SB Nation User Blog: fugimaster24

Pennsylvania Owns

fugimaster24 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:53:54 -0000

Pennsylvania Owns

Haha...wow.

BSD Play List 2009

fugimaster24 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:42:44 -0000

It's the off season, and as I tried to think of things to keep us entertained until Akron, I thought it'd be nice for us all to put together a BSD certified play list for this coming season. I'm going to list some obvious ones, and yinz can post you're favorites in the comments, and vwa-la, a play list. What pumps you up? What takes you back? Put it down.

-Hey Baby/4-2-4-Yeah...this version doesn't sound remotely like the version sung at the stadium with the Blue Band, but if you're at home, far away from you're brethren, its better than nothing.

-Have You Ever Seen The Rain?/CCR-I'm not sure if I've ever heard a song sung louder by the Beaver Stadium crowd than this one at the Illinois/Whiteout game last year. It was such a hit that they played it twice!

-Sweet Caroline/Neil Diamond-I've always thought of this one as more of a Red Sox hit, but...we all know the words, so it has my blessing.

-In the Air Tonight/Phil Collins-This has always been a "big game" song for me. It seems like they always play it during warm-ups of night games. Does anyone know why? Edubacate me.

-Livin' On a Prayer/Bon Jovi-Ahhh...dramatic key changes.

-Zombie Nation-Whether your a fan or not, Ohio State '05 forever linked this song and Penn State. I feared for my life after the defensive sequence in the first half that ended with the Lowry pick that was returned to the Buckeye 2. They played it after every play, and the crowd got more and more jacked until the stands we're going up and down 6 inches at a time.

Your turn!

Poll

Cake or Ice Cream?

BSD Student List

fugimaster24 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:17:31 -0000

Jtot (maha) pointed out in the comments of his drinking post that DawsonPSU10 is a student, which I was not aware of. Who else is a student? Perhaps we could grab some stickies this fall? Or bacon? Post whatever information you deem appropriate for these internets. I was thinking about starting a Facebook group for all BSD students, too...I'll leave a full on BSD facebook group up to one of the elders. This post was 74 words before this sentence.

Yinzrfy Me!

fugimaster24 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:38:48 -0000

Yes, I did just create that word.

Anyway, a quick glance at your Post-Gazette this morning will lead you to this Ron Cook cheerleading piece.

I probably don't have to tell you how fortunate you are to be living in Pittsburgh instead of Cleveland when it comes to sports. I just hope you realize how truly lucky you are, period. You're living through a sports year that very likely won't be matched the rest of your life.

The Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals to win the Super Bowl.

The Pitt men's basketball team came within one terrific, length-of-the-court drive by Villanova's Scottie Reynolds of going to the Final Four.

The Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings -- on the road in Game 7, no less -- to win the Stanley Cup.

Right...so lucky not to be Cleveland...or just about any other sports city in the country...but whatever yiznr reads this won't care about the rest of the country, as long as we're better than Cleveland, we've obviously done ourselves good.
Anyway, he goes out of his way to attack Cleveland, but leaves out...

Ya, ok, great work Ron. Considering the Browns didn't have a snowballs chance in hell, I'm pretty sure this is the only game that Clevelanders probably cared about that involved a local Pittsburgh team kicking their ass. And you left it out. Bang up job!

Then he capped a great column with this:

It's easy to think this core group of Steelers will win another Super Bowl or two or three. Big Ben Roethlisberger is signed through the 2015 season. Two championships in four years do not seem like nearly enough for him. Wouldn't it be something if he matched the four that Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw produced in the '70s? Or topped them?

It's just as easy to think the Penguins will hoist the Stanley Cup again soon. Star players Sidney Crosby, 21, Evgeni Malkin, 22, Marc-Andre Fleury, 24, and Jordan Staal, 20, still are mere babies in their sport. Can you believe Staal couldn't drink champagne out of the Cup in Detroit the other night? Not legally, anyway.

LOL!

LOL indeed.

Not Sure What Could Be Better

fugimaster24 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:19:33 -0000

World Series Champs-Phillies

Big 10 Champs-Penn State

Super Bowl Champs-Steelers

NIT Champs-Penn State

Stanley Cup Champs-Penguins

Calder Cup Champs-Hershey Bears

Its been a helluva year I'd say. I mean, I'm not a Phillies fan, and I'm sure there are quite a few BSDers who aren't Steeler or Penguin fans, but I think we can all appreciate how cool it is to have 3 of pro sports 4 championships residing in the Commonwealth at the same time. There are 50 states in the union, and I'm not sure a single one of them can claim a year like we've had here in PA in 2008-2009. Soak it in.

via graphics8.nytimes.com

via cache.daylife.com

via sports.popcrunch.com

via blog.pennlive.com

via a123.g.akamai.net

Suck it world!

(Fire Curley)

Poll

Who are you most glad felt the pain of Pennsylvania's awesomeness?

