Monday, Monday.....

A lot of what I like to call the exigencies of real life have been taking place in The Grandstander's world of late, which has caused what is now a thirteen day hiatus from the keyboard.  Lots to catch up on, but let's confine it the the wide, wide world of sports, shall we.....

STEELERS

I never got around to writing a pre-season preview/prediction post for the Steelers (those exigencies I just mentioned), but if I had I probably would have said that (a) the Steelers would win the AFC North Division, (b) that they would be contenders to reach and win the Super Bowl, and (c) all this would be contingent upon Ben Roethlisberger staying healthy and not all of a sudden playing like a 36 year old guy who is reaching the end of the line.

The season has started and in two games they have blown a 14 point lead in the fourth quarter and were tied by the improved but still lousy Cleve Brownies, a game where Roethlisberger turned the ball over five times, and lost to the Kaycee Chiefs 42-37 in a game where it appeared that the North Allegheny High School defense lined up for the Steelers when the Chiefs had the ball.  On the bright side, Roethlisberger turned in terrific performance, so maybe he ain't done yet.  As for the rest of the team....

Only two games have been played, still lots of time, and blah blah blah, but the overwrought drama that seems to always surround this team looks like it MAY be too much to overcome.  The Le'Veon Bell holdout, the petulance (to use a mild term) of Antonio Brown, the mediocrity (to use another mild term) of the entire defensive corps, the Diva tendencies of Roethlisberger, what appears to be an undisciplined coaching staff.....

It's going to make for an interesting season.  Maybe not a good season, but certainly an interesting one.

PIRATES

A week ago, with the Pirates sitting at 69-71 with 22 games to play (against the lousy Reds, Royals, and Marlins; 13 against the good Cubs, Cardinals, and Brewers), I went on The Facebook and offered to bet $2 to the first five people who accepted the bet that they would finish below .500.  Four people took me up on it, and here is where that bet stands, eight games later.

The Pirates have gone 5-3 in that stretch (2-0 against the Lousy teams, 3-3 against the Good teams) and are now 74-74.  They have thirteen games remaining (I am guessing that that postponed game against the Marlins, rescheduled for Monday, October 1, will not be replayed) and need to go 7-6 to finish 81-80.  If they go 4-2 against the Lousies, they need only go 3-4 against the Goods to achieve it.

I figure that there is a good chance that I could be out eight bucks once all is said and done.  Tim, Len, Andy, and Ryan, you maybe shouldn't start making definite plans on how to spend your windfall just yet, but maybe you could think about it.

Oh, and I may also be buying Jim Haller's breakfast in October.

On the other hand, here we are sitting on the edge of our seats wondering if the Pirates can win a mere 81 games in a season.  Kind of pathetic, but you take your thrills as a sports fan where you can get 'em, I suppose.

PITT

Pitt now sits at 2-1 (1-0 in conference).  They defeated a Division II (or whatever the NCAA calls these schools these days) team in Albany, were positively pasted by Penn State 51-6, and held on to defeat Georgia Tech 24-19.

The Penn State debacle was disappointing, not only for the magnitude of the point spread, but for the behavior of Pat Narduzzi.  At the beginning of the game, he went apeshit on his captains for incorrectly calling the coin toss, incurred a personal foul penalty for running on to the field to argue with the zebras, and seemed to heap an inordinate amount of blame on his placekick holder and punter for botching a few snaps.  Yep, a missed extra point here, a botched punt there, pretty soon you lose by forty-five points.

Well, the Panthers did seem to shake it off against Georgia Tech, but they did take a 21-0 lead and had to sweat out a GT onside kick at the end of the game.  As guy in the men's room said to me between the third and fourth quarters, Pitt did everything in their power to make sure that Tech made a game out of it.

Also, Pitt has scored 0, 0, and 3 points in the second halves of each of their three games.  What is up with that?

PENN STATE

Penn State is a good team, maybe even a very good team that will probably contend for the Big Ten title and maybe even for a spot in the CFP.  James Franklin is also a good coach, maybe a very good coach, and perhaps a top echelon college football coach, but here is how I am always going to remember him.

