Sports Weekend

A great scene before the kickoff of the Penn State-Nebraska game. Both teams took a knee at midfield and said a prayer for the victims of Jerry Sandusky. The reporting on the teevee is that it was the idea of the Nebraska players.

Nebraska is one of the class acts of college football as PSU has always been. When I was stationed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1979 a pal of mine scored 2 tickets to see the Lions play the Conrnhuskers in Lincoln. Dressed in my Penn State gear we headed into Memorial stadium not knowing what to expect as I had been treated rudely at other sporting events for wearing the "wrong" colors. A man and a woman decked out in Go Big Red attire yelled at us "hey Penn State fans" and I thought "here we go." I shied away not wanting to get into it but they came up to us, offered a handshake and said welcome to Lincoln. After chatting for bit about where we from we told them we were stationed at Offutt AFB then things got really good. They called over a couple of students who took us to our seats and the people sitting around us were great. We didn't pay for a soda or a hot dog that day. The price we paid was some good natured ribbing as Nebraska won big 42-17.

Well the Lions came up short yesterday as the defense played great again but the offense came up short missing a 1st quarter FG that came back to haunt them. Final Nebraska 17 PSU 14. All is not lost because if the Lions can win the final 2 games they will be in the Big 10 Championship game. Next week's game is against a Ohio State team that lost to Purdue but they finish against the Wisconsin scoring machine.

In Baseball news the Phillies signed Jim Thome to a 1 year deal giving them a home run threat off the bench. He hasn't played the field in a few years but gives them an option at 1B waiting for Ryan Howard to recover from surgery. I like it. They also signed Jonathon Papelbon to a 4 year $50 million deal to be the closer after not being able to agree to terms with Ryan Madson that has some fans howling. I always thought that Madson would be the closer of the future as he proved his worth this year. The Phillies don't have a good history dealing with his agent Scott Boras remember the JD Drew thing.

The Eagles blow another 4th quater lead and the Stillers win.