Hossa/Ovechkin

27 votes

Mets/Manny

22 votes

Ray Lewis

4 votes

Terelle Pryor

90 votes

Domers at the NIT

10 votes

153 votes | Poll has closed

PIAA 6A Expansion

fugimaster24 — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:51:45 -0000

As some of you might know, the PIAA is seeking to expand the number of classifications for PIAA football from 4 to 6. The WPIAL is opposed to this, and has gone as far as to say they'd pull out of the PIAA playoffs going forward should the plan pass through a 3rd vote (More reading here, here, and here).

Anyone have any opinions/insight on this one way or the other? I think it's really shorting the WPIAL in a lot of ways, from forcing them to not play their championship games at Heinz Field to taking 3 of the last 4 state champions in AAAA out of the state's top division in the future.

Anyone?

P.S. If you thought Terrelle Pryor was gonna suck because he was coming out of AA, imagine what a disadvantage a great player in AA will be at now...

Springtime Ramblings of a Mad Man

fugimaster24 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:11:03 -0000

Maybe its the 70 degree weather that swept through the area this weekend. Maybe its the Pirates not sucking. Maybe its the fact that the Penguins STILL own the Flyers, but I'm feeling good, and full of ideas.

Let me preface this by saying that I love Blue and White weekend exactly the way it is today. Its that Penn State fix that typically we don't have from bowl season all the way up to September. Granted the basketball team went a long way in closing that gap, but this year still promises to be a fun beginning to 2009. Did I mention its all free? What I'm about to say isn't a suggestion on how to "fix" the spring game, because I don't think it needs fixed, but rather, spice it up a bit.

Why not play Pitt in the Spring Game?

-Think about it. Pitt-Penn State probably wouldn't crack an ABC/ESPN primetime slot in the fall, heck, it might not even crack ABC/ESPN at 3:30. But schedule Pitt for the Spring Game, and suddenly you add a national telecast to an otherwise meaningless game. ESPN seems to like to cover spring games, and I'm sure they'd be all over the chance to broadcast one with some actual story lines and emotion. No matter what, its more intriguing than Tim Tebow vs. the second string defense.

-It'd be our opportunity to play Pitt on a home and home basis without actually giving anything up. You still get you're 7-8 home games in the regular season, and considering you don't currently charge for the spring game as it is, you're not losing any money if it isn't in State College some years. The years its in Pittsburgh, you might even be able to get MLB to have the Phillies and Bucs play down the street giving fans from out east all the more incentive to go the three extra hours into Pittsburgh. If Penn State ever does play Pitt for real again, it certainly won't be for any longer than two years. Playing in the Spring Game would be a way to keep things going indefinitely.

-It would go a long way in appeasing the Pittsburgh media. While I'm sure the crusty old Gene Colliers and Bob Smiziks of the world would have their gripes with it, in the end they'd know its better than nothing.

-It might even help the team. It's hard to simulate the pressure of a real game when the crowd is more concerned with getting a tan than paying much attention to the game, and you're playing against your buddies. Play Pitt, and suddenly, theres something on the line. Maybe not a bowl bid, or a conference title, but pride. When you add genuine competition, it can only help you. Pressure, even in a limited sample size, might tell us things about people that a normal spring game might not.

-I could be completely off base with this, but I feel lik its at least worth talking about. I'm sick of Greg Paulus talk.

Thank You BSD

fugimaster24 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:22:39 -0000

You know, as basketball season finally ends, and we roll into a hopefully quiet offseason after what has undoubtedly been one of the best years for sports in Happy Valley ever, I just want to thank everyone here; Mike, Kevin, RUTS, and all of BSD's great readers/commenters for making the season great. From the opening kickoff against Coastal in August to final buzzer tonight in the Garden, I've really enjoyed clicking over to BSD at least 12 times a day for the last year.

The open threads were great, the commentary was fantastic, and the discussions were second to none.

You know, I'll never forget the Saturday night before Selection Sunday when all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and cry. BSD picked me up. The open thread that night was nothing short of a huge pick me up.

For a kid living in the Penn State hating Pittsburgh media market, its refreshing to have a place like this to discuss the Lions. I've never met a single one of you, but I can safely say I consider you friends, and look forward to maybe meeting some of you in the future.

I just want to thank you all for answering the question...

"...Maybe we can be awesome?..."

...with a resounding yes.

Fire Tim Curley

fugimaster24 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:49:48 -0000

Ok, let's be honest here, I'm more or less rehashing a debate we've already had, and I realize that, but let's face the facts here. What happened tonight alone is a fireable offense for an athletic director, especially at a place like Penn State. A monkey could run a pretty successful athletic department across the spectrum if it had the money to throw at it Curley does, so, I really don't give him much credit for the success in those areas. I give the credit to Joe Paterno who built the football team into the cash cow it is, so that those other teams have the resources they need to be successful.