In the final minute of the Pitt game, with a 51-6 lead in a driving rainstorm, Penn State fumbled, Pitt recovered, and Franklin challenged the ruling and had the refs review the play.  Again, there was less than a minute to play and PSU was leading by FORTY-FIVE POINTS.  The ruling was upheld, and Franklin put a sour look on his face.  It was move that totally and completely redefined the term "chickenshit".

As a group, there are few people more unlikable that big time college football coaches.  Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, Dabo Swinney....you know who they are.  You like them when they coach YOUR team, but, objectively speaking, they are hard people to like.

Group photo taken at  recent 

NCAA Football Coaches Convention.

Add James Franklin to the list.   To all my friends and family out there who are Penn State fans, I don't necessarily want to see the Lions lose, but I sure would love to see James Franklin get dealt a big heaping helping of humility somewhere along the line.

ROBERT MORRIS

Yeah, I don't talk much about Robert Morris football on here, and with good reason these past few years.  The Colonials have a new head coach this year, Bernard Clark, who has to rebuild a program that has really been in the dumper these last few years.  They are 1-2, and on Saturday they were pasted by James Madison University, 73-7.  JMU is a powerhouse, but, still, it looks like a tough road ahead for Clark and his Colonials.  It should also be noted that this rout by JMU was led by the quarterback transfer-from-Pitt, Ben DiNucci.  So, good for DiNucci.

A No Football Weekend

No Pitt football yesterday, no Steelers football today.  Talk about a lost weekend, but it prompts some Random Thoughts from The Grandstander.....

At the beginning of the season, you would certainly signed up for a 6-2 first half of the season from the Steelers, although you would have never predicted that those two losses would be to the Bears and the Jaguars.  Still, with five of the remaining games at home, the schedule looks to be much in the Steelers favor, to the extent that a twelve win season looks to be attainable.

One thing that needs to be reversed in this second half is better, and I hate to use this term, Red Zone Production.  How many times have the Steelers been in First and Goal situations and have had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns?  Seems like about a million times, right?  That trend really needs to change.

I am also concerned about Ben Roethlisberger's performance this year.  It's not that he's been bad (throw out that freak five interception game aberration against Jacksonville), but he has just appeared to be just a bit "off" from his past seasons' capabilities.  One can hope that he can shake it off, but there is a fine line between being great and being ordinary, and perhaps at age 35 and in his 14th NFL season, Ben has come up to that line.  He spoke of retirement after last season, and maybe the end is coming.  Steelers fans can hope that both he and the team can summon in all up over these last eight games and make a run to the Super Bowl, which I predicted and I will stand by that prediction here at the halfway mark.

********

Pitt now sits at 4-6 and needs to go 2-1 (North Carolina, @Virginia Tech, Miami) in order to go 6-6 and be bowl eligible.  Personally, at this point in the Narduzzi Era, I was hoping for more than merely scraping to go 6-6 and getting an invitation to some WhoCares Bowl.  I was also disappointed to see that Pat Narduzzi found it necessary to take a shot via Twitter last week after Penn State's loss to Ohio State last week.  Seems that HCPN should be tending to his own team, and at least contending for the championship of his own conference  before engaging in such schoolyard behavior.

As for that bowl eligibility, I see a win over NorthCarolina and loss to Virginia Tech.  It will all come down to that final home game against currently undefeated Miami.  I'm thinking that Pitt does not go bowling this year.  There goes those vitally important 15 extra practice sessions that coached love so much.

********

Speaking of boorish behavior among coaches, Penn State got dealt a dose of humility with its second consecutive loss yesterday, this time to Michigan State.  I see in the paper this morning that James Franklin stated that perhaps his team was too concerned with things like national rankings and getting into the College Football Playoffs, and that maybe they weren't "mature enough" to handle things.  Since he, Franklin, was foremost in voicing such opinions, I hope that he was including himself among those not being mature enough to handle it, but he probably wasn't.

Franklin has convinced me that he is a pretty good football coach, but like many such coaches, he's not an easy guy to like, unless he coaches "your" team.  As such, not a lot of people outside of central Pennsylvania are going to feel too bad about this sudden two game losing streak for Franklin's Lions.

