Wednesday: The Pete Rose reality show; New crew chief for Carl
The Big 3 for Wednesday:
(1) PETE ROSE APPARENTLY IS GETTING HIS OWN REALITY SHOW. Here are the details. I’d totally watch it if it was Pete sitting at a table with one of those colored visors on and sheets of stats strewn across the table as he handicaps the evening’s baseball games and makes wagers. Alas, that doesn’t seem to be the theme. The working title: “Pete Rose and Kiana Kim Family Project.” Says Rose: “We’re just a normal family with 4,200 hits.” Don’t forget to pay your taxes on the royalties, Pete.
(2) CARL EDWARDS HAS A NEW CREW CHIEF. Bob Osborne has been replaced by Chad Norris as crew chief for Carl Edwards in the Roush Fenway Racing Sprint Cup entry. Osborne, who’s leaving because of undisclosed health reasons, will remain with the organization as a senior member of the organization’s management team and steering committee. More details here.
(3) KELVIN JACKSON IS OUT AS MARTINSVILLE BOYS BASKETBALL COACH. Robert Anderson has the details here. “All I know is they’re not going to recommend that I be the coach next year,” Jackson said. “I guess they just want to go in a different direction. We had had some discussions prior to this, and it wasn’t a surprise.”
WEDNESDAY HEADLINES: Penn State says it will respond within days to the NCAA’s demand for information as the governing body decides whether the university should face penalties…Jeremy Lin signs with Rockets…Youkilis hits three-run homer to lead White Sox to win at Fenway…O’s lose to Twins again…British Open tomorrow morning: Who you got?
NAME THAT TUNE
Afternoon in the homeroom
They’re about to let you go
And the locker slam
On the plan you had tonight
You’ve been messin’ around with a boyfriend
Maybe better left alone
There’s a wise guy that you know
Could put you right
In the lot the boy that’s idling by
Doesn’t rev your heart
‘Cause it’s only lonely spots
He shares with you
And long halls and the gray walls
Are gonna split apart
Believe it or not
There’s life after high school
July 18, 2012 - 8:11 AM
Emmert said all options are on the table for Penn State and that includes the death penalty. The only thing the NCAA can nail PSU is the “lack of institution control” penalty, but that’s pretty much it.
Anyway, last night, I spent a couple hours having a good laugh reading through the blog briefing the week of Tech/Miami game. That was one of the blog best weeks. Squirrel gone wild…Bandgate…coach getting fired for taking his players to the graveyard after a loss. The highlight was The Drive against Miami that rocked Blacksburg to Enter Sandman with 30 seconds left in the game. If y’all need a good laugh, go back to that blog week. It was so hilarious to re-read through all the posts. I also watched the Final Drive on YouTube and I saw that Thomas had the eyes of the tiger on that final drive. It was something to behold.
I seriously am starting to think there will be no Penn State football this year. Probably looking at a one year ban. Navy has an open week so it is possible UVA could pick them up. I really think the NCAA will come down hard on Penn State. Even if there is no rule for this type of situation they will make one just for the outrageous behavior of all involved.
The total lack of contrition on the part of university leaders is appalling.
There have been repeated reference to the Baylor basketball murder case as a precedent for the NCAA’s decision to handle Penn State. However, the Big 10 are also considering some form of punishment.
I think Thor’s hammer is about to be borrowed…
I don’t know that the death penalty is what Penn State needs. They need to be left helpless, like the victims. I think it’d be great to have about a 10 year post season and TV ban, along the lines of how long this took place.
Shutting it down for a year, seems less painful than dragging it out for a long time and making it irrelevant for a very, very long time.
I don’t understand why you think it’s a total lack of contrition. They commissioned the Freeh Report and ensured that it was going to be completely unbiased. What more could they do??
I’m tired of the ‘witch hunt’ mentality that has primarily been fostered by ESPN. The NCAA rulebook exists to ensure that a team doesn’t gain an unfair competitive advantage due to a rules violation. The Penn State situation was a CRIMINAL matter, not an NCAA rule matter. Nobody on today’s team gained a single drop of competitive advantage due to the conspiracy that occurred there in the past decade. The people who broke the law are all either (a) in prison, (b) facing charges, (c) expected to face criminal charges (Spanier), or (d) dead.
