Archives for August 2007

Yeah, I know it’s fractured Turkey Spanish. This particular Turkey learned his Spanish a long, long time ago, in high school, coincidentally in South Florida. Why am I writing this here particular thang in Spanglish? Well, I’m doing it in honor of Florida International University (FIU), our home opener opponent. The Nittany Lions face the mighty (gawd-awful) Golden Panthers of FIU on Saturday, September 1, in Beaver Stadium, at high noon. And, yes, they’re blue and gold, just like the real Panthers, from under the armPitt.

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Popular and eclectic Nittany Lion Blogger Run Up The Score has added a new regular feature called Reading Is Fundamental, which provides a quick set of links to relevant articles around the Web. Check it out.

Also, the Turkey belatedly welcomes a new (relatively) Penn State blog, aptly named Happy Hour Valley. Check it out.

And, wonder of wonders, the Altoona Mirror now has a web site that approaches that which you would expect from a real newspaper. The Mirror has been around a long time—I remember Grandma reading it 100 years ago—but they’re usually about that far behind the times. They have a couple of reporters on the Penn State beat and they sometimes get interesting scoops. Check it out.

As the season approaches, I thought I would take this opportunity to clean up some subjects that I left hanging. Ahhh, closure is nice.

Larry Johnson wound up his Kansas City Chiefs training camp holdout exercise by signing a big, fat $45 million contract. He might not earn the whole $45 million, because a lot of the compensation relates to performance in subsequent years and if he keeps on carrying the ball as many times as he did in 2006, there won’t be many subsequent years. Larry always seems to rub people the wrong way; it will be interesting to see whether he is cheered or jeered when he steps out on the field for the home opener against Minnesota on September 23.

All but two charges against Anthony Scirrotto relating to the infamous spring fracas have been dropped. Centre County judge Charles C. Brown, Jr. dismissed all but the criminal trespass (third-degree felony) and the harassment (summary) charges. There apparently was not sufficient evidence to warrant the further prosecution of the dropped charges, which were assault, burglary, and criminal solicitation. So, nobody had enough to prove that Scirrotto called in the cavalry. On the other hand, apparently there’s enough evidence to place Scirrotto in the Meridian II apartment at the time of the melee; otherwise, the criminal trespass charge would have been dropped as well. In fact, he admitted he was there. Young Anthony is still not out of the woods and Chris Baker still faces similar charges to those remaining against Scirrotto.

The 2007 team captains have been elected by the Nittany Lions and they are Dan Connor, Terrell Golden, and Anthony Morelli. I suppose Golden is the only surprise, but the team chose him so that’s that. He, like his two compadres, is a senior. Connor is a natural for defensive captain, and Morelli is a natural for offensive captain. Golden has impressed the team with his leadership qualities.

Andrew Quarless and Willie Harriott are reportedly back with the team after an underage drinking thing—at least so say unconfirmed reports from Blue White Illustrated. Initially, Paterno had told them to clean out their lockers, suspending them indefinitely, but then he waffled by saying that he would leave it to the team to decide. Quarless and Harriott made two mistakes: they got caught and they were found to be football players. Who among us PSU alumni did not engage in underage drinking during our time in Happy Valley? Let’s not be hypocritical at this point. Give these guys a break.

Freshman defensive lineman Abe Koroma broke a bone in his foot during practice and is expected to miss 4–8 weeks. Given that the defensive line is one of this Turkey’s concerns, this ain’t good. Between Koroma’s projected absence and the Chris Baker legal situation, it will be difficult to effectively rotate defensive linemen. Depth will be lacking, all the more reason that P.J. Hill is going to run all over our ass.