11|11|11: A three-for-one holiday

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Rare is the day that is three holidays in one. Thinking about it for zero seconds, I can’t think of another day like this one.

First up is Veterans’ Day. It’s tough if not impossible to say something that seems really genuine on the internet, much less in a blurb on a silly site like this, but here we are, so I’ll say a thank you to my friends, family members, and the multitude of strangers who have served or currently are serving this country in the armed forces and whose service makes it possible for, among many other infinitely more important things, me to comfortably spend some of my spare time typing off-hand thoughts on here. More importantly, thanks to those of you who read about, and even donated to the documentary To Them That’s Gone. It’s about running, and running is a sport, so it’s cool. For today in particular, read Matt Ufford’s piece for The Classical preview, entitled “38 seconds.” It might literally be the least you could do.

Second, today is Corduroy Appreciation Day, and indeed it is the most important of such days in most of our lifetimes. A dear friend brought this to my attention, and he had a brief cameo in CBS’ report on last year’s day. Hail the wale!

Third, today is Nigel Tufnel Day, and like this instance of Corduroy Appreciation Day, today’s Nigel Tufnel Day is the most important of our lifetimes, as no day will go to eleven to the extent today does. Yahoo!’s Movie Talk has the background for the uninitiated, but this clip should show you all you need to know:

(HT: @cpramsdell)

What to do on this unprecedentedally celebratory day of days? My best advice is to rock it on your Les Paul in some red, white, and blue corduroy duds.

It’s all over for Joe Paterno

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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.

Joe Paterno to retire at season’s end

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ESPN reports:

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.

The Classical preview and Bill “Spaceman” Lee

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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:

Keep reading…

Growing Up Penn State (via Grantland)

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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)

To What We’re Listening (and Youtubing): Spank Rock

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There was a time when I didn’t know who Spank Rock was.  I was at the bar one night and my friend told me I had to listen to this new musical act with a funny sounding name.  I initially dismissed Spank Rock because of the name, and boy was that a mistake.  Fast forward a few months, and I am playing FIFA, wheeling and dealing as the manager of PSV Eindhoven.  In the middle of trying to acquire FC Porto’s Fredy Guarin to bolster my midfield, a song came on.  I have always enjoyed FIFA’s indie-tastic soundtrack, and this was no exception.  I looked at the scroll at the bottom of the screen to see who the artist was, and to my surprise it was Spank Rock, the band with the funny name that I had dismissed months before.

Now I can’t stop listening to Spank Rock.  His (Their?—Wikipedia seems to be confused about whether Spank Rock is one person or a group of people) music is half rap, half electro rock and all awesome.  Spank Rock has put out two albums: YoYoYoYoYo and Everything is Boring and Everyone is a Fucking Liar. Both are worth checking out.

Here’s the song that started it all for me, Energy.  Bumping this tune while schooling goalies as Cesc Fabregas is one of the greatest feelings in videogaming.

Midseason Monday

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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:

The de facto national championship preview: Everything else

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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).

  • If you’re a fan of one of these teams, your prediction is a foregone conclusion, but what about the rest of the country? According to Covers.com via Deadspin, Vegas likes Alabama as a 4.5 point favorite, but America likes LSU. So there’s that.
  • If numbers are not your bag, maybe the LSU/Alabama drinking game is more your style. Even if it’s too late to place a bet on the game (and I doubt it is), there’s still plenty of time to get set up with that thing.
  • In beard/viewer/fan news, there’s this.
  • Nick Saban has made it to the game and says hello.
  • I haven’t polled the other contributors, so I can’t offer a full slate of expert predictions for this game, but I’ll give you mine, which is worth less than the corndog you’re about to eat: LSU 28, Bama 24.
  • I think that’s it for the gameday news. Leave your comments below, or join us on twitter during the game.

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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

The de facto national championship preview: The fans

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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.

  • As of Monday of this week, ESPN reported that individual tickets to this game were going for $10,423.14. “Oh, and these aren’t even close to being the best seats out there. They are in the lower level of the end zone and in row 25. You can choose between seat 17 or 18. That doesn’t come with catered food or secure you from sitting behind someone who you might consider a giant.”
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  • Click to see the rest of this mess of fandom

Friday Bangs

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From the moment that the video for Bangs’ single Take U 2 Da Movies hit the web, I knew he would be a star.  Since then he has topped that song multiple times over, with such awesome tunes as Meet Me on Facebook and I’m Going to the Ghetto.  His musical prowess has propelled Bangs to such great heights as starring in his own Honda commercial.  While he is not super famous on this side of the Pacific Ocean yet, that will come in time.  With music this awesome, people will one day talk about Bangs in the same breath as they talk about The Beatles or Elvis.  Do yourself a favor and check out his two albums, Hard to Be Up and Reflections.  And hey, at your next Christmas party, why not throw on the best holiday song of all time, Christmas Story?