Unhappy Valley and What We Learned This Last Month 11.11.11

First, I apologize to my devoted readers for a lack of posts for a month. Life happens sometimes. Let's get down to business:

It's unavoidable. You can not discuss the current college football landscape without devoting time to the Penn State scandals. I have debated how to handle this particular topic and I think after a little bit of reflection I think the whole thing is just sad. How sad? Every single party involved in this story has done things the wrong way. Let's start at the top.

Jerry Sandusky - This guy is fucked up in the head, if the allegations are true. . Plain and simple. How fucked up? If you can stomach it, here is the graphic representation to what he did to 8 (known) young boys, none of which was older than 13 at the time of the alleged abuse: http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF

That's the indictment handed down by the Grand Jury that is the root of this story. I think the most disgusting part of this is the man sets up a program in the 70's called The Second Mile which was supposed to provide support to children struggling with poor, broken or negligent homes. These are boys who are already emotionally weak that are being preyed on by Coach Sandusky. If you believe in this sort of thing, there is a special spot in hell reserved him, if the allegations are true.

Administrators at Penn State - Athletic Director Curley, Vice President Schultz, and President Spanier have no right to continue leading a well-regarded public institution of higher learning. If the allegations are true these men owe every boy molested after 1998 more than an apology. Why? Well, they all acknowledged that Coach Sandusky was investigated for the oldest incident referred to in the indictment which occurred in 1998. Regardless of the level of inappropriate touching that occurred (which in the indictment refers to at least naked "bear hugs" in the shower), Sandusky should have been stopped there. Even without criminal charges, adminsitrators who should be looking out for the best interests of not only the University, but children introduced to the University, should have distanced themselves not only from Sandusky but from The Second Mile which called Penn State its home. They did neither, instand accepting Sandusky's retirement and negotiating a package that allowed Sandusky free range to continue using the same facilities where much of the alleged abuse occurred, and where the worst of the alleged abuse would occur in 2002.

This is what makes the culture of the administrative staff of Penn State so repugnant. In 2002, according the grand jury, then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, first heard, then witnessed Sandusky having anal sex with a boy estimated to be 10 years old in the football locker room showers. While McQueary's conduct will be reviewed shortly, he indicates that he did inform his father, who then encouraged him to report the incident to Coach Paterno. He was also interviewed by the above administrators and testified that he told them the extent of the contact. The administrators tell a different to the grand jury, a story that the grand jury find so incredible that both Schultz and Curley have been charged with perjury. Schultz and Curley allege they were only told of horseplay in the shower. Regardless, their proposed course of action, later ratified by President Spanier, was to tell Sandusky not to bring children on campus anymore and took away his shower key. Curley and Schultz later testify they knew these provisions to be unenforceable.

Are you fucking serious? High level administrators of a public institution thought it wasn't prudent to report this conduct (even if it really was only reported to this as horseplay) to anyone? Even in light of the very recent 1998 investigation of the same guy for the same type of conduct in the SAME FUCKING PLACE???? These men are every bit as culpable for every other instance of abuse taking place on Penn State's campus after that 1998 investigation, which is at least 3 known victims who were abused in the Penn State showers, and another to be abused at Sandusky's home and at the victim's high school as recently as 2008 or 2009. Good riddance to all three of you.

Coach Joe Paterno - This is the saddest section for me to write. Coach Paterno represented all that was right with college football. Penn State never had a sniff of scandal with its program in the 40+ years he lead the program. They produced wonderful talent on the field and emphasized being good citizens off the field. You never hear about suspensions either at the college or pro level for Penn State athletes for off the field conduct. It was THE model program in modern collegiate sports and it was still widely successful, even this year, with a current 7-1 record and a decent shot at the Big 10 title despite being unranked to start the season. All reports indicate Paterno to be a model citizen and demanded the same from his student-athletes. Paterno's conduct in this event basically shatters any illusion, whether rationally or irrationally, that there is anything good left in collegiate football. If the coaches aren't violating numerous NCAA rules, or the players taking 100 dollar handshakes and free stripper parties, the "good" men in charge of instilling life long values into their student athletes are refusing to follow their own lessons.

