Sixty-one years of coaching end like this, what Deadspin calls Joe Paterno’s Nixon-boarding-a-helicopter moment:
Here’s video of the strange press conference at which Paterno’s firing was announced:
EDSBS has a “transcript” of that press conference.
Videos of the student riots are not difficult to locate.
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has decided to retire at the end of the season, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Paterno will announce his retirement later Wednesday. The Associated Press reported on Paterno’s pending retirement, which has been confirmed by ESPN sources.
Sources have told ESPN that Paterno is planning to coach the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions in Saturday’s home game — their last home game of this season — against No. 19 Nebraska.
For many, this is not soon enough, and it is at least a little difficult to understand why Paterno will be in the stadium this weekend. The burden would appear to be on Penn State to justify why he should be coaching this weekend, rather than on others to say that he should not. Given that most people who’ve watched a Penn State game in the last two or three years probably think that Paterno doesn’t do much during the games anyway, some sort of paid administrative leave for a week seems like a measured, reasonable approach. The program already is in turmoil over the underlying incident regardless, and a decision like that buys the school and the coach some time to get their acts together, something they’ve largely failed to do to this point.
In examining legacies, it strikes me that it must be very difficult for a longtime, successful coach to step away on his own terms. Paterno’s coaching peer, former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, was forced out by his school before he was ready to leave, and Bowden was knocked out of his fairly tight race with Paterno for most career wins as a head coach due to NCAA violations that forced FSU to vacate wins. While the wrongdoing alleged to have occurred in Happy Valley is different in kind from the NCAA violations in Tallahassee, it is worth noting those similarities that do exist between the departures of these two coaches.
I’ve previously mentioned The Classical, the forthcoming sports writing blog currently in preview mode. Their plan is to get up and running in a month or so, and I hope to offer my thoughts on the new site shortly thereafter.
In the meantime, they’ve been posting a few articles and other bits to give readers a sense of what’s to come. Here’s Paul Flannery on Bill Lee:
I can’t add a lot to what’s been written about the facts of the burgeoning scandal at Penn State, except to tell you how strange it feels to type the phrase “burgeoning scandal at Penn State.” I know that I’m in denial. I know that I’m working through multiple layers of anger and disgust and neurosis and angst. I know that I’m too emotionally attached to the situation to offer any kind of objective take, though I don’t think I realized how emotionally attached I was until this occurred. I never understood how much of an effect both football and a sense of place had on my persona. I apologize if what follows seems disjointed, because I am still coming to terms with the fact that this is real. “What can I say?” my mom wrote me from State College on Monday afternoon. “We’re sort of going around in a daze.”
. . .
I have two close friends, a husband and wife, both alums, who moved to State College from New York City a few years ago. They did this because they couldn’t afford to raise children in Manhattan, but they also did it because he couldn’t imagine a safer place to raise their kids than a little town in a valley situated three hours from everywhere. I don’t know what it feels like to grow up there now. I want these things to disappear from my consciousness, but they won’t. The place where I grew up is gone, and it’s not coming back. … Read More
(via Grantland)
In what was to be the best game of the college football season, LSU marched into Tuscaloosa on Saturday night and beat Alabama on an overtime field goal by Drew Alleman for a 9-6 win. Alabama missed four field goals, including all three they tried in the first quarter, and failed to convert in their first and only overtime possession. Neither team made it into the end zone in this meeting of two of the best defenses in the country. Alabama’s Trent Richardson found some running success, and I thought Alabama played slightly better overall, but it wasn’t enough, as they failed to take advantage of numerous opportunities, including two interceptions of Jarrett Lee. Following Lee’s interceptions, Jordan Jefferson largely took over the quarterback position, possibly raising questions about the starting position going forward. The loss dropped the Tide to third in the BCS rankings, making way for Oklahoma State to take the number two position. Unbeatens Stanford and Boise State round out the top five.
On the pro side, a twist in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, as Miami beat K.C. for their first win of the season, leaving Indianapolis as they only totally defeated team at 0-9. As I’ve said from day one, this Colts team has what it takes to go 0-16. It won’t be easy, of course– their remaining schedule includes two games against Jacksonville and one each against unpredictables Carolina and Tennessee. Despite these hurdles, I’m unwavering in my prediction. Of note on the winning side of things, the 49ers and Bengals each are on minor tears, and the Lions defeated the Bye Week by an unrecorded margin.
At Churchill Downs in Louisville, this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic turned in a very exciting race:
We’re less than an hour away from kickoff in the game some are calling the Grass Bowl, others are calling the Game of the Century, and we’re calling the de facto national championship. We’ve previewed the coaches, the players, and the fans. All that’s left is you, the viewer (assuming you didn’t spring for those $10,000 tickets).
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Previous de facto national championship coverage
The fans — 11/4
The players — 11/3
The coaches — 11/2
The de facto national championship – 11/1
College football’s de facto national championship, #1 LSU vs. #2 Alabama, is tomorrow night. We’ve already previewed the coaches and players. That leaves the fans.
I am not a fan of either team, but I have seen both teams play a couple times and had a chance to observe their fans in person. I don’t remember much in particular about Alabama fans, except that I don’t care for their particular shade of redcrimson and there are some people who should not use houndstooth as a full-body-covering textile. I do remember LSU fans tailgating so hard it resulted in the permanent closing of the prime visitors’ tailgate area at Vanderbilt games.
Instead of extolling deep insights– of which I have none– about these two fan bases, and how they will affect the game atmosphere, which in turn will affect the game itself, I’ve collected (or are we supposed to say “curated” now, and what ever happened to mere “compiling”?) a few bullet-pointed items on the surely crazed fan bases of these two teams. I hereby reserve the right to add to this list without telling you I’ve done so. Reader submissions welcomed.
We’re late to this game, but it’s alright. Enjoy this story out of Rochester, NY:
Yesterday’s de facto national championship preview focused on the coaches. Today’s looks at the players.
Alabama and LSU players were in the news before the season even started, which, given each team’s potential for success isn’t surprising by itself. That both teams’ players were in the preseason news for off-field reasons is notable, though. It may seem like an age ago, but Alabama was one of the places hit very hard by the tornadoes that devastated parts of the lower Midwest and Southeast earlier this year. Tuscaloosa was a direct hit. A month later, Sports Illustrated ran a cover story by Lars Anderson that is one of the most powerful sports pieces I’ve read. Facing personal losses themselves, the Tide football players nevertheless had to stand tall in a community and a state that looked to them– as they always had in good times– for support in bad times. Terror, Tragedy And Hope in Tuscaloosa.
LSU players made their way into the preseason, non-sports news in a manner less worthy of an emotional SI cover and an earnest letter home. Keep reading…
Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the 2011 Lions, a team depicted as “evil” by the NFL’s own website even before they disrespected Tim Tebow.
Now allow me to let you in on a little secret: They just don’t give a damn.
In fact, there is a very clear message behind the Lions’ insolence: We’re not the pushovers we used to be. We’re here, we’re fierce – get used to it.
Determined to break an extended cycle of futility, the 6-2 Lions are exuding ‘tude at every turn. They are very much in step with the ethos of the city they call home: Tough, industrious, proud and very far from subtle.
Think transplanted “Beverly Hills Cop” detective Axel Foley meets “8 Mile” rapper “B-Rabbit” meets the 1980s Pistons Bad Boys, and you’ll get a sense of the way the Lions view themselves. … Read More
(via Yahoo! Sports)