********

And speaking of unlikeable coaches, how about Urban Meyer and  Ohio State getting pasted in Iowa yesterday?  With this second loss of the season, this should take Ohio State out of any talk of being one of the four teams in the CFP this year.   The Committee seemed to automatically include Ohio State int e Playoff last year, and that was wrong (and, yes, the team that should have been there was Penn State).  It is not Ohio State's birthright to be there, and it looks like they won't be this year.  Although, I guess that the Buckeyes could still win the Big Ten Championship, so who knows?

********

Right now it appears that all signs are pointing to the SEC Championship Game, most likely between Alabama and Georgia, as the Game of the Year.  Both are undefeated and are ranked 1 and 2.  Unless that game is a rout for the winner, it is likely that both teams will make the CFP, and a rematch will be possible in the playoffs.  That never usually works out well.

Penn State 33 - Pitt 14

Quick thoughts minutes after the final gun has sounded......

• While Pitt dominated in total yards and time of possession through much of the first three quarters, there was little doubt as to who the best team on the field was, and it was Penn State.
• Still, I expected a much bigger win, score-wise, for PSU, so there's that at least.
• Sequon Barkley.  A beast. 
• Mike Gesicki looked like Ted Kwalick reincarnated.
• When you have first and goal on four different occasions, you simply have to do better than FG, FG, TD, Lost Fumble.
• The jury is still out on Max Browne.  Too early to give up on the guy, but improvement has to come.
• Can't you just hear the calls on Nightly Sports Call and The Fan screaming to "put DiNucci in there" starting up, oh, probably right about now.
• The vintage Pitt uniforms looked good, but didn't help much.  
• Going to be tough against Oklahoma State next week.

Steelers and Panthers and Lions, Oh My

A brief look at the recently completed weeks, and in two cases, seasons for three of the local football teams.

STEELERS

Everyone knows that the Steelers, with nothing to play for in Week 17, sent out the junior varsity against the Browns in order to avoid key injuries as they head into the NFL post-season this coming weekend.  Incredibly, the awful Cleve Brownies jumped to a 14-0 lead and had the Steelers on the ropes in that game.  However, some poor decision making on the part of either the Browns' coaches or QB Robert Griffin III, combined with some equally poor play and execution demonstrated just why the Browns managed to lose fifteen games this season, and the Steelers prevailed, 27-24 in overtime.

The big winner in that game was undoubtedly Steelers backup quarterback Landry Jones.  After an pretty bad first half, Jones rallied in the second half, and in the overtime, he was positively Ben-like in leading the team on a 75 yard do-or-die drive, completing a pass on fourth and two to continue the drive, and then throwing the TD pass to win the game.

Jones' rookie contract expires at the close of this season, and he will be an unrestricted free agent.  Will his big game on Sunday  cause some Desperate-for-a-QB  NFL team to shower Jones with a big money contract? Seems unlikely, but look at what Houston did last year with Brock Oswieler.  Jones made the most of his opportunity, so I hope it works out for him.

PITT

The Panthers 2016 season ended in pretty much the same fashion as the 2015 season did with a loss in a bowl game that gave them a finishing record of 8-5.  Unlike last year's bowl, when they were clearly outplayed by Navy, this loss to Northwestern was frustrating due to the fact that stars James Conner and Nate Peterman were lost for much of the game due to injuries.  You can only wonder "what if" had those injuries not occurred.

It was a fun and entertaining season that Pitt provided its followers, including big wins over Penn State and Clemson at Clemson.  A lot to be excited about and look forward to in 2017, but Pat Narduzzi and his staff really need to get some help on the defensive side of the ball next year. And, oh, yeah, find a QB to replace the solid Peterman.

PENN STATE

When Penn State lost to Pitt in the second week of the season, and got pasted by Michigan two weeks later, most of the talk centered around who would be the next coach in Happy Valley after James Franklin, who was sure to be fired after the end of the season.  We all low what happened then...nine straight wins, including beating undefeated Ohio State, and a Big Ten Championship, and a tough loss in the Rose Bowl to USC last night by a score of 52-49, certainly the most entertaining and best game of the New Year's weekend, if not the entire Bowl season.  Certainly a better game than either of the two CFP games on Saturday.    I mean, Alabama and Clemson will have a long way to go next Monday to top that Rose Bowl game.

