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

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NCAA Expects PSU to Return Bowl Trophies

Posted on August 29, 2012 Written by The Nittany Turkey

(NOTE: the information in this article is incorrect. Please read the correction here.)

I guess we should have suspected that this would happen, but maybe this Turkey couldn’t add two plus two. Channel 21 News, somewhere in the heart of Pennsylvania, is reporting that an NCAA spokesperson confirmed to its news and sports director Jason Bristol that Penn State must return the trophies won during the period of vacated victories to whomever runs the bowls.

So, this will mean that the six bowls that PSU won during that period will have to be erased entirely from the records, or what? Will those years in which the Nittany Lions won two Outback Bowls, two Alamo Bowls, one Orange Bowl, and one Capital One Bowl show up with a blank line on the organizers’ web sites’ listings of winners, or an asterisk, or what? Will the NCAA perform some hasty accounting to make PSU give back its winners share of bowl proceeds for those wins, or is that covered in the $60 million they’re otherwise extracting?

Once again, the players whose glory derived from those bowl wins will be pawns, the memories of fine efforts in bowl games no longer represented by trophies in the lobby of the Lasch Football Building, trophies they could have shown their children and grandchildren on family visits to Penn State.

Man, I’m tired of this. It wears us all down. What a mess!

Enough is enough! At some point this has to awaken the sleeping Popeye being beaten unconscious by Bluto. Pass him the spinach! I am what I am and dat’s all what I am! We are what we are! WE ARE…

…PENN STATE !!!

[the refrain from “Fight on State” plays while spinach can opens and is guzzled by Popeye O’Brien]

Oops. I guess I was daydreaming there. We have to keep a laser focus on the future, says Obergruppenführer Peetz. No one is fighting. Bluto wins. Shame on me for thinking the outrage would finally impel someone to get up off the damn canvas.

One good thing, though: because we don’t get to play Moo U. for the foreseeable future and because the Spartans won last, they get to keep the ugly-ass Land Grant Trophy in East Lansing in perpetuity!

We have to be thankful for small miracles at this point when all the chips are down.

And big thanks to Joe, for pointing us to the original news story.

 

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Filed Under: Penn State Football, Penn State Scandal Tagged With: bowl games, NCAA, sanctions, trophies, vacated wins

100% Pure Cotton — n’wait!

Posted on December 4, 2011 Written by The Nittany Turkey

TicketCity Bowl
TicketCity Bowl

It seems that the beleaguered Nittany Lions (9-3, 5-2 B1G) are headed to the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas to face the Houston Cougars (12-1 8-0 C-USA), who until this past weekend held aspirations of an undefeated season and a BCS invitation, which would have been the first ever for a Conference USA program.

Houston was soundly defeated by Southern Mississippi, home of Penn State’s purported next head coach, maybe, possibly, perhaps, by the score of 49-28. Still, Houston is the nation’s leader in passing yards and total points scored.

Last time in Dallas, Penn State was the victor in the 1972 Cotton Bowl. The stakes are lower now. Penn State also made history in Dallas in 1948 when no hotels would accept the two black players on the Nittany Lions squad. The entire team wound up staying at a Navy facility 14 miles out of town in solidarity with their teammates.

Fortunately, segregation is gone from the South, but unfortunately, many venues were queasy about inviting Penn State to their bowl game. Kudos to the TicketCity Bowl Committee and TicketCity for damning the torpedoes from the ignorant folks who would blame innocent people for molesting children. Jerry Sandusky did the molesting, but I digress passionately.

While the actual Cotton Bowl Classic will be played on January 6 in Jerry Jones’ new $1.3 billion Cowboys Stadium, this this this … game … is situated at the ollllld Cotton Bowl stadium on the Texas State Fairgrounds, which opened in 1930. Fortunately, the facility was extensively renovated in 2008, when the seating capacity was increased to 92,100 — I don’t think we’ll be seeing those seats filled. The record attendance of 96,009 was recorded for the 2009 Red River Rivalry (Texas vs. Oklahoma).

