Everyone's familiar with the Trayvon Martin deal by now, right? A purported Town Watch guy follows black dude in hoodie through swanky neighborhood, altercation follows, and Town Watch shoots Hoodie dead. Orlando makes national news for all the wrong reasons. Al Sharpton arrives to rake muck - much to the surprise of everyone.

Most of you may have also heard about Penn State having a little problem with a former assistant coach that allegedly got his freak on with boys. Penn State makes national news for all the wrong reasons. ESPN arrives to rake muck - to absolutely no one's surprise.

So what's it all mean, Mr. Streak? What's the connection?

The connection is some whack job, who's managed to interject himself into both scenarios by sending nastygrams to principals involved in each.

Small world, Yo.

STATS. Penn State wrestling has been kicking butt and taking names lately, giving us wrestling nerds a sense of supreme satisfaction. It's as if we're personally out there tearing some dude's face off, or cradling up another poor schmoe. We're not, but who says living vicariously through 18-22 year olds can't be a hoot? Not this boy.

Coach Cael left his collegiate wrestling home of Iowa to Come to Penn Shtaaaate in what many considered a shocking move. It was indeed a surprise, but his reasoning was flawless: he wanted inside access to Pennsylvania high school wrestling - historically the nation's best. By a wide margin, too.

Here's a listing of this year's NCAA National Qualifiers by state, which gives a pretty good indication of each state's overall strength. Call it the Streak Power Index, if you will. I am, even though all I did was find it. Has a nice ring to it, no? Yes.

A number of states are usually strong: Illinois, California, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, blah, blah, blah. All are well represented again this year at the NCAAs, with Illinois having produced 21 qualifiers, California 17, NJ 20, NY 26 and Ohio a robust 29. Bully for them.

Cael wanted to come to Penn State because of this number: 60. Uh-huh: Pennsylvania cranked out 60 qualifiers, which shows the remarkable depth of its high school wrestling. Pennsylvania has your number, Yo.

NEWS. Jimmy Lawson has had his fill of small college football, and is going back to his first love: twisting big fellas into pretzels. Is there a better place than Penn State to do just such a thing? No.

Better late than never. Welcome, Jimbo!

As more info begins to drip, drip, drip its way into the news, is there an effort being made to back away from the character assasinations thrown everywhere last week?

Interesting article on Big Red in (retch!) ESPN here. Naturally, all the internet tough guys spout off in the comments about how they'd have hammered Sandusky into steak tartare. Sure. Whatever.

This whole thing is a sickening mess, and if the allegations are true the kid victims deserve ......well, everything and anything we can do for them. No one disputes that, as far as I can tell.

It just bugs the hell out of me that all the collateral damage - deserved or not - is just dismissed as irrelevant.

It isn't.

Where's my damn pipe?

I wake up this morning and fire up the 'puter, and what smacks me in the face? SI's College Football page's Game of the Week, in which Bill Trocchi explains why we'll suffer a beatdown.

The article is really pretty non-offensive, but because Bama's D is scary good, PSU is a 2 TD dog. Huh. Guess we'll have to - ya know - actually play the game.

Fine.

What really teed me off was yet another article hitpiece on the same page by some dillwad columnist named Paul Finebaum who must have gotten a chubby page-view fever reading Buzz Bissinger the other day and decided to repeat rewrite it. No, I'm not linking it.

By now, we can all spout that story  crap verbatim: Joe is old, he's out of touch, he can't recruit, he's become a punch line, he's selfish, the Bobby Bowden of the North, disloyal to his staff, he hurts Penn State, blah, blah, blah.

I've read it, so you don't have to. You're welcome.

Paul Finebaum, you're a douchea. A truly excellent example of one, as a matter of fact. Nice work.

OK - hand me my pipe. I'm done.

After checking the weather every hour for the last 3 days, J-tot and I have decided the First Annual BSD Fall Golf Classic is canned. For this week, anyway.

The powers that be expect rain and T-storms early Friday afternoon, and I for one am strictly a fair-weather playa.