To me, James Franklin appears to be a really good coach, despite the curious propensity of this years' team to seemingly phone it in in the first halves of games.  A couple of years ago he was being talked about as a possible NFL head coach.  I haven't heard such talk this year, but if you were an NFL owner in need of a coach, why wouldn't you consider Franklin? Seems to me that that is what PSU fans should be worrying about insofar as their football coach is concerned.

Penn State and the CFP

While the Pitt-Syracuse game of two weeks ago may have been the most entertaining football game of the year to watch, the BEST game of he year my well have been the Big Ten Championship game between Penn State and Wisconsin.  Anyone who says they saw a Big Ten Championship after their 2-2 start, which included an 39 point loss to Michigan, is a liar.  Not even the most optimistic bleeds-blue-and-white Penn State fan would have said that.  They were too busy at the time trying to figure out who would replace James Franklin, who would surely be fired at the end of the season.

You know, James Franklin, right?  He's the guy who was just named the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

So the four teams for the College Football Playoff have been set, and has ANY subject been talked to death more that this one was in the days leading up to the announcement?  I'm not going to add to it other than to say this.  All the conversation centered Washington, Penn State, and Michigan as to who would be the fourth team in the CFP.  I have two thoughts: (1) When Michigan lost two of its final three games, they should no longer have been in the discussion.  You simply can't lose two games in November.  (2) Why was the inclusion of Ohio State a fait accompli  all along?  They did not win their conference championship, and their one loss was to the team that DID win the conference championship.

Going forward, please spare us the eyewash about how important it is to win your conference championship because, clearly, it is not.

In spite of all that, however, a trip to the Rose Bowl is a pretty nice consolation prize for Penn State.  The alternative, as U-Dub will soon find out, was the opportunity to get drubbed by Alabama.

The Football Weekend That Was

Before another football weekend begins, I need to comment on what happened last week in Pittsburgh football circles.  As we were in the midst of our Tennessee trip, access was limited, but this is what I did see.

The Pitt-Clemson game was televised on ESPN, so I was able to catch the beginning of the game before we had to leave our hotel to go to the wedding.  At that time, the score was 14-14.  After the ceremony, we were made aware that Pitt was still very much in the game, and, through the magic of cell phones and video streaming, I was able to watch Chris Blewitt kick the 48 yard field goal that enabled Pitt to upset the heavily favored, second ranked Clemson Tigers.

To call this Pitt win "stunning"  would be seriously understating it.  This was easily the Panthers biggest, most important, and most unexpected win since they beat undefeated West Virginia in 2003, a game that cost WVU a chance at the national championship.

It was totally and completely unexpected, but I need to tip the Pitt Script ball cap to our pal, Bob Middleman, aka, Bob Jeffrey, who, at our North Side Breakfast last August called for a possible upset of Clemson by Pitt in Death Valley.  We all laughed, but who's laughing now?  I only hope that Bob had a bet on it.

*******

Then there was the Steelers-Cowboys game.  We were in Louisville that afternoon doing our "tourist thing", and then hit the road.  We checked into a motel somewhere in Ohio a little after 7:00.  I had no idea what was going on in the game, and I turned on the TV just as the two minute warning was taking place with the Steelers leading by one point.  You know what happened...I saw the Cowboys win the game....then I saw the Steelers win the game...then I saw the Cowboys win the game.

Looks like I missed seeing perhaps the best NFL game of the year, but, wow, what a crummy end result.

It now looks like the Steelers had been over-rated by many (and, yes, that includes The Grandstander), especially on defense.  By this coming Sunday, it will have been forty-two days since they last won a football game.  No way to dress that up.  However, in an effort to try to be positive, I point out that four of their remaining seven games are against  division foes.  Win those, maybe steal one of the other three (against Colts, Giants, Bills), and they probably win the AFC North.  

Then, who knows what might happen?  It's asking a lot, I realize, but it wouldn't be all that surprising in the NFL of 2016, and, yes, I know that them going 3-4 in these least seven games would be all that surprising either.