The TicketCity Bowl was first played in 2011 on New Year’s Day. It pitted Northwestern and Texas Tech, and was won by the Wildcats 45-38. Originally the game was to be between the Big Ten and year-to-year alternating opponents from the Big 12 and Conference USA. Alas, when Nebraska and Colorado bolted from the Big 12, the Big 12 became the Big 12-2, and the conference dropped its commitment to the TicketCity Bowl. Thus, it is now just the Big 10+2 and Conference USA.

The payout for this minor bowl is $1.2 million. Penn State had previously committed $1.5 million of Big Ten bowl proceeds to two charities to benefit abused children. Big Ten programs share their bowl revenues.

The TicketCity Bowl will be played on January 2, 2012. Kickoff is at noon (sound familiar, Nittany Lions fans?). TV coverage will be on the backwater of ESPN, ESPNU, maybe even in HD.

Hey, it isn’t the Cotton Bowl, but it is a New Year’s Day game, if you can find it. Its time conflicts with three other Big Ten bowls: the Gator, Capital One, and Outback bowls.

When I went to check the TicketCity Bowl Official Site, it was down due to some capacity issues. I guess we PSU fans were overloading the web servers with “WTF?” questions in mind.

Of course, the Nittany Lions are sucking hind tit this year because of you-know-what. I think people are being ridiculous, especially in view of Penn State’s huge alumni association and large collection of yinzers and such from the Keystone State who don’t mind spending megabucks when they travel. Barely bowl eligible Ohio State (6-6) goes to the Gator Bowl to play the barely bowl eligible Gators (6-6), although I don’t know which stigma is worse, playing in a TicketCity bowl or a TaxSlayer bowl. Michigan (10-2) winds up with a BCS bid to the Sugar Bowl. Nebraska (9-3) gets the lucrative Capital One. OK, so now I’m bitching. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Turkey! At least there was one bowl willing to risk what the others wouldn’t. Damn timid people — lemmings — wouldn’t want to ruffle any deep-pocketed feathers, would they?

 

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Filed Under: Penn State Football Tagged With: bowl games, college football, Houston, Penn State, TicketCity Bowl

Stay away from our bowl, PSU!

Posted on November 25, 2011 Written by The Nittany Turkey

Mike Bianchi
Mike Bianchi

One of the sports columnists on the staff of the Orlando Sentinel, Mike Bianchi, spewed bile and added fuel to the anti-Penn State fire this morning when he wrote a hit piece entitled “Go away, Penn State, we don’t want you in our bowl game.”

Bianchi apparently has nothing better to do, as the NBA lockout has denied him one of the usual outlets for his vitriol, the Orlando Magic.

His premise is decidedly untrue, so I hope his effort to undermine a Capital One Bowl invitation falls flat on its ugly face.

Apparently, Bianchi is incensed that Steve Hogan, Executive Director of the Capital One Bowl stated that if Penn State qualified for the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on January 2, he and his committee wouldn’t hesitate to invite them.  “Until somebody in the Big Ten or NCAA tells us those student-athletes don’t deserve to be considered for what they have done on the field, then we’re going to consider them.”

Bianchi opines that Hogan is just doing his job, in view of the contract between the Big Ten and the Capital One Bowl. If Penn State qualifies, his committee has to invite them. “This is why the Big Ten and Penn State must do the right thing and immediately let it be known the Nittany Lions are pulling themselves from bowl consideration while they deal with the most disgusting, despicable, deplorable scandal in the history of college football.”

“Every time the Nittany Lions step on the field, we don’t see a football team; we see a dark, evil place where countless little boys were allegedly allowed to be sexually molested by a football coach.” —Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel

That’s Bianchi’s opinion, not mine. The scandal has nothing at all to do with the players who will take the field against a pretty doggone good opponent. They would miss out on a great opportunity, not because of their actions, but because of something completely beyond their control. But he has a pat answer for that, too.

I understand the players at Penn State have done nothing wrong, but too bad. It happens all the time in the NCAA: Innocent players are punished years later for the actions of a bunch of cheating coaches, boosters or administrators.