At this point, any football ‘death penalty’ would only hurt the surrounding community. Stipping central PA of the money that is infused into the economy would bankrupt entire communities. Communities that are completely innocent in this mess. I grew up 45 minutes from State College, along a main highway into the campus. A fall without football would almost certainly bankrupt 3-5 restaurants and at least 1 hotel in my hometown. What did those folks do to deserve this?
Add to that the economic impact felt by the communities at opposing schools that are scheduled to host Penn State this fall, including Charlottesville, which has already sold out its game and will likely see an influx of thousands of out-of-town fans for the game on Sept 8. Many of those fans would simply not bother coming if UVA is forced to reschedule vs. a FCS team to fill the hole in its schedule. That directly impacts local businesses in Charlottesville and along I-81 in Northern VA.
It’s ridiculous. For those who haven’t been to State College since this news broke, you simply don’t get it. The entire community has grieved for the past year, and the outside world continues to pile on. Penn State students and community members host the largest campus charitable event in the world (google “Thon at Penn State”) and have given millions to causes over the years. The entire community is saddened and dismayed.
Give the vindictiveness a rest.
This is grieving? (Warning: salty language on that link.) I realize that isn’t the whole student body, but the ones who aren’t blind need to stand up and be heard a little more loudly. Blaming ESPN — now THAT’S ridiculous.
The British Open will have a bunker mentality this week. Over 200 hundred of them to be almost exact. These are not your up and down sand save gimmes traps we see over here. These things are huge. John Daly could disappear in some of them. Hard to predict the winner because of the weather. Darren Clarke won last year because he had luck of the draw for 3 days-especially Saturday. I don`t really think he was the “Champion Golfer of the Year”. Just to predict somebody so I`ll at least be in the running for the ACC Media Day T shirt prize, I`ll go with Zach Johnson. He`s hot, hits it straight and can putt.
I’m sorry but 10 practically-anonymous tweets by 18-year olds will not change my mind on the Penn State topic. Any time a scandal happens in a community of over 1 million people, it is easy to find a handful of loudmouthed outliers. While these punks are tweeting & playing video games, waiting to get drunk at a tailgate, the surrounding community and Penn State community has been busy working in more a constructive manner.
Just last week, the PSU football team raised over $100,000 through a charity event: http://newsok.com/amid-freeh-report-fallout-penn-state-players-raise-money-for-charity/article/3692357
I’m not blaming ESPN for the scandal itselt, but they (and the outside media in general) continue to only look for news that fits their own theme and spin. And they overlook anything that doesn’t. The same thing happend here after the VT shooting — outside media came in and attempted to make President Steger the scapegoat, and locals were offended.
Disagree, Rick H.
Being shut down for one, or even two, years has repercussions far beyond being left “helpless” for 10 years. The football team is still getting money for playing games, and donations, during those ten years – even if they are losing television revenue and revenue from playing in the post season.
For each year the program is shut down, Penn State’s athletic department will lose just over $63 million of their $106.6 million in revenue. The athletic department, as a whole, generated $49 million in profit. Two years of operating at a $14 million loss will do a lot more than ten years of losing television money while still generating revenue from the football team. That lost revenue will affect all 30 of Penn State’s varsity sports, including football. It would be damaging enough that it could take years for Penn State to recover, akin to SMU.
That said, I think the NCAA needs to stay out of this. Yes, there was lack of institutional control but considering the NCAA seems unwilling to investigate ACADEMIC FRAUD at UNC and what the federal government can do to Penn State for violations of the Clery Act are far more damaging whereas anything the NCAA does will punish players, and coaches that were never involved and will ultimately punish Penn State’s 29 other varsity sports…
@Rick H, you and I think alike. I was thinking that Penn State should not be allowed to participate in the postseason to the number of victims that have been assaulted at PSU.