********

Remember back on September 10 when Pitt beat Penn State?   Remember how even the most die-hard PSU loyalists were questioning how James Franklin could possibly retain his job past this season?  Of course you do, but then an amazing thing happened.  Penn State somehow managed to upset unbeaten and heavily favored Ohio State, and they now own a record of 8-2, 6-1 in the Big 10, and are ranked in the Top Ten.  They need help from some other schools, but it is possible that they could be playing in the Big Ten Championship game, and if they could somehow manage to win THAT, then could they be considered for the Playoffs?  I know, I know, that's a lot of "if this" and "if that", but I doubt that there is any "fire Franklin" talk taking place in Happy Valley right now.  In fact, this turnaround could put Franklin on the short lists of some NFL teams who might be coach shopping this winter.

It's kind of incredible when you come to think of it.

Pitt 42 - Penn State 39

First off, The Grandstander will be on a brief hiatus this week (or, as a guy I used to work with might have put it, "a brief hi-anus";  yes, he really did say that), but before I do, I have to comment on that whale of a football game today between Pitt and Penn State, which Pitt won 42-39.

Had this game been played in a vacuum, it really would have been no big deal.  Two non-conference opponents playing early in the season, and let's face it, both teams could generously be described as mid-level teams within their own conferences.  Of course, it was PITT versus PENN STATE for the first time in sixteen years, so this game was definitely not played in a vacuum. It was, as my friend Dan Bonk has been reminding us since 2011, a BIG GAME, and man, oh, man, did it live up to all of the hype.

George Aston scores Pitt's first TD of the day.

Let me clear on my loyalties.  I was rooting for Pitt all the way, and I was delighted when they bolted to a 28-7 lead in the second quarter.  Who would have envisioned that it was going to be this easy?  Well it wasn't.  Penn State scores right before the half and once again early in the third quarter, and all of a sudden it was 28-21 and it was real ball game.  In the waning minutes of the game, Penn State was driving, trailing by three points, and they appeared to be unstoppable, when Pitt intercepted a pass in the end zone to seal the three point win.

Absolutely fabulous.

Some final observations...

• I have been a part of this Pitt season ticket group since 2013, and in all that time, I can point to only one "signature win" for Pitt during that time, a win over Notre Dame in 2013.  That changed today for Pitt and Coach Pat Narduzzi.  If ever there was a Signature Win, this was it.
• It is said that a loss today would raise the heat in Happy Valley under James Franklin. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but before Lions' fans come down too hard on Franklin, be aware that he sure as hell did something at halftime for his team.  PSU was getting whipped in the first half, but they dominated the second half and almost won it.
• All of my fears about bad behavior among the fans of the two teams appeared to be unfounded, or at least they were in what I saw in the parking lots, tailgate parties, and stands today.  That was refreshing.
• It is said that watching a game on TV these days is superior to actually going to the stadium, and for the most part, I agree, but I have to say, that for today at least, it sure was better being at Heinz Field than sitting at home watching on TV.

Finally, the attendance was announced today to be 69,983.  It is the largest crowd ever to see any sporting event in Pittsburgh, and I was a part of it.  Of course, as friend Fred Egler has noted, this does not count the 350,000 people who claim to have been at the Immaculate Reception game in 1972 or the 130,000 who claim to have been at Game Seven of the 1960 World Series.

Very cool to be able to say that I was a part of a record crowd for ANY sporting event in this city.  And in case you were wondering who the best looking people were at that game, well, here they are:

Bob Sproule, Len Martin, Dan Bonk, John Sebastian

Photo courtesy of Donna Sebastian

Pitt 35 - Miami 23....What Lies Beyond?

A few weeks ago, after watching Pitt get outscored by North Carolina, and watching Miami come this close  to beating Florida State, I would not have given Pitt a chance in Hell of defeating Miami, but - drum roll, please - THAT'S WHY YOU PLAY THE GAMES!!!!  Getting in the car after the James Taylor concert last night, I was, well, not exactly stunned, but pleasantly surprised to hear of Pitt's defeat of the 'Canes down there in Coral Gables.  I had the foresight to record the game and have already watched the first half.  

All in all, a great end to what in all honesty has been a disappointing regular season, but the possibility of what could happen in the over-abundant Bowl Season has a lot of people in this corner of the college football world frothing at the mouth in excited anticipation.

The Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium scheduled for December 27 has ties to down the track finishers in both the ACC and the Big Ten.  Both Pitt and Penn State finished their seasons with 6-6 records, the very definition of "down the track", so what could be more natural than matching up these long time traditional rivals in the fabled Pinstripe Bowl?  I know for certain that Pitt fans would love to see this, and I can reasonably assume that Penn State loyalists will want to see it played as well.

Two long time eastern rivals, playing in New York City after Christmas.  You'd have to believe that alumni of both schools would travel to NYC to attend. The TV ratings would probably be pretty good, too. It would add some real meaning to what would be yet another meaningless bowl game amongst the glut of meaningless bowl games.

In fact, it makes SO much sense to pair these two teams together that I have full confidence that the Bowl officials, the ACC, the Big Ten, and ESPN will somehow manage to screw things up and NOT arrange for this match-up.  The wild card here is the fact that the Pinstripe Bowl, like so many others, also has a tie-in to Notre Dame.  What are the odds that some suit at ESPN or the NYC based Pinstripe Bowl will jump at the chance to take a 7-5 Notre Dame team over Pitt and thus prevent what would be a dream game for the fans of Pitt and Penn State?  Let's face it, ND moves the needle in a way that Pitt and a post-Paterno PSU does not.

We'll see how this played out.

New Coach at Penn State

The expected news became official yesterday when Penn state announced that it had hired Jame Franklin, most recently the head coach at Vanderbilt, as its new head football coach.  By all accounts, Franklin certainly seems to be the right guy - great record at Vandy, a traditional football doormat, a dynamic personality that will go over great with high school football coaches, and parents who are seeking NCAA and NFL glory for their football playing sons.

I wish him well.

However, one Franklin quote from yesterday's press conference needs to be set aside and remembered three or four years from now when the NFL or some blue chip SEC program comes calling:

"I'm a college guy," Franklin said. "We plan on being here for a very, very long time. This is my dream job."

Okay, we'll see.

By the way, that quote was lifted from Ron Cook's column today.  The same column wherein Cook took an unbelievable shot at former PSU coach, Bill O'Brien.  Cook called him a "despicable character" for bailing on his contract at Penn State who is "no better than Todd Graham."  Wow.

Hard to square that sentiment in the same column wherein he praised Penn State for hiring Franklin, who, it can be pointed out, bailed on his contract with Vanderbilt.

Big Football Weekend Ahead

I am looking forward to a couple of big football games this weekend:

• First, the so-called "Sanctions Bowl" between Penn State and Ohio State on Saturday.  We all know the story behind why THIS GAME is the biggest one of the season for both teams (well, maybe the Michigan game is bigger for OSU), so why rehash them.  Clearly, the job that Bill O'Brien and the Players Who Stayed at PSU in forging a 5-2 record is one of the more interesting ones in college football this season.  
• Also on Saturday, undefeated Notre Dame faces its biggest test of the season, Oklahoma in Norman, OK.  This will be the acid test for the Irish, to be sure.
• Finally, there is the Steelers and the Redskins on Sunday, and at 1:00 to boot!  First of all, the Steelers will be wearing those ridiculous throwbacks this week:

• For this week only, it will be the Steelers, and not the Pirates, who will be the laughingstocks of their League.
• More importantly, the Redskins will be bringing the most talked about and, arguably, the most exciting player in the NFL to town: Robert Griffin III, or RG III.  I listen to podcasts of Tony Kornheiser's Washington DC radio show, and as you can imagine, I hear an awful lot about RG III in the process.  I can't wait to see him, and, more to the point, how the Steelers deal with him.  Much has been made of the porous Redskins defense, and we know that the Steelers defense hasn't been so hot either when it comes to holding onto leads (until the met the Bengals, of course).  This has the earmarks of a 41-38 barn burner.  Should be fun!
• Pitt beat Buffalo in what was a pretty crummy game, but in watching it, did anyone take note of the Buffalo sidelines?  The two back-up QB's, wearing red baseball caps, were continually motioning to the QB on the field, constantly waving their arms in multiple and oft-times opposite directions.  Could that have possibly meant ANYTHING to the QB out there on the field?

And in non-football news....

