Archives for 2006

MADISON, WISCONSIN, November 4 — I’m not going to write much about this crappy, vapid game, because it was the same old insipid stuff as we’ve seen the rest of this jejune season. The more significant events were outside the sphere of the exhilarating game itself, including Paul Posluszny setting a Penn State record, Joe Paterno taking a hit on the sideline, sustaining a knee injury, and ESPN (hopefully former) commentator Craig James calling Joe an “old fart.”

[Read more…]

The title is the same as that of the 1968 biography of El Cordobés, the great Spanish bullfighter. This post has nothing to do with the book, the bullfighter, or Spain. It’s just another Turkey Wafflepost, expressing reservations about my earlier Wisconsin prediction, which was pretty much wishful thinking. I’ve had a gigantic mood swing. Must be hormones or something.

[Read more…]

As we round the far turn and head for the homestretch, we find ourselves still riding a team that’s as unpredictable as a two year-old filly. This is the part of the season—the final three games—that separates the front-runners from the also-rans.

Third place in the Big Ten, like third place in the Breeders’ Cup, is nothing to sneeze at. It, along with a Citrus Bowl bid (I refuse to use corporate sponsors’ names here), is the prize for maintaining focus through the remaining games. Can this youthful horse finish strong, letting its fans at least cash in a show ticket?

Late in the season, the horse has bumps and bruises and cuts and scrapes. A long season with tough midweek workouts, Saturday victories and tough losses, and lots and lots of training has the horse wondering if it should rebel against the trainer and lay down on the job. However, the true thoroughbred winner is characterized by its heart. It has the desire to win, even when the chips are down and it is battered and sore.

You get the point. This Turkey felt like paying metaphorical homage to his equine buddies this morning.

So, what about Wisconsin, already? Hey, I’ll get there eventually. I want to blow a little wind first. That’s the Turkey way. At other PSU blogs, you might get insightful analysis, brilliant conjectures, derivative news, and perhaps even haughty pontification. Some of them take themselves far too seriously. That’ll never happen here, where you get plain old bullshit—which is what spectator sports is all about, ain’t it! Think of reading this blog as interacting with a friendly, articulate, opinionated drunk sitting next to you at the bar who once in a while comes up something worthwhile amidst all the hot air. (Hiccup!)

New York Times Columnist David Brooks says, “Many readers no doubt observed that if today’s prostate-aged moochers wanted to loaf around all day reading books and tossing off their vacuous opinions into the ether, they should have had the foresight to become newspaper columnists.” Yep, I think that fits pretty damn well. OK, enough digression (for now).

[Read more…]