@RP, I hear what you are saying. Let me ask this, did you think that ESPN and others were committing “witch hunts” when USC-West was being investigated for fraud and impermissible benefits years after the fact? Was there a witch hunt when Tressel was finally caught after lying and covering up for his players? Again, the Baylor basketball program was hammered with severe sanctions for a crime that occurred and a coach’s cover up about the crime.
I think this whole thing have exposed the cult of football worship and how it blinds people to the “dark side.”
Now, UNC is still being investigated for the same academic fraud that hit the football program. It may involve the 2005 and 2009 basketball championship teams. My head hurt from reading the report from Yahoo! Sports.
It would be great to see any one of at least a dozen different golfers win THE Open. Zach Johnson would be a good one. I’ll toss in Rickie Fowler as my choice, just because it would be so newsworthy. Plus, it would cause thousands of proper British parents to have to purchase bright orange ball caps for their pre-teen sons. What could be cooler than that?
@ Trevor — The USC & OSU violations both involved clear NCAA RULES INFRACTIONS. Improper benefits to players and academic cheating both directly helped those football teams gain competitive advantages, impacting their recruiting and letting players that would otherwise have been ineligible compete (and win) for their teams. Nothing at Penn State was related to a player or helped the team gain a competitive advantage, which is what the NCAA rulebook is designed to prevent.
As Donald mentioned above, the NCAA needs to stay out of this. Their rulebook simply does not comprehend this type of ILLEGAL activity, and their “clown court” approach to cases (complete lack of historical precedence, taking each case on an ad hoc case-by-case basis, with none of the safeguards afforded by the court system) is not cut out for this type of case.
Baylor may most resemble the PSU case, but the largest penalties in Baylor were against the coach. It’s not necessary here; the coach is dead. Also, Baylor involved PLAYERS. Penn State did not. It’s not an NCAA issue.
Adult Education…Hall&Oates
RP — It’s actually more than 40, and they’re Facebook posts so they’re not anonymous, but I understand what you’re saying about the few bad apples. It just seems, from the riots in the fall to this kind of stuff this week, that too many people in State College feel they’re somehow victims here. The formal response of the university leadership expected in the next few days will speak volumes; I’ll withhold my opinion on the university’s stance until that’s released. But I think we can agree those students are a joke and give the school they supposedly love so much a bad name.
Were you trying to stay with a PA theme right down to the name that tune by the PA duo of Hall & Oates? I believe the song is Adult Education.
Anyone else here think that Bob Osborne’s health might be significantly better if Carl Edwards hadn’t seemingly vanished this NASCAR season? And to think, the faux shock NASCAR folks had when Tony Stewart changed crew chiefs after winning the title. The guy he beat by one point has the same result, only with 3 less wins, and a lot more poor performances this season. I’d say Jack Roush must have ‘given the flu’ to Osborne, causing the change.
Absolutely. And frankly, the Board of Trustees and current Pennsylvania governor both need to resign over their roles in the scandal. But the larger community has suffered enough for the dispicable actions of a few, and those few are all going to get what they deserve.
There are times when football can be a way for the community to heal and grow after a difficult time. It happened in Blacksburg in September 2007. I think the same could happen at Penn State if the new administration “gets it” and decides to use it as a platform to help victims and charities, and to speak out against that type of abuse. Only time will tell whether they choose to do so or not.
I sincerely hope that Pete Rose never makes the Hall of Fame while he is alive. I hope that for the game of baseball more than anything else. I always admired him while he played, but then, people admired Joe Paterno up until a year ago.
If you want to see what Pete Rose’s life is like now, and what his spin on his life continues to be, and why he will never deserve to live to see himself in Cooperstown, watch this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt65UxXjj7o
RP, fair point. There are some sport writers who agree with you. The DOE is involved, the Big 10 is involved, and so is the NCAA.
It stinks all around.
Pete Rose would be fun on the Celebrity Apprentice
Adult Education it is. Catchy tune, weird video. Oates is particularly creepy in it.
Oh, as for the Baseball Hall of Fame – IMO the only one that matters, like the All Star games – Put Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on that list, too. I can’t wait (SARCASTIC) for all the backtracking sycophantic justifications that come up for Barry and Rog being included.