• Did you catch the story about Lance Armstrong in last week's Sports Illustrated?  If not, you should take a gander at it.  Turns out that golden boy Lance was not only a drug cheat, but a bully as well, who let his teammates know in no uncertain terms that THEY had better juice up right along with him.
• Of course, cycling may just be the dirtiest sport out there, PED-wise.  Not sure why we should care about it.
• As for Game One of the World Series last night with Justin Verlander giving up five runs and getting knocked out after four innings.....I sure didn't see that coming.  Makes it pretty imperative for Detroit to take Game Two tonight, I should think.

Book Review: "Game Over" by Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak

I just finished reading this very excellent book by former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak.  This was the first of what will no doubt be many, many books to be written about the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State its aftermath.  Moushey and Dvorchak began work on this book almost as soon as Sandusky was arrested, and it was published in the Spring of this year, before the trial that convicted Sandusky, before the Freeh Report, and before the NCAA and Big Ten sanctions were handed down.  As a result of that timing, if you read this book now, as I did, you may not find anything that has not already been made public knowledge as a result of those very public on-the-record events, but that is the value in reading this book now, I think. 

The research and the reporting done by Moushey and Dvorchak on such a short deadline is astounding.  When the book was published, it was assailed by many of the Penn State loyalists, and its chief critics were, not surprisingly, the Paterno Family, none of whom, it should be noted, were willing to be interviewed for the book, despite requests from the authors.  At the time, the authors merely stated that they stood by their reporting as documented in the book.  Both the trial and conviction of Sandusky and the findings in the Freeh report validate everything that Moushey and Dvorchak had written,  Nothing in "Game Over" has been proven to be false or inaccurate.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Dvorchak recently, and it was fascinating hearing him talk about the writing of the book.  A paperback edition is scheduled to be released soon, and while Bob didn't mention it, I imagine that there will be an "Afterword" to that edition.  I will be most anxious to read that as well.

I will leave you with a quote from Bob Dvorchak that I though most interesting, and I hope that he will not mind me quoting him.  We asked about the position that Franco Harris (who also declined several requests to be interviewed for the book) has taken as Joe Paterno's most vigorous public defender.  One of us said that, well, I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  Yes, Dvorchak said, you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own set of facts.

I thought it an interesting statement that can be applied in all walks of life.

"What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is Going On....?"

The title of this post is dedicated to my breakfast companions of yesterday morning.


Some sporting thoughts on a Sunday morning.....

