareness and approval, although Board Chairwoman Karen B. Peetz said that she called the meeting “so there can be no misunderstanding as to we as the board stand.” University legal counsel no doubt advised the BOT to approve the consent decree in order to eliminate one major legal flaw upon which appellants could base their claims.

On Thursday, ESPN reported that there had been a contentious conference call among at least 20 board members last Tuesday, during which straw polls were taken. The majority of the trustees polled did not support appealing the sanctions. Although not all of the 32 trustees participated in the call, a quorum was present for the straw votes. According to spokesman David La Torre, the meeting was a closed executive session whose purpose was for trustees to receive a report from university legal counsel and discuss matters with counsel. La Torre did not elaborate further.

So much for government in the sunshine. No notice was given the public about the conference call, votes were taken, and a quorum was present, which might constitute a violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, rendering the Tuesday meeting illegal.

As for Sunday’s meeting, La Torre stated that a live audio stream of the meeting would be available at WPSU.org/live and that an audio file and transcription of the minutes would be posted afterward at www.psu.edu/trustees.

Mark Emmert, NCAA President
Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA countersigned the consent decree.

There are a myriad questions to be answered here. For one, if Sunday’s meeting was called during the course of an illegal board meeting, does it even matter what happens there? I know that is kind of getting into legal technicalities on which I’m obviously unqualified to opine, but we’re all Philadelphia lawyers at times, even those of us who are not from the Philly area and are turkeys.

Peetz is resolute in her position. Dismissing the dissenters’ comments and actions, she stated, “…it is now time to put this matter to rest and to move on. As I said in my opening remarks on Tuesday evening, we need a laser focus on the future of the university. We need to be unified and we need to work together.” Sounds good, sorta.

On the other hand, Maribeth Roman Schmidt, spokeswoman for PS4RS, stated, “Nothing less than a complete and total rejection of the baseless NCAA consent decree will be acceptable when the Trustees meet to vote this Sunday. We view this call for a meeting as an acknowledgment that Rod Erickson did not indeed have the authority to sign it.”

Are we not seeing the forest for the trees? Is there too much concentrating on picayune details and not enough concern for putting the whole mess behind us and getting on with our future? Shouldn’t we be tired of rubbing our noses in this stink?

Coach O’Brien would like all the bickering to stop, so he and the university can get on about the business at hand. Unfortunately, too many people would like to see some loose ends tied up. Peetz and the Board think that having a meeting to rubber stamp approval of the consent decree should do just that. Alas, in the minds of many, it will constitute yet another attempt to accept the Freeh report without closer analysis and kowtow to the NCAA.

Why would a governing body act that way? Hurry up and cover their asses in retrospect and then stick their collective heads back in the sand? Wouldn’t it be in everybody’s best interest if there were indeed checks and balances instead of rubber stamps? Some of the newer trustees think so and so does this Turkey. Does the majority of the BOT really think that Penn State should be steamrolled by a backroom deal between its president and the NCAA? I don’t think so. There must be more here than meets the smell test.

One contingent out there in PSU Alumniland believes that there is a deep conspiracy involving Second Mile, Jer, and some highly placed current and former Pennsylvania government officials. I won’t go into great detail here, because I have no new information, and I’m not sure about a lot of the ambiguous stuff I’ve read. There is surely a lot of far-fetched contriving going on out there. However, it certainly makes me suspicious of involvement of higher levels when the board acts the way it has acted. Sometimes smoke is just smoke, but occasionally, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Remember that the governor is an ex-officio member of the BOT, and this particular governor is the former attorney general of Pennsylvania. Feel free to add two and two and get five. But why would all this hasty action be taking place if everything was on the up-and-up? And when is someone going to start investigating The Second Mile, where potential money tie-ins exist.

Sara Ganim, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at the Patriot News will publish the chronology of The Second Mile in the Sunday edition tomorrow. This Turkey would love to see her continue on the trail. Follow the money, Sara. Pretty please?

I’ve digressed into the shady world of Internet paranoia and The Second Mile. Back to the business at hand. My neuroses won’t be assuaged by a hasty vote of the BOT tomorrow. Nevertheless, let me reel myself in long enough to opine that the BOT will indeed rubber stamp the consent decree tomorrow. Whether that will be the end of the controversy, as Peetz wants, is doubtful.