I could list others, but those are the obvious ones, and the ones the most excuses will be made for when voters ignore their pharmaceutical actions.
Jay Bilas had a good article on ESPN.com. While I don’t always agree with him, he stated that the NCAA has no business interfering. With that said, he opined that if they want to bring up “institutional control”, they should suspend the powers that be like they do a coach who violates NCAA rules. Let’s say 5 years. Then, if the nimrods want to get back into administration, make the new institution “show cause” for say 8 years. This will effectively end their careers which should happen anyway. Let’s see if a college president has the cohones to slam a cohort with a “death penalty” for his actions.
I think Marshall is probably the best example of how football can rally an entire community. I am not so sure it can for Penn State. There are Paterno apologists who still defend him, and there are those Penn State supporters who are outraged. Whatever happens, Penn State is going to have a long time before the stink are eventually removed.
My opinion re: putting Pete Rose, Bonds, Clemens, etc in the HOF is much like that re: the Joe Paterno statue at PSU. Personally, I dislike simply shunning them and pretending they didn’t play and weren’t great players. But at the same time, you can’t deny their bad actions. Take the good with the bad, and perhaps induct them without allowing them to speak at the ceremony.
For Rose, I would include him, list his accomplishments, and state on the plaque that he was a gambler who bet on baseball and was ultimately banned for life by the commissioner.
For Bonds, I would include him, list his accomplishments, and state on the plaque that he was charged with perjury and was implicated in the Balco scandal, involving alleged performance-enhancing drug use.
I’d do the same thing for the other great players that used or were implicated in steroid use.
As for Paterno, I would move the statue to a different area on campus, list his accomplishments and records on one plaque, then do something to acknowledge his culpability in the scandal (and perhaps honor the victims) in another plaque nearby. Again, taking the good with the bad, without trying to pretend that it didn’t happen.
@JJ, the powers that be at Penn State are all either fired, in jail, or waiting trial and likely headed to jail. Not sure what else the NCAA could do to them — they’ll never get another job. (Administrators, unlike elite coaches, are fairly common and easy to replace — there’s no market for them and they’re not ‘scandal-proof’.) That gets back to my original post above.
Wow so a football player selling his jersey to make a few extra bucks to live on is enough for the NCAA to sanction a program but a football programming hiding criminal actions should be overlooked? RP you seriously must be joking?
The actions that took place at Penn State happened because of a sick individual. Those actions continued to happen and went unreported because of the football program and the football is god culture supported by the school. Universities need to be tought a lesson here and pretending that athletics has nothing to do with the situation is not the way to deliver that message.
You guys think VT is crazy about football but you have no idea. At places like Penn State, football is the reason for existence. To think they would use football to heal is rediculous. They are Penn State.
RP, that argument is exactly what the trio is hoping. They want to be in the Hall, period. You could script anything you want on their plaque, they do NOT care. They could still say they are a HoF’er, and that rewards their twisted betrayal of the game in their minds.
As I said, the apologist arguments will be quite interesting in the coming months. I don’t see ANY of the sycophants for Pete, Barry or Roger eager to discuss Shoeless Joe Jackson. Everybody always has a good excuse for their sports heroes being enabled when they act dishonorably, but are silent on others.
After reading some opinions and mine, I think PSU deserves to be hammered hard.
At the heart of this issue is ethical responsibilities, something that falls in the NCAA’s territory. It’s no different than Nevin Sharpio’s enterprise that is still hovering over Miami like a black cloud. The football program had so much sway and power people were scared to speak against Sandusky. Paterno should have turned him over to the police himself since he commanded that much power. He didn’t. Instead, he whispered during an interview, “I didn’t know what to do.”
I’m sorry, but the community around Penn State should be prepared for the worse and learn how to adapt.
The culture at PSU is no different from that at Tech, or at any number of other schools that play big-time college athletics. And don’t look now, but Beamer is the longest-tenured NCAA coach and is often treated much like Paterno was treated in Central PA. (Not everyone adored the guy — people wanted him fired for years and many thought the university should have moved on as early as 10 years ago.)
