Penn State Football: The road ahead

In an instant the Penn State community was shocked, hurt, angry, upset, confused, at the situation that unfolded before their very eyes every minute of every day. One man, Jerry Sandusky, and the horrible crimes he committed, tore down a tradition of excellence that had stood for the better part of 60 years under another man, Joe Paterno. It was like a bad dream many said, something you never thought you'd see from such a strong university. A place that stood for nothing but the best, a place that whenever you heard its name you heard nothing but positive things. Doing things the right way, showing everyone what it meant to be great, on and off the field. In the blink of an eye, that was all gone. People forget all about that and now when they think of Penn State, the negative thoughts come racing out of peoples minds. The road ahead for Penn State University is going to be the biggest challenge any school has ever had to overcome. No one could have predicted what was going to happen, and no one could have imagined that Joe Paterno, the man who built Beaver Stadium from a 30,000 seat stadium to a 110,000 seat cathedral for college football, could be fired with the snap of a finger it seemed. A man who had so much power, so much love for the school he coached at, a man who he and his wife have donated countless dollars to the school to ensure that doing well in the classroom and graduating the student-athlete was the number one goal. On January 7th, 2012, the school introduced its new head football coach, Bill O'Brien. O'Brien knows the task at hand, and that the road ahead and the rise to greatness for a fallen program is not going to come overnight. He has assembled a staff in which he hand-picked guys who he feels will benefit the university and Penn State community. "He is a Penn State guy without being a Penn State guy" runningback Silas Redd said after meeting Coach O'Brien. The fact is that Penn State has a long road to travel before they can reach the top and regain its status of being the school known for everything good you want to see in a university. Yes things might be different, yes there is a new head coach, yes there will be new faces, but the fact remains that "We Are...Penn State" will still ring through every seat at Beaver Stadium. Penn State will not fall, Penn State will overcome the obstacles placed in front of them, and Penn State will be back at the top because We Are...Penn State.

Blake Griffin or Dwight Howard

We all know Dwight Howard wants to be traded, and we all know he wants to go somewhere he can win. Recently, Howard has said that the Las Angeles Clippers are now on his list of teams. Yes the Clippers, the other team in LA. Howard's list now includes the Nets, Lakers, Mavericks, and the Clippers. Now you're probably thinking, if Dwight goes to LA (to play with the Clippers) that would be "Lob City" to the max with Chris Paul tossing oops to Blake Griffin and Howard. However, that's not the case. The trade would have to be, and there is no way around this, Griffin for Howard. I was listening to the Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio the other day and the question was; Would you trade Blake Griffin for Dwight Howard? The amount of people that said was mind boggling, I'm not sure of the exact number but I believe it was around 63% of people said they would not trade Blake for Dwight. My question is why? The reasons I heard; age, Blake has a higher ceiling, he is "cooler", ticket and jersey sales. The only one I slightly agree with is the ticket and jersey sales. The others are just ridiculous. Here are the numbers on each guy; Dwight Howard vs. Blake Griffin . Yes Blake might have more points, but Howard is a bigger presence all around. He is the best rebounder in the game, shot blocker in the game, gets MORE dunks. If you had a #1 overall pick in a draft and could choose any player in the NBA, you wouldn't take LeBron, D-Rose, or Kobe, you would take Dwight Howard. You build a team from the inside out. He is the overall (offensive and defensive) center in the game, and at the age of 26 (3 years older than Blake) he has a long way to go and is only going to get better. So there is no reason why anyone should say "I would take Blake Griffin over Dwight Howard. If there is, I would love to hear it.

BCS National Title Game

I don't even know where to begin with Alabama vs. LSU part 2. It was the most lopsided title game I've ever seen. I'm not against the whole thing about both teams being in the same conference, but I would much rather have seen Oklahoma State play LSU. I guess that might be contradicting? Oh well, most things writers say are. Look at the stats; LSU only had 93 total yards, they crossed the 50 ONE TIME and then proceeded to go backwards. Jordan Jefferson was rattled from the first time he touched the ball. The speedy Crimson Tide defense lead by defensive MVP Courtney Upshaw were all over him and never let him get his feet wet. The Tigers defense, which was just a shade below Alabama's in most people's mind, couldn't stop AJ Mccarron on first down. Or any part of the game for that matter. Trent Richardson only had 96 yards but had the only touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter to put the game away. What about the Honey Badger? (Tyrann Mathieu for those of you who don't know) Alabama attacked him and did so very well. They punted to him a few times and he did no damage, and he had no effective plays. Most everyone on ESPN after the game agreed that Oklahoma State would have scored "some" points. Some? They would have scored 30+ against LSU, but they would have needed to score a lot more cause they have the opposite of the Tiger's defense. No reason to mention Bama in this part cause they wouldn't have made it. At the end of the day it is what it is and they played the game and Alabama game out with their second crystal ball in three years. Expect both teams to be back next year and expect both to be good. I'd give the edge to LSU in the race next year but never ever count out a Nick Saban coached Crimson Tide. I'll admit that I was rooting for the Les Miles lead Tiger's but in the end, Roll Tide.