After I wrote this, I found that Dan Myers had written an editorial for StateCollege.com that is worth reading.

Honey Badger Not Tiger

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Honey Badger
Honey Badger don’t care.

Violating team rules is cause for dismissal from the squad, but Honey Badger don’t care. Heisman finalist Tyrann Mathieu, better known as Honey Badger, done got his ass cut by coach Les Miles of the LSU Tigers, and he better start carin’.

A cover corner — think about it. Let’s consider the idea that he goes to Penn State to bolster a very seriously deficient defensive secondary. That’s a longshot because of NCAA rules that seem to always go against Penn State. He can start playing right away if he moves down to a Division II school, but he would have to sit out a year if he made a lateral transfer. He has two years of eligibility.

Ray Ratto, the San Francisco sports writer, thinks that it is possible that Mathieu could get a waiver to play for Penn State.  But his tweet seemed a bit facetious:

Let’s see if this rumor can get some traction: Tyrann Mathieu to Penn State on special waiver . . . in three . . . two . . . one

Hasn’t seemed to gain much traction.

“We lose a quality person, teammate and contributor to the program.” —Less Smiles

But what about it? Let’s say that such waivers could be arranged. In the past, Penn State’s conservatism would have precluded even looking Honey Badger’s way. What about now? Would having one of the best cornerbacks in the country be enough to offset his flamboyance and free spirit? We don’t know what his violation of team policy was, but it must have been pretty serious for LSU to dump this caliber player. Would Honey Badger want Penn State?

What do y’all think?

No New Uniforms at Media Day

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So, what did you think? The name label makers, label makesses, seamstresses, and seamsters were going to work overtime in order to have the team’s new jerseys ready for display on Media Day, already? Didn’t happen. Yesterday was media day; names and ribbons were nowhere in evidence. It turns out that the new uniforms’ debut will be September 1, the season opener.

“…at the end of the day, whether the names are on the back of the jersey or not, we have to play football. So as much as it is a big story, it’s still about playing football.” —J.R. Refice, FB

The players showed up at the confab looking like… like… like Penn State players. Just like they have always looked. They’re trying to break us in gently, to give us time. This is clearly going to be a traumatic change for many of us who are used to seeing the boringly unadorned sea of blue or white, which stood for hardheaded determinism in coaching, among many other perceived virtues. The players are fine with the changes, both in uniforms and in coaching, but some of us important folks — alumni and fans who make huge donations and pay for tickets — are not amused.

There are a half million alumni (most of whom were at Woodstock) who are split on the so-called simple changes to the uniforms: a name banner on the back of the jersey and a blue ribbon on the front in support of child abuse prevention. To those who oppose the move, this represents something akin to a doctor’s office changing from a manual system to a computerized one — Oy, we’ve been doing it this way for 60 years and it works, so why change it? Progress, my mulish friends, progress.

What’s in a name? Recognition for no-name players who stuck it out with Penn State when the chips were (are) down? You bet. The team made the decision, and coach O’Brien supports it. Here’s what he had to say:

 I’m very respectful of the traditions here. Very respectful. But it’s a new era of Penn State football in many ways, and the reason for the names on the back of the jerseys is, there are a few I want people to recognize the fact that these are kids that are special, competitive kids that care about education, that care about Penn State, and have gone through some tough times over the last year as a team, individually, and they’ve stuck with us. I think that says a lot about these kids, and I want people to recognize these kids. At the same time, I want people to understand that these are the kids that in many ways are going to reach out to the community and help lead this University through the next few years in many different ways in the community. Whether it’s Special Olympics, whether it’s THON, you know, child abuse organizations, all the things that we’re going to do, these are kids that will be part of that, and I want people to recognize it. But again, at the end of the day, to me going into this year, the most important patch on the uniform is the blue patch and blue ribbon that will signify putting an end to child abuse. To me, that is the most important patch on the uniform or wherever we’re going to put it.