Snydo and P-phys, you don't list an e-mail on your profiles, so this is my only way to let you know. Yes, it's disappointing, but I'll look ahead and see if we can come up with an alternate date.

J-tot and I will be in State College by Friday a.m., and if anyone else is also, we should meet for a beer in the afternoon or early evening.

Suggestions are now being solicited. Comment away, yo.

It's getting to be crunch time, folks.

Friday. Bama week. Golf. How much better can it get?

To date, we have the following booked:

   J-tot:                                          Party of 3

   Pete the Streak:                                    2

   Snydo 5976                                           1

   PSUPhysicist                                        2

                                  Total so far:            8

We are using the 11:51 and High Noon tee times to help our physicist friend's schedule, but we still have 11:41 available. It's going to be beautiful weather, so let's go: tee it up!

I'm not sure how the 'designated driver' thing is going to work, as often times they don't allow non-playing people riding around. If it's a problem, we should meet up anyway for a post-round brew and bull session with everyone.

Let me know what you think, and Go Penn State!!

This idea has been kicked around a little, and it's happening - as long as we get some playas. J-tot and I have booked 3 tee times on the PSU White Course for Friday, Sept. 9, at 11:42, 11:51 and high noon. Serious math nerds will immediately calculate that 3 tee times totals 12 participants, so we need some response here.

Info when you bump the jump, yo.

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I really like this. Not only do we get another crack at Iowa's streak (at home, again, assuming they're still unbeaten when they roll into Happy Valley), but we keep a strong Pennsylvania presence. Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Lehigh and Pitt allow us to showcase what we've got within the state, and keep the kiddies drooling about wrestling for Cael. Smart

Nebraska makes their B1G debut this year, and they'll host us February 3rd. Plus, the Lions go on a rare western trip to Utah Valley, which is brilliant from a recruiting standpoint. Brilliant, I say!

I'm hoping for great things again. Hear me, Nico?? 

If anyone is interested is catching a glimpse of two of our recruits in action, check out the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic.

The self-proclaimed Rose Bowl of Wrestling pits Pennsylvania's top high school seniors against the best of the rest of the USA, and will take place this Sunday in Pittsburgh. I seem to remember this being broadcast on PCN in the past, but I'm too lazy to look right now. When I find out I'll post in comments.

Check out some of the records on the USA all-stars. Crazy.

This year features Nico Megaludis at 125 for Team Pa., and California's Morgan McIntosh at 189 for Team USA. Both are ranked #1 in their respective weight classes, and are top five in the overall recruiting rankings (McIntosh #2 and Megaludis #5). Penn State has once again drawn in superstars that will fill a distinct team need.

Intermat has a nice preview, but it's behind the subscription wall. There's a glimpse of relevant info after the jump.  

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As best as I can remember, we 've had a grand total of one (1) post on BSD concerning golf. One. Yet that singular post drew in excess of 130 comments, and each one was exceedingly brilliant. Naturally, it got me considering the possibility - as I do each and every year - of setting up an informal, to-the-death golf outing of BSDivas, commenters, authors, editors and various pre-Madonna wannabes. This post is simply a 'whaddaya think' to gauge potential interest and feasibility. Yes, I know there's snow on the ground, but trust me when I state it won't be there come September.

I have a few thoughts after the bump.

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OK - just gotta put this out here. You'll get the technical aspect and deep background from PSUWresFan, but this is too juicy to wait. At least to wrestling nerds like me.

In what I expected to be at least a fairly competitive match, Penn State cracked some Buckeye head to the tune of 42-3. That's right :  42-to-freakin' 3.  Cael's Kids took 9 of 10 bouts, while racking up 3 pins and 3 major decisions. Add 2 regular decisions, dump in a forfeit, subtract out a loss by decision, and the result is a tOSU dismantling.