Oh, and suppose the Lions win tomorrow at Camp Randall, and receive a Rose Bowl invitation. You would think that Bianchi would be happy that PSU would be as far away from Orlando as possible without going to the Hula Bowl. But, no, he’s thought about that possibility and still hysterically flails away at Penn State.

Can you imagine if Penn State ends up in Pasadena with the massive baggage and nuclear fallout from the child sex abuse scandal that has already cost iconic coach Joe Paterno his job? All of those sweet-smelling flowers in the Tournament of Roses parade will suddenly stink from the stench of the horrific allegations against Sandusky. And when the commentators talk about “The Granddaddy of Them All”, they will be referring to the scandal and not the bowl game.

Give me a break! But Bianchi doesn’t relent as he goes on kicking our guys when they’re down.

Bowls [sic] games were meant to be gridiron galas — joyous, jubilant occasions where fans from both schools come together for a fun-filled football festival. They were meant to be a celebration of the great sport of college football.

If Penn State comes to town, the celebration turns to castigation. The mere presence of the Nittany Lions will cast a pall over every activity. Even the cheery holiday bowl parade in Orlando will seem more like a funeral march.

Really? When Penn State comes to town, it’s always a great party. We alumni party hearty. In terms of impact to the local economy, Penn State is a godsend for any venue lucky enough to get us and our big bucks. We “travel well.” Bianchi doesn’t particularly care.

There will be no pall. It will be bowl business as usual. This is all about football, fun, friends, and spirit, not about politics, scandals, and child molestation. Sure, we’re all ashamed of what happened between Sandusky and the kids — it was horrendous to find out about it and our revulsion doesn’t compare with what the boys went through. Major steps such as firing Spanier and Paterno having been taken — and I do mean Major — we as alumni still hurt for the kids, and we’ve given a pile of guilt money to NAILL for something we personally didn’t do. Penn State has taught us to be responsible adults.

But I digress. Bianchi still thinks the fans and players need to be punished.

College is supposed to prepare you for the real world. Well, the Penn State football players need to know that in the real world decent, hardworking people sometimes lose their jobs in this economy because of situations beyond their control. This scandal is bigger than a football team. Even though the players are pawns, they still represent a university where the coaches and administrators appear to have covered up the atrocious allegations against Sandusky just so they could protect the football team’s brand. Penn State’s name is now toxic in the minds of most Americans. Every time the Nittany Lions step on the field, we don’t see a football team; we see a dark, evil place where countless little boys were allegedly allowed to be sexually molested by a football coach.

Bianchi’s concluding paragraph rubs it in some more. Americans are far less close-minded than he thinks. Most Americans do not consider Penn State’s name toxic; I give them more credit for their intelligence than that, unlike media hacks like Bianchi, who would like to sway them toward his simplistic black-and-white characterization. Most Americans know that the scandal was the work of a few bad seeds, some in very high places, but they do not punish the graduates of the institution for their association with the school. I have to wonder whether Bianchi would vilify the Gators or the Seminoles in a similar situation.

I live in the Orlando area. Bianchi doesn’t speak for the local citizenry. Typically, he just pisses them off. His bio includes the statement,  “If I write something that’s wrong, just remember this quote: ‘Doctors bury their mistakes, sports columnists print ours.'” Yeah, Bianchi, you’ve done it again — you’ve printed yet another mistake. I hope your email in-box melts down.

In any case, Bianchi is pissing in the wind. The bowl committees don’t really give a damn about what he has to say. They’ll observe their contracts and follow the money, as they always do.

You can email Bianchi at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.

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Filed Under: Penn State Football, Penn State Scandal Tagged With: bowl games, college football, Mike Bianchi, opinion, Penn State, scandal

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Whodat Turkey?

The Nittany Turkey is a retired techno-geek who thinks he knows something about Penn State football and everything else in the world. If there's a topic, we have an opinion on it, and you know what "they" say about opinions! Most of what is posted here involves a heavy dose of hip-shooting conjecture, but unlike some other blogs, we don't represent it as fact. Read More…

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