I am saddened with what I read about Paterno's conduct. Informed of the 2002 incident by Coach McQueary, Paterno decided the appropriate thing to do was "pass the buck" onto the school administrators who clearly proved themselves incompetent after failing to remove Sandusky from Penn State altogether after the 1998 investigation. You would think if any man in college sports would do the right thing it was coach Paterno. I understand that it involved a very close friend in Sandusky, a man who coached along side him for 30(!) years. But Coach Sandusky was no longer Coach Sandusky and honestly Coach Paterno owed that child in 2002 much more than he gave him.

What I think makes the conduct more reprehensible is based on speculation, but Coach Sandusky abruptly retired in 1999 after being told by Paterno that he was no longer the "coach-in-waiting". The timeline is far too coincidental, but I believe, and many others do as well, that the reason for this stemmed from the 1998 investigation. Coach Paterno knew of the 1998 investigation and that probably spurred the move away from Coach Sandusky, yet, when presented in 2002 with another chance to properly report his conduct, Coach Paterno passed the buck. It's sad to think that Coach Paterno after 40 years of extolling more than just football wisdom would fail in his own lesson, but he did, and unfortunately I think he is as culpable as those despicable administrators.

Graduate-Assistant McQueary - Coach McQueary was the wide receivers coach at Penn State for the 2011 season, but at the time of the 2002 incident he witnessed he was a graduate assistant with the program. If Coach McQueary's testimony is turthful, and the grand jury found it to be so, he at least did not sugarcoat the event. What he did fail to do was rescue a kid with a grown man raping him, or contacting the proper authorities. Sandusky was no longer a coach with Penn State (even though he was a coach at the time McQueary was QBing for Penn State in the late 90's) and had no reason not to immediately call the cops. It was another failure in judgment that allowed Sandusky to continue doing what he did and making at least one more known victim after this incident. A call to the police would have ended Sandusky's reign of terror of vulnerable boys right then and there. Yet at least another kid was allowed to be abused because McQueary as a 28 year old man couldnt call the cops on child rape. The trustees erred in not firing his ass, but all was made right as McQueary is no longer coaching for Penn State and now is in hiding under protective custody like some mafia rat. Good riddance.

The Media - The media did a poor job reporting this incident and it is partly their fault and their fear of what has become an overly sensitive American society for helping incite the riots. The media never let on as to the severity of the conduct by Sandusky or the absolute failure of administration by all of those mentioned above, yet inflamed the passions of a nation that relies on the media to actually tell them the news and muddling the story to the point that Coach Paterno was villain number 1. I understand the angle, it's Joe Paterno for crying out loud, but the poor level of reporting as to the severity of the actions led in part to the rioting at Penn State. The media is charged with reporting the news and as disgusting as it is, the media and the public can not be afraid to know that Sandusky allegedly raped a 10 year old boy, forced oral copulation on others, and at a minimum rubbed his naked body on the naked body of several young boys. Tell it like it is media, that's your job. Who cares if the news isn't exactly PG? Real life is not PG. If you reported the news accurately, Penn State's student body may not have rioted that night when Paterno was rightly fired.

The Trustees of Penn State University - I know, let's have a press conference at 10pm on a Thursday night (a prime drinking night for students) that inexplicably allows non-credentialed students in the conference and announce that we told Joe Paterno he is fired over the phone. Whose brilliant idea was this? First, even though his conduct was reprehensible, Paterno gave so much to the University he deserved the dignity of being fired to his face. That has to be at least partly responsible for inflaming the passions of the students. But the manner in which this was all hastily put together was completely irresponsible. This was a decision that was not so urgent as to require a response at 10pm on Thursday night, a response at 10am on Friday would have worked just as sufficiently and allowed the Trustees to prepare for any fallout from the announcement.

Instead the Trustees lacked the foresight to believe that firing the most legendary Penn State staff member over the telephone wouldn't cause drunk students to get rowdy. Are you kidding? Of all the living collegiate coaches maybe only Coach K at Duke is more famous. The Trustees should have given themselves a chance to prepare, instead the campus was caught off guard and allowed for a riot to take place. It's clear that ALL the leaders of Penn State University have no fucking clue what they are doing. If I was a Penn State student I would want a refund on my administrative fees, because they are obviously not going towards paying competent people.

Penn State Students - Demonstrating is one thing, rioting like Vancouver is another. Educate yourselves before you start burning and damaging other people's property. I understand the media did a poor job telling you the real story, but the news was out there. Plus, even though the Occupy Wall Street movement may be aimless and disjointed, the reason it still has legs is because it's non-violent. You shamed yourselves and your University which has already done so much to shame itself. If you pushed over a news van or danced on top of car, grow up. You only serve to marginalize yourself.

