oldguystudent

A very similar thing went down in my high school, perpetrated by one of our most beloved and respected teachers, with one of my friends included among the victims. I spend years adamantly denying and defending the teachers and the school because I just wouldn't believe it. Institutional cover ups, blood money paid out, one faculty suicide. Twenty something years later, I still struggle to come to terms with, and acknowledge, what one of the men whom I most respected had been doing systematically for many years. To be honest, I'm completely numb to the Penn St situation. We want to throw stones, set fire to the stake, point fingers, and condemn. Having seen one of these situations go down from the inside, I can tell you that evil isn't always so clear, reactions to it not always so black and white when you're there in it. Ultimately, yes. It is devastating. On the outrage front, the legal system will do its work, and beyond that, karma, God, spaghetti monsters, whatever you believe, will take care of things over the long haul. The rest of us are free to be shocked, hurt, devastated. But let's leave the pitchforks and torches to those entities trained to use them.

Troy, who lost to Monroe 38-10 at home, is favored by 8 this weekend? Is it our ongoing saga of road woes? Our lack of quarterback? Our shade of green? Fallout from Paterno misdeeds? Can we pull off our first and only road win of the season? Will we? I know we're excited about Sonoma St. aspiring to join the Big Beast Conference and the entire state of Pennsylvania being declared off limits to minors, but there is a HUGE 3-game stretch coming up.

Well, when you look at gaping holes in your program, and you, you know, fill them, things do tend to improve. We may need a QB and some receivers, but there are fundamental spots that have been neglected for years that we need to fill first. This pickup excites me.

As I watch all this conference BS trickle down to the lowly and footballess Big West, and I read posters on the very, very lowly Big West message board make the statement that the conference must keep up with the Jones', I begin to think that this entire thing is a bubble that's going to burst hellaciously on all but the biggest powerhouse programs. I just don't think there is enough television viewership to slice the pie among 120 schools, but all 120 are going to scurry around, throwing money at conferences, trying to get their little dollop of meringue. When I look at what it takes to be a Texas or LSU, the money, the corruption, the professional rosters, and the lengths they'll go to to protect all of that, I have to admit that there are times I'm perfectly happy to be lil' ole' UNT playing BFE UL Monroe in our beautiful new stadium sitting on our beautiful new tailgate grounds.

Next week, Lindsay Lohan will crash her car into Kim Kardashian at the Playboy Mansion nudie alumni reunion, and the country will have its next sensation to fixate on.

The houses around these parts clearly are made of brick, not glass. Toss those stones!

A little poking around yields this:

And herein lies the problem with virtually all modern sports. The fans demand a touchdown on every pass, a home run on every at bat, a slam dunk on every possession. So much so that each of these loses excitement from such ubiquity. Last night's game was a war. A war that lasted more than sixty minutes and demanded an attention span longer than the wait in the beer line. With the exception of Alabama's UNT-like kicking game, neither team blinked. That 9-6 game was more exciting to me than any spread offense 125-95 shootout. The latter looks like a bunch of schoolyard kids yelling "Go Long!" for the entire night.

Some random dude on some other message board had disparaging things to say about UNT! Oh no! It's PROOF that the world is against us! Seriously, do some of you scour the internet for any little thing about UNT to prove confirmation bias that there is a world-wide conspiracy against the lil' ole' school in Denton?

Nice avatar. I see what you did there.

I agree with you if for no other reason than UL-La is at the absolute top of my road game wishlist when I'm gainfully employed, and I would hate to miss that opportunity.

I used to spend a considerable amount of time in El Paso for work. It's remote, yes, but I sure do miss going out there. Nicest group of people, best Mexican food you can get without a passport, great weather, and that desert landscape...it...grows on you. Edit: If you're into steak houses, El Paso has two of the best. First is Cattlemen's, waaay out east toward Socorro and located on a ranch. All rustic style. Second is Billy Crews, just over the New Mexico border (but still considered El Paso by most). They hand cut your steaks to order and have a wine list that will blow your mind.

Glancing through this topic, I say p'shaw to any CUSA members who question our facilities. P'shaw indeed. That is the absolute least of my concerns.

At the team's current level we'd be in for a few more years of serious butt whippings. Everyone here ok with that in favor of the greater, long-term good?

Pfft! I'm too poor to own a sofa to get off of, let alone drive to these distant lands!

I like this list. Explain to me how travel partners work. That's a basketball thing, not football, right?

I'm not sure how I should feel about the best player on the team being the punter. That said, if you ask any of the old Raiders who they think was the guy that got them to the championships, they will all, to a man, mention Ray Guy first. So this would be quite an honor for Will.

I don't get the joke. Are you saying that the WAC is a DIII conference?

What's a Sunbelt network?

This is a HUGE 30-game stretch coming up! Can we? Will We?

Yes, and that same vaunted June Jones, infallible as he is, got it handed to him 38-7 against Tulsa yesterday.

I was shocked that this very phrase was not permanently etched into the stone facade of Apogee.

I'm pretty sure the Ark St. greeks just crowd the stadium and heckle creatively. Clearly, that's the edge.

At least the complaining this week could be related to football.

The team is Jekyll and Hyde right now, but if you're making any insinuations about the quality of this coaching staff, then I've have to adamantly answer that yes. We have turned the corner. Put this team out there last year, and you'd have Atterbury at QB, and the score would be 42-0 at half.