'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Penn State,

the players were stirring, even this late;

The helmets were hung in the lockers with care,

In hopes that the Rose Bowl soon would be there;

The players were nestled all snug in their pads,

While visions of the BCS danced in their heads;

And Tom in his sweater, and Joe with his cane,

Had just settled down to prepare for the game;

When out on the field there arose such a clatter,

D Will was out there, running a new pattern.

Away to the window, Joe flew fast as rain,

He ran down the stairs, threw away his cane.

The ball perfectly placed to D Will’s outside shoulder

Gave Joe Pa shivers, he swore it got colder;

When, what to his wondering eyes should appear, 

Was the entire team, dressed in full gear;

With a big ol’ quarterback, the orders he barked

Joe knew in a moment it must be Darryl Clark,

More rapid than normal, the receivers they ran,

And Joe whistled, and shouted, and called out each man.

“Now, Williams! Now, Maybin! Now, Scirotto and Lee!

On, Norwood! On Royster! On Wallace and Mauti!

To the top of the rankings! To the top of them all!

Now touchdown, touchdown, touchdown all!

Excited, nervous, and loud was the band,

And the players were focused on the task at hand;

The players hustled up as practice soon would be ended,

The kickers kicked, offense scored, defense defended;

One final speech, Joe Pa gave to the team,

He sounded encouraging, demanding, confident, never mean;

“We gotta win, we gotta fight,” was his encouraging cry,

He wore his black shoes, khakis, windbreaker and tie;

The ultimate game plan, he was sure it would be,

He hoped it was good enough to beat USC;

Their bags were packed on the plane with ease,

The players looked forward to the Pasadena breeze;

He sprang to the plane, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;

But I heard him exclaim, “We have but one goal,”

“To return as Champions of the 95th Rose Bowl."

SWEET RELEASE

Life can sometimes seem like a collection of things that get in the way of living. During a few precious months in the fall, these annoyances become just that little more tolerable thanks to the magnificent outlet that is college football. The stress, responsibilities and interruptions that pile up on Monday to Friday and make you feel like a kettle about to boil over are vented on Saturday right about the same time you crack open that first tailgate beer or click on College Gameday and lose yourself in the the sparkling, reassuring gaze of Kirk Herbstreit.

Then, almost as quick as a Stephon Greene screen pass, it's gone. The curtain comes down on the college football regular season and leaves a lion-sized hole inside you. Try as you may to fill it with holiday cheer, cheese puffs or the NBA regular season - it's just not the same. Well, last night I found my wonderdrug - the Penn State Nittany Lions Women's Volleyball Team.

Since September, I had been following the progress of this juggernaut in The Daily Collegian as it steamrolled team after team in defense of its 2007 National Title. All week, I had looked forward to watching their national semi-final match against the 2006 champion Nebraska Cornhuskers and hoped to see the improbable winning streaks of 109 consecutive sets and 62 consecutive matches continue en route to back-to-back championships.

Then, ESPN decided to pay attention to the remarkable streaks and gave the squad its kiss of death - a spot on Sportscenter. At first, it seemed like it wouldn't matter as PSU rolled to a two set-to-none lead. Then the partisan crowd in Omaha, the largest ever to watch a volleyball match on U.S. soil, lifted the 'Huskers to a third-set upset and snapped the Lions' streak at 111 straight sets.

The bad news continued when Nebraska captured the fourth set as well, forcing a winner-take-all fifth set for a trip to the national title game against Stanford. During all of this, ESPN's cameras kept cutting to Kori Cooper, a junior on Nebraska's squad who suffered a season-ending injury last month. It wasn't just that she was animated and waving a towel to get the crowd fired up each time the 'Huskers earned a point, it was that she was wearing a camouflage jacket and a big pink bow.

The jacket was part of a motivational tactic employed by Nebraska's head coach and did little else but remind me of Miami in 1986. That was all I needed to start screaming at the TV like this was a Penn State football game and create a volatile verbal cocktail of swear words coupled with "corn."

In the end, the good guys won and Nebraska was reduced to just another number in PSU's record streak, but the high I felt from watching this team win helped me forget, if only for a few minutes, that football season is over until New Year's Day.

So, for any of you that need an outlet for your passion - tune in this Saturday night at eight when the Lions go for back-to-back national titles against the Stanford Cardinal. And don't forget, it's never to early to start beating the Pac-10.

Of course, the newspapers in Omaha like to perpetuate the myth that it matters not whether your win or lose as if people only compete at the college level for the 1.5 credits it earns them.