These young kids are impressing the living snot out of me; it's like they have no fear. Our Fab Five went 5-0, including a 31 second pin by Andrew Alton. That's BARELY enough time to get the handshake out of the way. Frank Martellotti took advantage of tough Logan Stieber's absence to throttle some backup 9-1,  David Taylor turned a potential interesting bout against #13 Colt Sponseller into a 14-1 trashing (Including an astounding 5 minutes-plus of riding time), Jake Kemerer jumped up a weight to accept a forfeit, and Ed Ruth also jumped a weight just to get some work. His scheduled opponent at 174 (#13 Nick Heflin) failed the skin test and was not permitted to wrestle. No matter. Ed bumped a weight to bend up some unfortunate dude 18-6.

For those of you keeping score at home, the Fab Five have a cumulative first-year record of 55-4. That doesn't suck.

Bryan Pearsall. Who? Oh, yeah - the soph that went  a dismal 1-16 in dual meets last year. Last year, though, is last year. Today, he took on #10 Ian Paddock, and hung with him all the way before just simply outworking him in the 3rd period.  He very nearly decked him, but still earned a very big 9-4 win. I think Cael's coaching appeals to him.

So - as we await PSUWresFan's true post-match post, isn't it a sweet, sweet weekend indeed when our Ladies grab NC #4 and our guys stomp tOSU?

Yes. Yes it is.  

Michigan is apparently hoping to evade more severe NCAA sanctions at their August hearing by handslapping itself for 'coaching', practice time and oversight violations by that paragon of virtue, Coach Rich Rod. They will cut practice times and the number of illegal extra coaches 'Quality Control Staff'.

Here's a telling quote: Rich Rod is "very disappointed that his administrators failed to provide the job descriptions on multiple occasions and he is disappointed that the compliance staff never brought their failure to his attention".  Yep - not his fault. Sounds so familiar

Another completely unsurprising tidbit:
"One staffer who worked under Rodriguez at West Virginia before joining him at Michigan, Alex Herron, was fired after his claim of not being present during some activities was discredited by players."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/05/25/michigan-ncaa.ap/index.html?eref=sihp

I'm sure we all wish them nothing but the best. I still can't believe they hired this clown. 

[Bumped a little late, but we eventually have to beat Iowa in something, someday, right? - RUTS]

With the NCAA's in full swing, it's a good time to take a peek at the future, or the Shadow Team's shadow.   Pennsylvania's PIAA championships were held last weekend, and Penn State's inbound group snared 3 big school (AAA) champs: the ever-studly Alton twins, with Andrew easily taking gold at 145 (his 3rd), and Dylan destroying the 152 weight class (his 2nd), and rising senior Nico Megaludis winning his 2nd gold at 119.   In the AA class, both Penn State recruits were upset. Frank Martellotti dropped a 4-3 decision to take 2nd, and Dirk Cowburn was denied his 3rd title, losing an ugly 1-0 decision to returning champ Eric Hess. The Cowburn/Hess match was highly anticipated, as both were returning champs, but......what a snoozefest. Hess' escape in the 2nd period was it, and both looked uninspired. A good wrestler can make anyone look bad, but this was sheer dullsville. Cowburn is the only small school wrestler offered a scholie (Martellotti is walking on), and I'm hoping Cael can get this guy moving and much more aggressive.   All in all, while a good weekend for the good guys, here's a flashback (after the jump) to the 2009 AAA finals. Recognize any names?

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As previously noted in the Non-Update, it'll be Action City this weekend as PSU hosts the appropriately named Penn State Open. As an Open Tourney, we'll be seeing both the present and future of PSU wrestling, as both the Official Team and our Shadow Studs will be a-grapplin' - often against each other. I'll split this up into 2 areas: what we're going into battle with this year, and what's down the road a piece. (I threw in a little country corn-pone lingo there in case TP decides to peek in so he can continue to justify his tOSU decision).

Let's begin.

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What with The Penn State Open kicking off this weekend, I've been trying to whip up an amazingly fascinating wind-up of what's been happening and what's gonna happen, but (waa,waa) I've been unable to actually login here at the office. Which pretty much sux, since I'm now forced to actually, ya know - work. Have no idea what's up. Can access the site, but can't login. Yet here I am - all logged in. I know the question on everyone's mind:

What's it all mean, Mr. Natural?. 