In the end the real tragedy is that these kids from underprivileged or broken backgrounds were made to be victims by the head of the very organization that was supposed to help them. The other adults put in place to help protect them turned the other way and allowed these 10-13 year old boys to be sexually abused in a manner that they may never recover from. Of all the parties in this incident, it's sad that the only party that did no wrong was the victims, because in reality they couldn't help themselves.

Penn State, the model of how a good program can operate legitimately, still failed in living up the lessons it extols every day to dozen of students. It's a sad day for not only college football, but really the human race.

In other news, there is still a BCS race going on. Oklahoma is out, just as I predicted. Even if several other teams like Stanford and Oklahoma State lose, they will never recover from a home loss to unranked Texas Tech.

Unfortunately, I also had the second half of my BCS title game wiped out last weekend. In what was billed as a possible "Game of the Century" Alabama lost an overtime heartbreaker to LSU in Alabama, 9-6. This is where I regret not blogging the last month, because I told my brother that any spread on this game larger than 3 is stupid because the score is going to be 12-9. The game involved the two best defenses on paper, offenses who can run but will struggle to pass. Meaning some yards can be gained but you can't expect much scoring. And that's what happened. LSU has demonstrated this year time and again they are the team to be reckoned with and dismantling what might be the best of the Pac-12 on a neutral field, the best of the Big East on the road and the other possible best in SEC on the road, they earned that #1 ranking. Assuming no hiccups against Arkansas or (probably) South Carolina, LSU earned its place in the title game.

I thought LSU had too tough of a schedule and not nearly enough offense to get through unscathed and they proved me wrong, to the benefit of my dad who is an LSU alum. I'm happy for him even though they flat out embarrassed my Gators.

Something I am happy about is that I extolled the virtues of Oklahoma State and Stanford all year and they sit pretty at that number 2 and number 4 BCS spot (how Alabama is ahead of Stanford shocks me). They both have do or die tests coming up against Oklahoma and Oregon respectively and if they both win, well at least I was right they were good teams, but with them and Boise State probably undefeated, I think it would be nice if we had a playoff. No one has any idea really if Oklahoma State is better than Stanford or vice versa. Oklahoma State can put the points up as well as anyone, but their defense is quite suspect. Stanford has Andrew Luck, but the real strength of the team is to shove down the defense's throat on the run. The styles are so unique but I think each team has proved they are elite and each team woudl really deserve a shot at taking down the Tigers of Baton Rouge.

This doesn't even include Boise State which went into the state of Georgia and beat the Bulldogs pretty soundly. Over the last decade Boise State has gone into the jungle and come out victorious time and again. They have beaten Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, a supposedly superior TCU team in 2009, and now Georgia. These are all high level programs in their own right and Boise has beaten them all. They manhandled Utah last year who is now in the Pac-12. I think any talking head who dismisses Boise State because their schedule sucks should take a long hard look at them. I would not be surprised if they were the second or third best team in the nation this year.

In other news the ACC still sucks, they just keep beating each other and generally behaving mediocre and just when you thought maybe a team would emerge like Clemson they lose. Virginia Tech and Clemson are vying for the title but I wouldnt be surprised if the ACC champ has 2 loses. They still have a long way to go, even though I picked Florida State to rep them in the BCS title game.

The Big 10 is an even bigger mess. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan State, and Michigan all have 2 losses. The leader is Penn State with one loss, which will likely change this weekend with everything going on there. It's impossible to believe that Penn State has the proper level of participation from coaches and players to be ready for Nebraska. Nebraska may still come out of here after all.

If I were to pick my BCS game right now it would be LSU and Stanford. I believe LSU can't be beat right now, even though they still have games against #8 Arkansas and #15 South Carolina. I believed all year that Stanford would beat Oregon and I still no reason to think otherwise. I think Oklahoma State's defense is too much of a liability and beating Oklahoma might be a tough task. Especially if Oklahoma thinks by beating the #2 team in the country that they can get back into BCS talks.

