Just wanted to post this so everyone would have access to whatever games were on on any week to include coverage maps. The link will take you to football but the root will also give you NCAAB listings when the season rolls around. This came referred to me by my lovely cousin Holly from EDSBS and I think Matt Sarz did a great job with this site and I refer to it pretty much every week especially since I am one of the weird PSU fans living out on the best west coast. Enjoy and see you in the threads every Saturday!

ED: Meant to do this in a fanshot but I am an idiot and made it a post. My bad... sorry guys!

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Per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg Penn State and the rest of the Big 10 have seven players listed on the preseason watch list for the James Laurinitis    Butkus Award. We have Lee and Bowman on the list and tOSU surprisingly has zero. A little weird considering how much love the media likes to give them but thems the breaks.

On a sidenote... there is some weirdo that provided some comments that Mauti should have been put on the list even though he has a blown knee and he took some for it. Those are the fans I hope stay in the shallow end and stay over at that other blogsite with all the other crazies and SJ's.

Yeah. Didn't need to wake up this morning and read that AJ Wallace may miss a couple of games due to cutting some classes. The only upside I see is getting some much needed playing time for the greener defensive backs and I am a bit curious as to who will be stepping in on some of his returning duties.

I can honestly say I would rather see us lose him due to academics rather than off the field indiscretions but it still tastes nasty either way.

Yeah. Here we go. As if many couldn't figure out by themselves that recruiting one of the most top-tier high school athletes to a basketball squad that had little going for it at the time might raise some eyebrows we now have this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4162444

We all know that the Reggie Bush thing has been dragged out to one of the most ridiculous timeframes ever we see that the men of Troy may be in real deep trouble over their basketball program. This is moving along in a much more expedient fashion and could cost them plenty in the next few years.

Many people say under our breath that many programs have some dirt in them and that it may happens in every school but when the head coach is allegedly passing envelopes of cash to 'handlers' on some street corner I think a big ass hammer drop is in order to teach a lesson.

The 'one year and off to the NBA draft' is much to blame for this, in my opinion. I am so damn thankful that that clown Clarett was crushed in his attempt to ammend the NFL policy of early NFL entry or more of this kind of thing would be happening in the NCAAF world.

In closing:

BSD rules, bacon, Zug, 'sounds hot', beer, pierogies, nomorestupidoffseasonruninswiththecops, tailgating, shirtless Posluzny pics (for the ladies)

A nice little piece from ESPN about expanding our conference and some other good stuff from JoePa:

"We go into hiding for six weeks," Paterno said, referring to the hiatus between the end of the Big Ten regular season and the BCS bowls. The other major FBS conferences play into the first weekend of December.

"Everybody else is playing playoffs on television," Paterno said. "You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that's a handicap.

"I've tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, 'Let's get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff.'"

Paterno spoke to several college football reporters before a booster meeting at the Plaza Hotel. The comments came in response to a question on whether a team from the Northeast could win a national championship. The 1986 Nittany Lions are the last No. 1 team from the region.

"The only [Northeastern] team that's got a shot would be us, and yet we've got a tough job because the Big Ten is not as visible in the key times as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12."

Asked what sort of response he had received, Paterno raised his eyebrows in a facial shrug.

"You know, it's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people," Paterno said. "If I start talking, they're polite, but they snicker.

"They don't know I know they're snickering, but they're polite. ...I wish I were younger and going to be around [more] 20 years."

With the conference commissioners holding so much power, Paterno said, the whole landscape could change if two or three people change.

"We're not talking about invading Normandy," Paterno said. "We're talking about some alignments that could happen very quickly."

 

There are a couple of other neat quotes about him storming the sidelines again and the link is here

While I love the fact that the old guy is still full of piss and vinegar and firing for our conference I think it's sad that he is the only one trying to keep our conference from being left out in the cold. Then again, who else in the Big 10 would you trust with that responsibility?

Attached are some pics from the Rose Bowl. Nothing too award winning, I am afraid. The Blue Band was great and our fans represented in a big way and I was proud to be among them. Most of the pictures look like I shot them from space so I only uploaded a few. I was lucky enough to have a seat at the 'USC' endzone goal line so I got to see all of our scores up close but trying to take pics with my loaner camera didn't do much good (I didn't dare bring my SLR knowing what condition I would be in). Well enjoy and thanks for a great '08 everybody!

These pictures are all up on Flick.com under TheMightyErik tag '2009 Rose Bowl'. Sorry I couldn't do better! (BTW... do you know how hard it is to get all of the PENN STATE lettered flags in one shot? Good grief... I am a lousy photographer)

Hey BSD nation! We are heading to Pasadena to meet USC (not the one in South Carolina) in the Rose Bowl on January 1st!

Some of us have already purchased tickets and this would be a good spot to throw some ideas around for those who still need them or to get some good ideas for the BSD nation tailgate, t-shirts, and / or travel.

For a view of the field from the different Rose Bowl sections see this site http://www.tickets.ucla.edu/map/rosebowl.html . Our sideline will be the 13-24 section, or the bottom sections on that map.

Original post: http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2008/11/22/668117/pasadena-travel-plans

Hey BSD nation! The boys manned up in a huge way and paved our road to Pasadena to meet :::insert Pac 10 winner here::: on January 1st! So now we have to get the ball rolling on getting as many of us out here to Cali to cheer on our beloved Nittany Lions and see JoePa and company take home our second Rose Bowl trophy.

So now, here is where we could use some inputs. StubHub is absolutely ridiculous on ticket prices so if there are any other avenues for package deals I, for one, am defi-Nittany in and I will try to help anyone out on this end as far as info from the local area and I know there are others who will be glad to do the same.

Let's keep this awesome season going and I hope to see many of you out here in January!!!

Thought I would drop a couple of things to do while in LA with my personal and parental ratings (if traveling with family... I am much closer to those lines as I have a 4yr old). These are the things I take every outside family member to see when they visit:

Hollywood Blvd / walk of fame: 4 Stars... not to be missed, a great time walking around and seeing the sights. Mann's Chinese and the Kodak theatres, wax museum, lots of bars and shopping. G-daytime / PG-evening (it gets weird down there after dark)

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Streets/HollywoodBlvd.shtml

Santa Monica Pier: 3.5 stars... a wonderful walk with some good restaurants (Bubba Gump and locals) and cool entertainment. It will be a slower time of the year but it is a boardwalk complete with gaming and rides on it (ride the ferris wheel!). I just dig hanging out and watching the performers and fishermen when it's slow. G/PG at anytime

http://www.santamonicapier.org/

Disneyland: 5 stars... need I say more? It's damned expensive but nothing else compares to it. I would go with any of you but my passes will be dark over the holidays. If you have kids coming and they have a birthday while they are here they get in free! (A longshot, I know, but just thought I would tell you about it). G all the time

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage

Venice Beach: 3.5 stars... the freaks on parade. You haven't lived until you experience what VB has to offer... and after it, you may not want to (j/k). Here is what makes California what it is. Great sights, muscle beach, NBA talent with felonies playing on the public courts, nice shopping including local artists of all flavors, and acts of depravity are all on display. You never know what you get down there, so.... PG/MA depending upon who shows up

http://www.venicebeach.com/

For other recommendations:

http://losangeles.citysearch.com/?brand=smx_tlp

Most of these are quite a trek from Pasadena but they are some of my personal favorites and I thought I would include them for you. There are tons of comedy clubs, famous restaurants, shopping areas, Universal Studios and lots of other attractions, to be sure. If anyone has any special interests please let me know and I will give you as much info as I can and I will be sure to update this as people give me more ideas. See you soon!