Well. I'm only here through the Facebook link; somehow that let me through. To make things worse, my home 'puter took a dive yesterday morning, and I'm now bummed that I kept blowing off the "Time to Backup" messages that greeted me every Sunday morning. And, since I had no idea I'd be on right now, I don't have access to my outline.

Enough babble. I'm expecting to use the Hungarian Honey's laptop tonight to put things together, and post up.

Sorry for the no update update.

While Penn State's official wrestling team is competing in the Sprawl & Brawl Duals today in Binghamton, NY. , yesterday saw a number of PSU's 'Shadow Team' take to the mats at the East Stroudsburg Open. I'm not sure what to call our wrestlers that are either redshirting, temporarily ineligible or not yet out of high school, so 'Shadow Team' it will be - at least until someone comes up with a better label. These are the guys we'll see competing next year (or in the case of the Alton twins, possibly 2 years - as they're still in high school, and may be redshirted next year as freshmen).

Let's look at a few weight classes to see what's in our future, shall we? (Links take you to bios or ranking pages).

141:  High school senior and uber-recruit Andrew Alton (ranked #1 in the country at 145) had a decent day. If, of course, by 'decent' you mean going 4-0 and winning the whole thing. This isn't some pansy tourney for team leftovers, either: with over 400 wrestlers entered, there are plenty of top-flight collegians here, with excellent teams sending their starting line-ups.  Andrew Alton worries not about that. Nice future for him, to say the least.

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Just wondering if anyone here is tailgating, and wouldn't HATE HATE HATE it if some BSD'ers showed up to say 'Hey, what's up, can we have some booze, and maybe some snacky s'mores"?

Mike, you gonna be outside Medlar again? Or do you just HATE HATE HATE it when weasels such as myself feel free to self-invite?

JtotheP was hitting on me in the wrestling post thread, and I'd feel safer in a group setting.

So? Will it happen?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Penn State wrestling's version of Midnight Madness kicks off tonight with Coach Cael Sanderson changing the usual wrestle-off format for starting spots into an intra-squad scrimmage. Preliminary eliminations have whittled the weight classes down to the top two (more or less), and the scrimmage winners will begin the season as starters. Except when they won't.

Confused? Then read on.

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Penn State wrestling was the beneficiary of another change of heart, as Hempfield's Jake Kemerer decommitted from Oklahoma and joined Cael's eye-popping 2009 class.

Kemerer went 48-0 last year, won his second PIAA State Title, and was #1 in Intermat's final national rankings at 160. He is number 7 in Intermat's top 50 high school recruits for 2009, giving Penn State 3 of the top 7 this year, joining #1 David Taylor and  #5 Ed Ruth. All 3 are expected to redshirt.

Jake Kemerer is one tough kid, and a tremendous get.

Looking ahead, Intermat's national recruiting rankings for 2010 includes 4 Pennsylvania kids in the top 6, including Penn State early commits Dylan and Andrew Alton. Rumors (which I cannot yet confirm) indicate much more ridiculous awesomeness could follow.

Hiring Sanderson was hella brilliant, and instantly turned Penn State into Recruiting Central. The PSU brass done good on this one, kids.

Gimme a State Champ and a Siren Whoooooooo!!!

Cael Sanderson snared another Pa. State Champ this week in West Mifflin's Sam Sherlock. Sherlock, another stud in the Class of 2010, took the AAA class title at 125 lbs. last winter as a junior, and was ranked #6 nationally. He recently competed with a Pa. All-Star team in the Disney Duals, and merely went 15-0, barely sweeping the field.

If it seems like you're reading this same story every week, it's only because you are. Sherlock makes the fourth State Champ to choose PSU from Pa.'s 2010 HellaClass, joining Coudersport's Mr. Country Dirk Cowburn, and Central Mountain's carnivores twins Dylan and Andrew Alton.