• It is frustrating to see the Pirates just eaking out wins over the Astros, a team that they should be hammering into submission, this weekend, but, hey, they ARE winning those games, right?  Just a sign, I suppose, about how far the Pirates have come this season.
• Those Astros, by the way, are really a bad ball club.  As bad a team as I've seen since, oh, the 2010 Pirates.   I'm watching these games, and I am unfamiliar with just about every player on that team.  And is it a coincidence that Brad Mills makes you think of John Russell as he stands expressionless in the Houston dugout?
• For the record, I liked the trade for Wandy Rodriguez.  Nolan Ryan, he ain't, but he will be an improvement over Kevin Correia, I think, in the long run, despite the fact that Correia has won his last six decisions.
• It should also be noted that Rodriguez is under contract, and not an inexpensive one, for, I believe, two more seasons after this one, so kudos to Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington for pulling the trigger on this one.
• If Colton Cain wins 20 games for the Astros in 2017, this will still have been a good deal, if the Pirates get to the post-season this year, or even if they stay in the hunt deep into September.
• I also like that Starling Marte is now here in Pittsburgh, and how can you not after that spectacular debut?  True, he is hitless in his last two games, but I do believe he will be an improvement over what Pirates left fielders/lead off batters have given the team so far.
• Now the big question:  Does GM Neal swing a deal to bring a hitter, or "a bat" as is now the lingo, to PNC Park for the stretch?  I will not pay attention to anything Neal might say on the subject between now and Tuesday - he will never say anything significant on such a subject - but I anxiously await that July deadline.
• In case no one noticed, and it is definitely a secondary story line in Pittsburgh this summer - the Steelers opened training camp  this week.  The highlight for me was hearing my first Mike Tomlin soundbite of the season.  I LOVE hearing those, and I am not being sarcastic.
• Mike Wallace learned a hard lesson this week: When you get into a contract hassle with the Steelers, you will lose.  Every time.  You think these guys would know that by now.
• One thing that guys like Wallace and their agents absolutely, positively need to remember:  the Steelers released Franco Harris in a contract dispute back in 1983.  They do that to one of the pre-eminent figures in franchise history, then guys like Wallace will never have a chance.
• It amazes me to hear that there are some folks in Pitt fandom who think that the Panthers should now forget about ever playing Penn State, even to the point of canceling the two games scheduled for '16 and '17.  "Who needs THEM now?", they sniff.  This makes those elements at Pitt guilty of the same arrogance and hubris that they have accused (and not without some justification, it should be noted) Penn State and Joe Paterno of having had ever since the series ended.
• My friend Dan Bonk, a major Pitt fan and supporter, has taken the opposite tack:  AD Steve Pederson should be on the phone RIGHT NOW to whoever is in charge at Penn State these days negotiating a long term home-and-home deal with Penn State. 
• Penn State has always been able to find a way to schedule teams like Ohio University.  Pitt has always found a way to schedule teams like the University of Buffalo.  They can find a way to make this happen, and don't forget, the one person who always prevented  this series from continuing, is no longer on the scene.
• The NCAA and other college "spokesmen" have talked very loftily about how the College football culture needs to change after it was allowed to run amok at Penn State.  Yet there were reports this week, the ink on the consent decree not even dry, of rival schools' coaches on the PSU campus recruiting the Lions' current scholarship athletes.  Do you REALLY think that that culture is going to change?
• In spite of all that has fallen upon Penn State, I find myself really rooting for Bill O'Brien and those kids who will choose to stay at Penn State this coming season.
• I learned very quickly this week, that if you want to watch the Olympics and not know the results of a given event, stay off of Facebook, Twitter, or the entire Internet itself over the course of the next two weeks.

The NCAA Drops the Hammer

Because this is such an emotional issue, and because I have many friends, as well as family members, closely associated with Penn State, I have tried not to get into the fray too deeply over the Penn State/Freeh/Sandusky affair, but with the announcement of the sanctions by the NCAA and Big Ten today, well, I do have to say something.  I won't rehash everything - you all know what went down today - but will make a couple of random comments.

• I do not think that the sanctions were too severe.  Neither, apparently, does the Penn State President and Board of Trustees.  I think the NCAA got it right this time.
• The vacating of the 111 victories since 1998 was the real shot to the gut, and was obviously intended as a means to purge Joe Paterno from the record books.  It also addressed the issue of the "cult of personality" predominant in so many major college football and basketball programs.
• Sadly, I doubt that this will end such things on our university campuses (quick: who do you think of when you think of Duke University?).
• The fact that a staggering figure like $60 million represents only one year's revenue of the PSU football program boggles the mind.  It is a big reason why this whole cover-up took place.
• The NCAA is coming off today as the simon pure guardian of collegiate athletics.  Please.  They will soon be negotiating a television contract for the College Football Championship playoffs that will begin in two years that will involve amounts of money that are unimaginable.
• ESPN learned it's lesson, apparently.  They did not use Matt Millen as a commentator on their coverage of the NCAA announcement today.
• They did have Les Miles of LSU (of the SEC) on commenting on the evils of the culture of big money in college football.  That was so ludicrous that I couldn't even think of a snarky comment to make about it.
• I heard someone on the radio saying that if you are a fan of a college and are wondering which Penn State scholarship players you could get to come play for your school, you are a part of the problem.
• In the end, I do feel bad for Bill O'Brien and the current players.

Whither Penn State Football?

The debate rages as to whether or not Penn State University football should receive the "death penalty" from the NCAA. I am of two minds on the subject and can see both sides of the argument. However, I am fairly certain of one thing that would most certainly not be right and proper following all that has happened and been revealed about the last 13 years, at least, at Happy Valley, and that would be 110,000 people at Beaver Stadium in full white out regalia on the first Saturday in September screaming "We are....PENN STATE" as the Lions take the field against whatever cupcake Paterno had scheduled for the 2012 season opener. Whatever steps can be taken by either the PSU administration or the NCAA to avoid that particular scene should be taken immediately.