Well Pam, we just missed potentially playing yall in the cap1 bowl thanks to the ass holes in Starkville. But congratulations on the season, and I look forward to pulling for Penn State. Instead, I get to go to Dallas to watch us stomp on some Oklahoma State boys..and for the record, they roll their joints all wrong..
Read this, maybe it will cheer you up lol. Curt Warner, an all-time Penn State great, set to join Hall of Fame By BOB FLOUNDERS, The Patriot-News December 07, 2009, 8:30PM http://blog.pennlive.com/bobflounders/2009/12/curt_warner_an_all-time_penn_s.html College football will welcome the 17th Penn State player into its Hall of Fame tomorrow night. The newest one might just be the best of a considerable Nittany Lions' bunch. Curt Warner, the swerving, unnerving tailback on Joe Paterno's 1982-83 national championship team, heads into the Hall during an induction ceremony in New York City. Warner, who now calls Camas, Wash. home, held 42 PSU records when he graduated in 1983 and No. 25 remains the Lions' all-time leading rusher with 3,398 yards. Paterno isn't fond of listing favorites, players or teams. ?What you give to one, you take from another,'' is how the head coach likes to put it. And there have been many, many terrific running backs at Penn State. You can start with John Cappelletti, the 1973 Heisman Trophy winner. Throw in Ki-Jana Carter, who averaged 7.8 yards per carry during PSU's unbeaten 1994 season, and Larry Johnson Jr., the 2,000-yard man from 2002. Don't forget about Lenny Moore, with whom Paterno worked as an assistant coach, and Lydell Mitchell, either. Good luck stopping those guys. But there have been few runners in the sport, very few, with Warner's gifts. ?Oh, it?s got to be the way he was able to cut sideways at full speed," said PSU defensive coordinator Tom Bradley ? a young assistant on Paterno's staff during Warner's playing days ? when asked what stood out to him about Warner. ?Who can do that? Curt could cut and never seemed to lose any speed.'' He was PSU's leading rusher in 1980, 1981 and 1982. He made an immediate impact as a freshman in 1979. There were 18 100-yard games. The Lions were 18-0 in those games. He is the only Penn State player to total more than 1,000 all-purpose yards in all four seasons. The Patriot-News spoke with Warner, Bradley and PSU athletic director Tim Curley ? who was the assistant coach who recruited Warner ? a few months back when runner's Hall of Fame announcement became official. Several of Warner's teammates are expected to join him in New York City for the ceremony. ?This is really something that all of us should share," Warner said. ?Because I might be going in [the Hall], but we really did this as a group." Another thing to consider about Warner: He was at his best in Penn State's biggest games. Warner ran for more than 100 yards in the Lions' bowl wins over Ohio State (1980 Fiesta) and USC (1982 Fiesta) and in the 27-23 Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia in 1983 that earned PSU the national title. Warner ran for 117 yards and two scores against the Bulldogs despite battling cramps in the second half. He also toyed with Nebraska's defense in a 1981 regular-season game in Lincoln, gaining 238 yards in PSU's 30-24 triumph. Warner, a first-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks who was named All-Pro in 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1987, had it all. Quickness. Toughness. The ability to change direction at top speed. Terrific instincts. And the West Virginia native's vision wasn?t bad, either. Warner and his wife Ana are parents to three teenage boys ? Jonathan and twins Austin and Christian ? and a young daughter, Isabella. Warner has owned Curt Warner Chevrolet in Vancouver, Wash., since 1990. Warner said he has remained close with his former quarterback, Todd Blackledge, along with former coaches Fran Ganter and Curley, the man who headed his recruitment in the late 1970s. "Curt?s high school English teacher wrote Joe a letter. She knew how much Joe [Paterno] was into English literature. She definitely did her homework," Curley said. "Joe called me in and said, ?We need to check this kid out.? So I was off to Pineville, W.Va. I saw him play a game, and I think he touched the ball six times, and Curt scored on all six plays. ?My report to Joe was that we could really use him,'' added Curley, chuckling Paterno and Curley visited Warner later to watch him play basketball. "It was minus-30 or something like that, and it?s after midnight, and we get in the place and it?s just freezing," Curley said. "The [plane] engines are having trouble getting started, and it?s late, and it?s cold, and so Joe looks at me through those glasses of his and says, ?Curley, [Warner] better be good enough.? So I didn?t sleep for about six months." Once Warner stepped on the field as a collegian, though, Curley?s sleepless nights ended. Matt Suhey led PSU in rushing during Warner's first year but Warner provided a great change of pace, adding almost 400 yards. Warner admitted his relationship with Paterno was strained during his time at Penn State. That should come as no surprise. Paterno isn't one to coddle players, especially back then. Penn State?s national championship season of 1982 did not start well between Warner and Paterno. The Lions beat Temple 31-14 in their opener at Beaver Stadium, but Warner was frustrated. He felt he didn?t touch the ball enough and vented loud enough for Paterno to hear. "It was my senior year. We won, but I wasn?t happy. And [Paterno] chewed me out pretty good about that,'' Warner said. ?To him, my reaction was unacceptable. And I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the year.'' Warner added: ?In good times and bad, we were family. I remember he was always telling us to look around the group [of players]. ?He would say, ?These guys will be your best friends the rest of your life.? And I would look at some of my teammates and go, ?Um, I don?t think so.? ?But Joe was right. Those are some of my closest friends. ? You never really know when the stuff [Paterno] was trying to teach you in college is going to come in play once you?re in the real world. ?But it always does, and it does pretty quickly, and then you kind of go, ?Now I see the point he was trying to make.?" "One of my favorite Curt Warner stories involves the practice discussions [offensive line coach] Dick Anderson would have with Joe,'' Bradley said. ?We would have Warner plays ? and this is how good Curt was ? where Dick would bring up the fact that we didn?t have anyone assigned to block the linebacker in the hole. And this happened many times. "Joe would just look at Dick and say, ?Well, Curt?s just going to have to make the linebacker miss.? And Curt did it." Warner gained almost 7,000 yards in the NFL and would have gained a great deal more had he not suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. "The NFL game is just a vicious game," said Warner. "It?s fast, it?s intense, and it?s just all business. ? I had some minor injuries in college, but in the pros it was pretty serious." The NFL was rough on Warner. So was Paterno. But it sounds like the running back preferred his college time. Paterno was a big reason why. "Joe was always talking about poise, and he was always saying, ?You never stay the same. You either get better or you get worse','' Warner said. "So he would constantly test you in practice. He would call you out in practice, be critical of a mistake you had just made. He wanted to see how you would react. Would you just turn around, go back to the huddle and run the next play the right way, or would you get rattled by the way he was yelling?" "He needed to know if you would rattle,'' Warner added. ?Because if you rattled on the practice field, when you?re playing at Nebraska and you had the entire crowd yelling, ?Go, Big Red,? and you had to drive the ball down the field to win, Joe knew you would rattle in that situation for sure." That?s how it was for Warner. Paterno treated him like every other player. There were tests. There were lots of tests. And you would have to say No. 25, Penn State?s newest member of the College Football Hall of Fame, graded out OK.
Still ? Getting ready for kick off, got munchies all set up and beer in the fridge. WE ARE....PENN STATE
Piffer, I'm proud of the Nittany Lions today, smacking Les Miles and those loudmouthed LSU tigers around.