Read this garbage:

In the end, Nebraska volleyball has opened a window to its soul and shown us what it's all about.

The heart of a champion.

No matter what the score said last night.

Full Text: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10518576

So explain to me, if it has the heart of a champion, why isn't it even playing in the championship game?

CHRISTMAS COMING EARLY...OR LATE...FOR BOWL TEAMS

The NCAA might try and argue that a bowl game is its own reward for the more than 60 teams that are participating in the postseason this year, but some deep-pocketed sponsors are taking the opportunity to provide fringe benefits to players who are going bowling this holiday season.

The Sports Journal's David Broughton has a comprehensive list of gifts that are going to be handed out to this year's bowl participants and it probably puts your Christmas list to shame.

FedEx Orange Bowl officials have reserved a suite at each of the team hotels, the Westin Diplomat and Fontainebleau, and plan to stock them exclusively with Sony Electronics products. On the night that each of the teams arrives in town, the players will be invited to the suite, handed a folio that not coincidentally features their school colors and is emblazoned with the bowl logo, and given what is basically a $300 credit line. Players can check off from a list in the folio the items that they want (up to $300 in total value), and the gifts will be delivered to the addresses of their choice.

Along with a bevy of gifts from Sony, a variety of gadgets and luxuries will be provided from Apple, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike and Nintendo just to name a few. Check out the full list to see what each Nittany Lion will be taking home from Pasadena (besides a Rose Bowl Championship...zing!).

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60900

IN OTHER NEWS

Holy Kapinos!

The AP released yesterday that former Penn State punter Jeremy Kapinos has been signed by the Green Bay Packers after a round of tryouts. Kapinos, who kicked infrequently last year with Jets, will replace Derrick Frost of the Packers who has been relatively inconsistent this year.

The all-time punt yardage leader in Nittany Lion history and 2006 graduate was a Ray Guy Award finalist and a third-team All-American while at Penn State. However, he was shafted by the NFL 2 years ago and was not invited to the NFL Combine. This clearly was a bad move as Kapinos was named the Big Ten Player of the Week four times during his collegiate career - AND HE'S A PUNTER.

Although it didn't count in the stat sheet, Kapinos launched a 90+ yard punt during an early non-conference game in 2006. On a 4th and long from inside the Lions five yard line, Kapinos punted from deep in the end zone. The ball sailed over the receivers head and finally rolled to a stop on the opposite two yard line bringing Beaver Stadium to a frenzy. Unfortunately, the play was whistled dead mid-punt due to a false start on the offense.

It's good to see Kapinos get another shot in the NFL. There were a couple times during his Penn State career where he was the most potent offensive weapon on the field for the Lions. While I doubt he'll be that for the Packers, I'll sure be rooting for him.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO PETE

Things have been pretty quiet here at "The Floating Lion" since Penn State's season wrapped. Without getting into too many details, I shot myself in the thigh accidentally at a Scranton night club and it's hurt my blog production.

Since the final whistle of Penn State's conference-crown clinching win over Michigan State, the Lions have been quiet, but the college football world around them has been anything but. The dizzying scenario we laid out a few weeks ago to try and launch Penn State back into the national title hunt has dissolved, and Lions fans can fix their gaze firmly to the West and Pasadena, Ca.

As late as last Saturday, it looked as if Penn State's opponent in its third Rose Bowl ever would be the Oregon State Beavers, a rematch of the two teams' September 5th meeting. A humbling defeat at home to arch-rival Oregon ended the Beavers' rosy dreams and elevated the mighty USC Trojans to first place in the Pac-10 and the automatic berth to the "Grand-Daddy of Them All."

There will be plenty of time to break down that likely Jan. 1 matchup, but suffice it to say that it is sure to be one of the most eagerly anticipated bowl games of the last two decades for Penn State.

However, right now I want to draw some attention to Pete Carroll's recent decision to wear the Trojans' cardinal jerseys on the road this week at the Rose Bowl against cross-town rival UCLA. For those of you who are new to this whole uniform thing, only one team in major college football wears white at home, the LSU Tigers. If you're not the Bayou Bengals, you wear your dark unis at home and your white unis on the road.

Apparently, Carroll has forgetten this trend and plans on forfeiting up to two timeouts (one at the beginning of each half) to be able to make his fashion statement. Carroll has since said that he's making the move to restore a tradition that hasn't been in effect since 1982, when both the Bruins and Trojans would wear their home colors when they played each other.