Additional background info on Sherlock here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09204/985642-364.stm

It's very probable you'll be seeing another edition of this story in the next few weeks. No matter how many times it repeats itself, it sure doesn't get old.

Welcome, Sam!

As a result of Bama's latest foray into the land of NCAA violations, part of the penalty (besides the fine and a pretty much useless type of probation) is the 'vacating' of any wins in which the transgressors participated.

What, exactly, does that mean? If Bama loses the wins, but the opponent in those games is not credited with a win, where did it go? Is the opponent stuck with the loss? Did the game go down the memory hole? Does Bama's, say, 7-5 season become an 0-5 season?

Can someone explain? Use small words, please. 

'Preciate it.  

Two of the biggest names in Pennsylvania's primo wrestling class of 2010 have committed to Cael the Animal Penn State within days of his hiring. The Alton twins  provide a double shot of ass kick, and appear to be actively recruiting some of the other studs in Pa.'s stable.

While I expected Cael to grab some of the ridiculous Pa. talent for Penn State, I didn't expect to see it happen nearly instantaneously.

Penn State's recruiting has just shifted into warp speed, and I'm sure Sanderson will keep the throttle wide open. This is why he took the PSU job - he loves Pa. high school wrestling.

To serious wrestling fans, this is tremendous news. 

http://www.centredaily.com/153/story/1249758.html

but what really sparked the late season surge, and that goal-line stand that led into the glory of 2005? Was it simply the players feeling that enough was enough? Better coaching? Underclassmen stepping up?

We may never know for sure. However, it's possible the team took some much needed inspiration, and a lesson on the consequences of dissing PSU from a group you'd least expect.

I present to you - Cheerleaders with Attitude:

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/photogallery/adventures-in-cheerleading.html?curPhoto=4

I don't remember hearing about any of this (which doesn't mean it wasn't well known by the rest of you folks).

I love it - as long as the cheerleaders involved were of the female gender. Were they? The story doesn't really say.  PLEASE tell me it was our hot women kickin' some PSU-mocking ass!

Our favorite PG columnist, Mr. Ron Cook, actually took a fairly firm stand behind JoePa in the All-Time Winningest Coach race.

Read, and be amazed:  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09069/954416-87.stm

Of course, this being Cook, he felt obligated to toss in the ridiculousness of Joe coaching from the press box . No mention of the minor detail regarding a hip that got replaced; he just laid it out as if this has been Joe's MO for years.

While the basis for the column is the FSU penalties, he does manage to hit on the point that has bugged us 'purists' over the years: his 31 wins at Howard College / Samford University. And overall, does a nice job of praising Joe as both a coach and, more importantly, as a man.

Surprisingly, a nice write by Cook. It reinforces to me the validity of the 'blind squirrel', if not the 'stopped clock' theories. I can't imagine Cook being correct twice a single day of his life.

#1 ranked PSU's defending NC ladies swept #8 Cal 3-0 today to move into the Final 4. They are now 36-0 on the year. Pretty dominating.

What's really dominating, though, is the way they did it: by sweeping every match 3-0. That's right - they haven't dropped a single game (or set, as they're called now) since the 4th game of last year's title match. 109 straight, breaking Forida's long-time NCAA mark of 105. Folks, THAT'S domination.

They are off to Nationals in Omaha next week, and two wins means becoming back-to-back National Champions.

Let's go Lady Lions! 

(Yes - they're waaay hot. Sorry to pre-empt you guys.)

There's just something about seeing Joe behind Mark Richt that drives me crazy. I have no idea what the vote totals are, but I've had my family voting 6 times a day (3 times at home, 3 times at work). We don't seem to getting anywhere.

If we can send this to everyone today, who knows?

http://www.coachoftheyear.com/?&src=COY;ESPN

I know this really means nothing, but I don't care - Joe's my guy, and I'm sticking with him.

Mark Richt? Bleech.

Vote early, vote often.

Iowa hammered the Gophers on the field, while Iowa fans were hammering each other in a restroom's handicapped stall. The two performed their own version of a blowout, apparently to a standing ovation from onlookers:

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