We live in sad times, and there are reminders of that every single day. Now, I could go any one of 100 different directions with that setup. In this case, I’m going to stick to sports. Penn State football, specifically, and the troubling news that came out Tuesday. Nittany Lion ...
Penn State’s players say they’re ready for Ohio State. Vegas disagrees — in a big way. The Nittany Lions are 18-point underdogs for this week’s huge showdown in Columbus that will decide the Big Ten East regular-season champ and a whole lot more. The Buckeyes have throttled everyone all season, and outside expectation is they’ll clobber PSU, as well. No matter what, Penn State has a chance. It controls its own destiny, and that’s all any team can ask for in week 11. If the Lions can pull off the big upset, then go on to win the Big Ten championship game, they almost ...
We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback the past few years about this weekly point-counterpoint feature, in large part because sports fans love to take sides and debate. That’s why clowns — yes, I said clowns — like Screamin’ A. Smith and Max Kellerman can go on TV and yell at each other with fake outrage over various sports issues of the day. Does anyone truly believe those guys disagree about everything with such fervor that it warrants a TV show every weekday? No. It’s all contrived, orchestrated. They’re arguing for the sake of arguing. And our hot take society ...
Seeing Penn State ranked in the top four of the College Football Playoff last week had to be pretty cool for all Nittany Lion fans. But be honest here: Didn’t it feel like a bit of a mirage? The Lions had the resume, relative to everyone else, to deserve their No. 4 ranking. No question about it. But what I’m asking you is: Did you ever truly believe PSU was the fourth-best team in the country? The Lions are a year ahead of schedule. Most people predicted 8-4 or 9-3 this season, and the team is sitting here at 8-1 following Saturday’s overall poor showing in a 31-26 loss at ...
Firing GM Neal Huntingdon was the appropriate move for the Pirates, without question, but it may not have been the best thing for the Curve. That might not mean much to a lot of fans who only care about the success of the big league club. But if you’ve become spoiled by watching a great product on the field in Double-A over the years, it’s worth noting that there will be some huge changes in store beginning next season. The Curve made the playoffs five times and won their only two Eastern League championships (2010 and ‘17) during Huntington’s tenure as the Pirates’ GM. ...
James Franklin was in big trouble. The Penn State football program was going nowhere fast. Then came a vital second-half comeback against Minnesota at Beaver Stadium on Oct. 1, 2016 that turned everything around. The Nittany Lions returned to national prominence with a huge upset of No. 2 Ohio State in late October of that year, but three weeks earlier, it was a win over the Gophers that proved to be much more monumental than anyone could have realized at the time. It wasn’t that long ago, so the story is probably still fresh in the minds of many PSU fans. The Lions were coming ...