The “Football is God” culture is not a university-specific thing. It’s commonplace, and nobody knows how the powers that be at their favorite school would have acted if these acts occurred there. They might try to argue that their school is different and somehow not as bad as the other schools, but it’s hogwash — and not unlike the Penn State fans felt about their school until the facts proved otherwise.
As long as there are billions and billions of dollars pumped into football, there will always be scandals. I don’t see how it will ever change, to be honest.
Those people in the Facebook post remind me of the people cheering when O.J. was found innocent. They have a cause celebre and the facts be damned. I hope one day their kids ask them why they were supporting a man who did a lot for Penn St. but stopped short of doing something which would make those accomplishments pale. Stop Sandusky in 1998. No Freeh report needed. Any man worthy of a statue should have done no less
Oh for the British Open I’ll take Tiger. His last outing was horrible so if he follows his recent pattern he’ll do well this weekend. In his last 5 outings he’s finished, 40th, 1st, 21st, 1st, missed cut. Also earlier this year he finished 1st after missing the cut.
RP I agree with you about the money and scandals but I disagree about other schools. Universities are in existence for the purpose of education. Most school presidents would have acted quickly because they could care less what the football team does. The recent debate at VT over the Stadium Woods issue proves that football is not king in Blacksburg.
You act like this is no big deal. Perhaps you don’t know anyone personally that was a victim of child abuse. Maybe if you did you would understand why it’s important for the NCAA to set a precedence here.
How lucky was UVA that they did not hire Jerry Sandusky instead of Al Groh? Hard to believe so many people still defend Penn State after all this. After all we are talking about our fellow human beings here having their lives ruined so what does that compare to a football season or seasons?
As for the baseball hall of fame Pete Rose belongs and all of the steroid era players do as well. Players from the steroid era deserve to be included but there should be something at the hall discussing how steroids and other PEDs effected baseball. It is way too hard to say who did or did not use steroids now after the fact. Same as with Pete Rose other players gambled and probably still do.
So I took Trevor’s advice and went back to the “Glory Week” of the blog last November. He’s right — this place was rocking. But can anyone explain Comment No. 51? So random. That’s my Nappy!!!!
Hey, Aaron, Brraapp, brrrraaaap!
AM I’m with you on Randy’s comment. Looks like he was giving out some betting tips to someone. All I can say is, whoever was betting on the Colorado School of Mines should find another hobby.
Late to the party again.
The Penn State thing is a problem for the NCAA. Things to consider:
1. The people who enabled Mr. Sandusky to commit his crimes ON CAMPUS where apparently well aware that crimes were being committed.
2. The enablers where at the very top of the food chain of the University and could reasonably be expected to stand-up against criminal acts committed on their comapus.
3. They did not interfere. Why? Because it was FOOTBALL.
4. One has to believe that the university powers would have confronted similar criminal acts committed elsewhere on campus. If not, then the university is more corrupt than even now believe.
5. If FOOTBALL was a protective shield for criminal behavior than the NCAA has a perfect right to investigate and discipline – just as it would if hoops players were shaving points – with the administration’s tacit approval.
Torts and criminal acts are not mutually exclusive. It is entirely reasonable to say that a criminal act can result in a civil wrong as well. The fact that Penn State people did commit crimes and some may yet be accussed and tried does not mean the NCAA should not look at FOOTBALL.
RP is wrong about this.
I do not know what the right penalty will be for their program. I am terrified at how corrupt the institution might be based on how its highest ranking people behaved. The whole thing is beyond my wildest fears.
RP,
What color is the sky in your world? Shut them down. If there was EVER an example of a program run amok (I.e. lack of institutional controll) this is it. I will take it a step further and say Paterno and PSU should be stripped of wins since at least since 01 and probably 98. He was a joke from 98 on and nobody had the cojones to make him step down. The PSU community is grieving? What about the victims and their families? Puhlease……
Oh sorry, Lee Westwood will win The Open
Did someone say football is not king in Blacksburg. Ouch!