However, opponents include another group of people I haven’t mentioned: ex-Nittany Lions players. One of the supposed reasons that there are no names on the jerseys is in recognition of those who had worn each number before the present player. (Cue up Aretha singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T…) Instead of retiring numbers of those who have singularly distinguished the uniform, as in the pro leagues, the number and the memory of those who wore it is preserved as an ongoing, living tribute to past gladiators. So, the player wearing the jersey merely rents it for the time he is wearing it.

But wait? Why stop at just no name on the jersey? Why not require players to play anonymously? Tell them that they’ll be recognized by number and year only. They ain’t no “I” in TEAM. Whassup wit dat?

Nahhhh, clearly I jest. Each generation on the field deserves to have its heroes and an occasional Morelli. We’ll associate their numbers with their names whether or not there’s a name on their back. The bigger the star, the longer we’ll remember the number. However, the average players on each team deserve a little recognition, too, particularly at this inflection point in Penn State history. And so, this Turkey welcomes the change. I’ll even welcome the blue ribbon, which is the penance the players have to bear for the — well, some of us don’t think it’s a settled matter yet — matter involving various entities implicated in the Sandusky scandal, which include lots of suspects, none of which is the football team. Call it a Penn State guilt ribbon if you wish.

But you see, the uniform change means so much more than just adding a name on the back and a ribbon on the front. It means a whole change in football philosophy at Penn State. To Mark Emmert of the NCAA, it can be a symbol of abandoning the old order while capitulating to his draconian sanctions, if that is what he wishes for it to be. He’s a self-interested dick, so it would fit that he takes some credit. More importantly, to Bill O’Brien, it signals a new beginning, as it should be.

If you were to bring in a new coach, hand him the reins to the team, and then tell him what he can’t do with it, you’d be emasculating him from the start. Frankly, I want to see changes. I know we will see changes. Welcome changes on the field. That’s where the important changes will be made, not in the haberdashery department.

For example, how long have you been pining for the Sandusky/Bradley soft cover three prevent BBDB defense to be replaced by something that updates the defensive strategy to the 21st Century? My answer is too damn long! I’m tired of bitching about it season in, season out, ad nauseam. Well, friends, say farewell to that abomination. May it stay behind bars with Sandusky for the rest of his days. We might actually see cornerbacks trained to cover receivers instead of laying five yards off them at all times — maybe even a bump at the line of scrimmage, for a change. Aren’t you looking forward to that?

How about O’Brien’s plans for the offense? “We’re going to play faster,” is what is coming out of everyone’s mouth. Let me once again ask how long you’ve been waiting to see plays run fast enough to confuse the hell out of the defense? Hell, you’d probably be happy just to see plays getting off on time, for a change. The stupid communication system that has caused so many delay of game and false start penalties is out the window. Hallelujah!

It all goes together. If you’re an optimist, you give O’Brien the wherewithal to manage his team, confident that he will do his job well and the changes will make it that much better. If you’re a pessimist, you give him enough rope to hang himself. Either way, he’s got to be given a decent, one-year honeymoon, a free ride during which he can do everything his way and not have firebob.net popping up on Internet searches just yet.

In my mind, repudiation of the uniform change is akin to repudiating O’Brien — the damn new guy on the block wants to change everything! Next thing you know, fans will be demanding that O’Brien wear thick glasses and rolled-up khakis on the sidelines for games. For youse guys, your security blanket will be knowing that Johnson and Vanderlinden will be there on the sidelines as a link to the treasured past, at least for this year. Otherwise, don’t expect a lot of comfortable familiarity in the conduct of the team. It would be much less traumatic for you if you were to embrace the changes. You’ll save what you would have spent on Xanax.

Moving right along, one of O’Brien’s responses to a questioning reporter at Media Day cracked me up. It involved what the coaches were doing to limit defections and keep the roster together.

“There were a lot of individual conversations that I had with individual players; those … things I’ll keep between myself, my team, and those individual players. But again, the common phrases are unity, one team, sticking together, commitment, education, 108,000, TV, a great weight room, chance to develop as a player. So these were things that we spoke to the team quite a bit about.”

Remember that, folks: unity, one team, sticking together, commitment, education, 108,000, TV, a great weight room, …

Anyhow, if you want to read the entire transcript for the press conference, it is on Gopsusports.com.