Tim Curley's job is to put the athletic teams in the best position to succeed. Thanks to Joe Paterno, he doesn't have to worry about the other sports, because all he needs to do is give them money, and generally, they'll do well. Basketball and football are a different story, and Curley has NOT put our teams, especially the basketball team this season, in a position to succeed.

Doug Gottlieb made a good point tonight when arguing for St. Mary's to be in. They played 8 straight games either on the road or at a neutral site. They went on the road to play traditionally pretty good basketball teams in Oregon, Kent St., and Southern Illinois. They brought Providence in to play them at their place.

None of those teams are eye-poppers, and had you told me before the season we'd have to played them, I'd have said we could beat every single one of them. St. Mary's RPI was in the 30s in a conference a quarter of the strength of the Big 10. That means they built it up, not by playing the college basketball elite, but rather by simply playing some decent basketball teams.

If Tim Curley had done HALF of what St. Mary's did to get our RPI to where theirs was, we'd be in right now, plain and simple. Take their non-conference slate, and mix it with our conference schedule, and you're talking about a team not only being in the tournament for the first time since 2001, but an 8 or 9 seed, maybe even higher.

The fact that we're on the outside looking in means that Tim Curley didn't do his job correctly. When you're a school like Penn State, opportunities like this don't come around everyday, and when your leader fails to take advantage of one of those, his head needs to roll. Indiana will be back next season. We're losing two of our top three scorers. Who knows where we'll be a year from now.

This is a disaster, and its a disaster of our own doing. And when you take opportunities away from yourself, you aren't doing your job correctly.

Fire Tim Curley.

Poll

Who do you blame for Penn State missing the NCAA Tournament?

Tim Curley

145 votes

The Selection Committee

39 votes

The Team

70 votes

The Big 10

4 votes

258 votes | Poll has closed

Time To Question Curley? (Clarified)

fugimaster24 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:15:41 -0000

Since its a fruitless battle trying to make myself clear in the comments of my previous post, I'll do it here.

My point was never that we should concede our home games. If the athletic department insists on 15 every two years, then fine. I have no problem with an athletic department trying to make money. What I do have a problem with is the obvious lack of effort on the athletic department's part to TRY and get better opponents. Coastal Carolina and Youngstown St. SCREAM lack of effort, and in the case of Coastal, cronyism. Just because an athletic director is a former Nittany Lion is absolutely no reason to make 110,000 people buy tickets for a massacre like that, and then listen to analysts throw it in your face for the next 3 months. Period. When the many vocal Penn State haters in the media look to get us on something, they'll go straight to our worst non-conference game and say "Well look who they played? I-AA_________". How many times did asswipes like Mark May leave out the fact that we beat Oregon St. last year? When you schedule I-AA teams, its like saying "We didn't even want to spend the time trying to negotiate with legitimate I-A programs who might have been tougher in negotiations, but ultimately would have given us the one-and-done visit we'd have asked them for for an extra 100,000 grand."

My point was not that we should necessarily change the scheduling practices, but rather, work like dogs to get the most out of them. If you're going to play 15 home games in 2 years, make them the best damn 15 home games you can possibly make them. In my opinion, when you see I-AA teams on our schedule, it means the people in the athletic department just didn't work hard enough to get someone better to play in that spot. Curley runs the athletic department. He needs to be held accountable for that.

I-AA might as well say "We didn't try"

And to those who so eloquently pointed out that we lost to Iowa last year, I say this. Why the hell should one loss disqualify us when it didn't disqualify many other teams? Why were WE the ones that had to fall to the back of the line? I'm aware the Big 10 wasn't that great last year, which is PRECISELY why the non-conference needs to be better! Its an insurance policy for when we only have one loss, and the conference sucks, to have something respectable to fall back on. That safety net wasn't there last year. Which is why we never saw the light of day.

To sum up. Want 15 home games? Fine. Just try. Thats all we ask.

As for basketball, let me say it again. There is NO REASON a 21-win team, regardless of their past history, be sitting on Lunardi's last 4 in heading into Championshop week. A lot of times, losing to a good team is better than beating crappy teams, so why even waste the time A) pissing your fans off, and B) giving the critics amo? If a 18-19 win Penn State team had played anything remotely respectable in the non-conference this year, and done the same thing in the Big 10, we're not all sweating out every game of every MEAC tournament this week. Plain and simple.

And, if, as some have claimed, we're scheduling down to our perceived ability level, thats ridiculous. No one cares about you if you don't get into the NCAA Tournament, which is why, regardless of talent level, the athletic department needs to put the team in the best position to succeed in doing that every single year, not just run up meaningless wins to say "Look! We don't suck THAT bad". If becoming a contender means getting your ass beat for a higher RPI, then do it. If this team misses the tournament for a riduculous reason like that, we should all be ashamed.