Make no mistake about it, The Floating Lion can see through the lip-service, and this is a definite message being sent by Carroll in response to a full-page ad taken out by first-year UCLA coach, Rick Neuheisel, in the LA Times before the season started.



This is Carroll's way of saying that he and his Trojans own the City of Angels and the stadium that the Bruins call home. His team has been pretty outspoken already about not being thrilled to be playing in its fourth straight Rose Bowl and third straight bowl game against a Big Ten team (Michigan, Illinois, Penn State). Perhaps Pete is also playing a little psychological warfare with the Lions, marking his territory in Pasadena before Penn State arrives in town.

TOP 10 PLAYS OF 2008

There's been a lot of time since Penn State's official regular season came to an end on the frozen tundra of Lambeau - err Beaver Stadium on November 22nd. And there will be a lot more time until the 95th Rosebowl game kicks off on January 1st, 2009.

Before we fully set our sights on Pete Carroll and the Men of Troy (barring a UCLA win over USC this Saturday), let's take a quick look back at the season that not only brought jubilation to all of Penn State Nation, but also thrust the Lions into National Championship talks for the first time in years.

I have assembled what I think to be the top 10 plays of the 2008 regular season. As there are many plays that are worthy of this list, I'm sure I missed a few. Feel free to add onto this list in the message board because this was a season that really can't be broken down into 5, 10, or 20 single plays - but rather 720 full minutes of Penn State football which will be on the minds of Penn State fans for years to come.

Here goes nothing..

10. Aaron Maybin's sack of Temple starting QB Adam DiMichele on the game's first possession. The play not only forced a Temple punt and a breakout season for Maybin, DiMichele was injured on the play and out for the game.

9. Jordan Norwood's 55-yard TD reception that started the scoring in the rout of Syracuse. It sparked a huge day for the Lions and turned the Carrier Dome into a Penn State frenzy for the remainder of the afternoon - regardless of Dennis Quaid's breathtaking halftime appearance.

8. Daryll Clark's fourth-down QB sneak for a touchdown at Purdue broke a scoreless tie midway through the second quarter in a game that was unexpectedly and uncomfortably close for Lion fans. This call to go for it by the Nittany Lion coaching staff not only surprised many fans, it set the tone for the rest of the year.

7. Lydell Sargeant's interception of Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor in the end zone during the final seconds. Much like Tamba Hali's forced fumble of Troy Smith in 2005, this was the nail in the coffin sending all of Penn State Nation into jubilation.

6. Aaron Maybin forced Wisconsin QB Allan Evridge to fumble deep in Badger territory in the final two minutes of the first half -- just minutes after Wisconsin had scored to narrow State's lead to 17-7. Penn State capitalized on the turnover for a TD and a comfortable 24-7 lead at intermission.

5. Derrick Williams' punt return for a touchdown at Wisconsin midway through the second quarter improved Penn State's lead to 17-0 in what had been a sluggish performance by the Lion offense. Williams thrust himself back into the National spotlight in 2008 with his many explosive returns.

4. Derrick Williams' kickoff return for a touchdown vs. Illinois on the first play of the fourth quarter restored a two-score lead for Penn State. It's fitting that the senior wide receiver had two of my top 10 plays this season. Ever since his game and season-saving catch at Northwestern in 2005, everyone knew he was in for a huge career.

3. Pat Devlin's QB sneak for a touchdown at Ohio State. After Clark exited the game (and was not clearly not pleased about it), the TD came on third-and-goal, and who knows what would have happened had the Lions didn't put it in the end zone on that possession. Devlin and Penn State fan's will remember that drive for years to come.

2. Jared Odrick's safety in the third quarter against Michigan gave Penn State its first lead of the game. It also provided excellent field position for the ensuing drive that resulted in a touchdown and two-score Penn State lead. It was also the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Week. The curse was broken and Michigan was defeated.

1. Mark Rubin. Mark Rubin. Mark Rubin. Although his play was spotty a number of times this year, I think we all agree there was no bigger play for the Nittany Lions this season than when Rubin forced Terrelle Pryor to fumble in the fourth quarter at Ohio State (also the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Week). After Penn State fans everywhere began to get that queasy feeling in their stomach when the Buckeyes began that drive, Rubin jarred the ball loose launching a nationwide scream of "FUMBLE RUSKIIIIII". Eventually recovered by Navarro Bowman, the fumble not only saved the game, but also the Big Ten Championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Although this is just a short list of all the plays and players that helped mold this year's squad into Big Ten Champions, there's no shame in hoping that the upcoming Rose Bowl will create a whole new list of memories that Penn Stater's will be talking about for a long time to come.