Moving on the pro front, the Suck for Luck sweepstakes are heating up:

1. Indianapolis Colts -It's clear there are too many problems to fix to make Luck the answer. The defense sucks, the offensive line sucks, the run game sucks, and the QB sucks. If Indy ends up with the first pick you still have to take Luck (unless you believe these recent rabble-rousers thinking Barkley is the same). Manning is 35, has had 3 neck surgeries and may actually be at the end of his career sooner than some expected. You need an heir apparent and you need to give him a year or two to learn from the best. But if you get a king's ransom for that pick and you believe in Barkley I think you can make a trade.

2. Miami Dolphins - The need him. It's all they all missing. Matt Moore actually pretends to be an NFL QB and the Dolphins win running away. Beating Kansas city was a bad move.

3. St. Louis Rams - I think they end up with leik 4 or 5 wins taking them out of the running. Plus with 50 mil in Bradford and still so many other problems I think you pass on Luck and get mother fuckin Justin Blackmon. Bradford needs a stud to throw to and he is just way too fucking good.

4. Minnesota Vikings - Can't use him. I always thought Ponder was a good pick (better than Locker taken two picks ahead of him) and he has been serviceable. If Minnesota can keep the talent aroudn him I think Ponder has a chance to blossom. Plus Minnesota has some defense defects they need to cure in that front 7 with their top pick.

5. Carolina Panters - Obviously not. Even thought I think Cam Newton sucks ass they have bigger needs. The lowest point total in any loss this year is 24. The others: 28, 30, 30, 31, 34. So where do they need help? Exactly on defense. Andrew Luck offers them no better chance to win than Newton at this point.

Hon. Mention: Kansas City - WTF? Way to go on and win 4 in a row and pretend like you are the reigning AFC West champs. No Luck for you, even though he would instantly make your team a new perennial Colts. Yeah, I said it.

Washington Redskins - They won too many early on, but now they look like total shit. 3 may be too many, but it wouldn't surprise if they didn't win anymore even though they play Miami, Seattle, and Minnesota. But, seeing how two of those teams are on the watch list and the third is the next Hon. Mention, they can help themselves out by tanking completely. Beck/Grossman is not the answer. In fact, after watching Beck the last couple of weeks I can't believe Shanahan thinks he gives him the best chance to win. He's terrible.

Seattle Seahawks - There is talent here, but the QB is just terrible. I think Seattle is sucking for Barkley more than Luck, especially with the Carroll connection, but they only sit on 2 wins and I could see them losing out.

TEBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

My Super Bowl prediction looks much better now than it did, despite Pittsburgh late defensive collapse against Baltimore. Who is really the best team in the AFC? New England and the Jets and especially the Bills have looked vulnerable this year. Baltimore looked awful last month and probably should've lost Sunday night to Pittsburgh. Meanwhile Pittsburgh has turned the corner and has woken up now that we are halfway through. Green Bay is easily the best team in the league and only injuries can bring them down (and even then they survived last year). It was a good young team that I believed was a new dynasty based on age/talent of the team and it's holding true.

The Eagles are no dream team. Way too many holes on the defensive 7 and the offensive line. They just don't have the same explosiveness on offense as the Packers or Lions or the same defensive prowess as say San Francisco or the Bears to be able to win consistently. The Eagles are in real danger, and this time it has nothing to do with Vick being unable to win the big one.

Speaking of SF, what are they really? 7-1? Are they really the 2nd best team in the NFC? Probably not. Honestly, to the chagrin of my 49er fan readers, I think they may be the 6th best team when it comes down to playoff time. In a playoff game, even at whatever they call Candlestick now, I still believe the Packers, Falcons, Saints, Bears, and even the Giants/Cowboys NFC East winner would beat them. The defense is amazing, but you just can't fully trust that offense, and in a playoff game where intensity is increased I think Alex Smith crumbles to dust and San Francisco is lucky to score 10. But hey, it's better than it's been in years for the Bay Area.

The Patriots coronation was premature (as usual). Philip Rivers has been really bad and San Diego is in trouble of losing the division for a second consecutive year. Palmer may really have been the answer in Oakland as you can only assume he'll get mroe comfortable and he has another 10 days to learn before his next game after winning a huge Thursday road game in San Diego.

TEBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

Finally, it was too early to count out Atlanta, and thinking New Orleans just may not have had enough skill to navigate a tough schedule was wrong as well. The NFC is shaping up as the best conference which is rare lately given the recent dominance of teams like New England, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Jets. If I were a betting man I would put money on the spread of the NFC representative in the Super Bowl right now.

As always, feel free to comment, and I'm glad to be back!