The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Home 2007 Archives for April 2007

Archives for April 2007

Ruckus at the Meridian — The Aftermath

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What will happen to the Penn State defense now that some of its prominent members are in deep shit? I don’t know. No one else does, either. Maybe Joe knows, but he isn’t talking—yet. He needs to say something soon and it needs to be strong.

Six players were arrested, including two starters, Anthony Scirrotto and Justin King. They were charged with various and sundry felonies and misdemeanors relating to the April 1 party invasion they allegedly conducted. (Yeah, they’re innocent until proven guilty, so I say “allegedly,” but let’s be realistic about this.)

The other players were Christopher Baker, Jerome Hayes, Lydell Sargeant, and Tyrell Sales.

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Levi Goes at #5

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With the first three rounds of the NFL Draft now concluded, all but one of the eligible Nittany Lions have been selected and one made the top five.

Hulking offensive tackle Levi Brown was selected fifth overall by the Arizona Cardinals. He was not initially expected to be picked that high, but circumstances forced Arizona to pull the trigger. They had wanted Joe Thomas of Wisconsin, the best OT in the draft, but Cleveland, picking third, snatched him up. That left Arizona no choice, with a pressing need to protect quarterback Matt Leinart and to give some running room to Edgerrin James. Levi will do a good job for the Cardinals, although it remains to be seen how good his pass protection will be against the NFL’s fast, strong edge rushers. I guess Levi wasn’t expecting to be picked so high, because he was not present at the Radio City Music Hall extravaganza. Neither was Joe Thomas, who had decided to spend the day fishing with his dad.

I suppose it is somewhat of a disappointment that Paul Posluszny had to wait for the second round. That Orange Bowl injury cost him dearly. Buffalo got him with the second pick in the second round, #34 overall. Buffalo has a bit of a history with Penn State linebackers, having been the NFL stomping grounds for Shane Conlan.

Defensive lineman Jay Alford and RB Tony Hunt were both selected late in the third round. Alford is going to the Big Apple with the Giants; Hunt will be at the other end of the Jersey Turnpike in Philly.

Odd man out at this point is Tim Shaw, who remains unselected as of the end of the third round. It is likely that he will be taken today, being a linebacker from Linebacker U. There is a small chance that he could wind up being Mr. Irrelevant, which would be something to write about.

Update: Shaw was selected late in the fifth round by the Carolina Panthers. 

Shock “Value”?

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Last night, the vacuous nonsense that is American Idol took a turn away from the usual vacuous nonsense to run a cheap, vacuously nonsensical imitation of a Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. In the course of doing so, the producers might have inflicted some lasting emotional damage on one of its most promising contestants with a sleazy stunt that was billed as “the biggest shock in American Idol history.” Back to that later.

Don’t get me wrong—“Idol Gives Back” appears to be a worthwhile charity. Providing aid to starving or diseased chilllllldren in Africa, to chilllllldren rendered homeless by Hurricane Katrina (damn that Bush, anyway!), and teaching chilllllllllldren to read in Appalachia are all worthwhile causes. Of course, we don’t know how much of the money is being put to productive use and some of the efforts are arguably saddled with inefficiencies beyond the control of the charitable foundation. (For example, if $10 will buy enough pills and mosquito nets to keep 20 kids from dying of malaria, how many thousands of kids would $10 worth of DDT have saved were it not for the alarmist response to the late crusading tree-hugger Rachel Carson’s hyperbolic 1962 book Silent Spring, which precipitated a worldwide ban on the one insecticide that could have effected control over the vector for this mosquito-borne illness—albeit at the expense of a few birds. Yeah, that pisses me off.) Anyway, let’s assume that the money is well spent. I have no argument with the idea of “giving back.”

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