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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Why He Resigned the Paterno Chair

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Michael Bérubé held an endowed chair in literature at Penn State, one that was funded by and named for the Paterno family and which Professor Bérubé recently resigned. He leads into his essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education with the following:

I don’t need to explain why I resigned the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature at Pennsylvania State University, do I? I mean, really. It was the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature. That’s all you need to know.

Except that’s not all you need to know. And much of what you think you know is wrong.

“The Sandusky scandal is a criminal matter. It is not an opportunity for those of you who hate college football to opine about the evils of college football.”  —Prof. Michael Bérubé

Read it. I guarantee you that it will get your blood pumping like an oil rig. You won’t regret it.

I won’t write a bunch of my drivel here, for Bérubé needs no help from me. Read it!

I can promise you that he hits on just about everything you would hope that he hits on, including that vindictive witch, Vicky Triponey:

And I have watched in amazement as Vicky Triponey, a former vice president for student affairs who became infamous in some circles at Penn State for eliminating the right of students to have a say in what groups are recognized on campus, remade herself as “the Woman Who Stood Up to Paterno” (to cite a CNN.com headline from July 2012). If you never heard of Triponey until she began to take her sweet revenge on Paterno, you don’t know how surreal it is for many of us to see the woman who tried to cut funds from the student radio station—for its criticisms of the university administration, some students charged—being touted as the brave whistle-blower who lost her job for crossing the football coach.

Ya gotta love it!

Thanks to reader zbeard for pointing us toward Bérubé’s article.

 

Football Culture at Ohio State

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I obviously have a pre-game pre-preview to write prior to the Northwestern game, but here is something that caught my eye that will provide amusement for your soporific Friday afternoon while battling the clock of go-homeness. Meanwhile, I have a boat trailer to assemble; after that and a trip to the post office, I’ll be back with some serious (ok, ok, not so serious) Homecoming Edition takes on the forthcoming NWU contest.

But for now, savor this little tidbit. CAN YOU SAY IMMINENT TRANSFER TO UNC? PHANTOM AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES CLASSES URGENTLY NEEDED!!!!

It seems that a certain true freshman quarterback at Ohio State has been refreshingly candid on Twitter about how he thinks Dr. Gordon Gee should run his institution, to wit:

Tell it like it is, Cardale!

Well, then. That pretty much sums it up.

Here’s the take on young Cardale, straight from Brutus’ mouth:

Overview: Cardale Jones initially signed his national letter of intent with Ohio State in February 2011, but with the plan of delaying his enrollment and attending Fork Union Military Academy in the fall, which he did this past season and where he roomed with 2012 Ohio State recruit Michael Thomas … he was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 12 prep school player in the country in 2011 … he led perennial northeast Ohio power Cleveland Glenville to a 24-3 record as a starting quarterback … passed for 1,689 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior in 2011 for coach Ted Ginn and was named third-team Division I all-state by the Associated Press … threw for 2,168 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior in 2009, and he also had 14 career rushing touchdowns … was the MVP of the 2010 Offense-Defense Bowl, and he also played in the Big 33 Game … a basketball letterman at Glenville … Cardale is the son of Florence Jones … he enrolled at Ohio State in January 2012.

What do you want to bet that when the Urban spin doctors get their hands on this, it will be written off as a prank? Or it was his dumbass baby brother who wrote dat after stealing Cardale’s phone. Yeah, that’s it!

I mean, we ain’t come to PLAY SCHOOL!

Whassup, muthafucka!?!

And “Fork Union” Military Academy? FORK UNION? That’s made up, right? Fork U! Anyhow, they apparently didn’t succeed in enhancing this kid’s maturation by sending him to ol’ Fork U. Masturbation, maybe, but certainly not maturation.

At least PSU sent Chris Fenis to Kiski, a name that no one can make fun of.

This tweet has certainly gone viral by now, so it will be interesting to watch the fallout. Amen.

Changing the football culture

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Oh, yeah. The more the football culture changes, the more it remains the same. The hypocrites at the NCAA really outdid themselves with their mandate to change the dreaded football culture at Penn State.

“Still, six coaches on a private jet provided by a car-dealer booster and a desire to helicopter a seventh off a cruise ship: this is how the NCAA is changing Penn State’s, and America’s, ‘football culture.'” —Mark Wogenrich, themorningcall.com

Sure, Emmert exacted sanctions upon the Nittany Lions that would somewhat force a lessened role for football in relation to academics, but in doing so, gave other schools the impetus to take a quantum leap in fortifying their own football cultures, which are growing like bacteria in a Petri dish.

Illinois sent a cadre of coaches to State College to let it be known that Illinois would provide a safe haven for any PSU player who wanted to transfer. Meanwhile USC, still on probation, unleashed its entire arsenal in pursuit of one player: Silas Redd. Big donors, private jets, emergency meetings — they spared no expense. The staid, conservative folks in State College never knew what hit them.

Mark Wogenrich of Nittany Lines provides details of the USC pursuit game, which was all legal under the sacrosanct NCAA rules.

Players are leaving Penn State to advance their careers, not because Penn State has sanctions against it. Well, that’s what Former Nittany Lion wide receiver Graham Zug Tweeted, anyhow. Not much of a difference there. The sanctions make these guys less visible to the honchos at “the next level”, and the sanctions also enable them to transfer to more visible (read “winning”) programs with impunity. I can say a lot about team spirit and sticking together, but these young guys have a life they’re just starting, and they must make decisions now that will affect them over the next 50 years. It’s easy to sit on one’s ass and pontificate about them being traitors, but we all have to look out for our own interests sometime!

Practice begins Monday, so the transfers are likely to abate for a while. At the end of this most interesting season, we’ll undoubtedly be touching on this subject again. A major exodus of experienced talent with remaining football eligibility could be forthcoming at that point.

But I digress, as usual.

A Sunday article by Ivey DeJesus of the Patriot-News asks the big question: Does the university’s football culture need to change? The Freeh report demanded it, as you know, and the NCAA in the personage of president Mark Emmert reiterated that demand. But DeJesus writes:

A change agent for a university like Penn State and others like Tennessee, Alabama and Michigan, where football is pre-eminent, is more likely to be a streak of losing seasons and the loss of football luster, as opposed to dictates from independent authorities.

That’s right. There’ll be no revolutionary changes if the guys on the field do their job and the coaches do theirs. That’s what they’re hired to do. (The coaches, anyway. *bites tongue*) However, at this juncture for Penn State, the NCAA has created an epic fail scenario for the football team for perhaps up to a decade. Will the students, alumni, and fans weather the storm and come out stronger, or will their actions (i.e., half-filling the 108,000 capacity stadium) dictate that the program be formally de-emphasized?

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