I got talking today to an ex Head Wrestling College coach that still has connections to the current wrestling scene.
2 things of interest, that I don't know if they have been discussed.
The first thing that I found out.
Koll leaving Cornell was because of 2 reasons.
One is the obvious, 5 year 2.5 million guarantee.The other issue was Cornell penalized him by holding salary or bonus because they found out he was having non approved workouts during the Covid situation. Supposedly that was what made him even consider looking elsewhere.
The second notable discussion that came up. It sounds like Kyle Dake will be at State College in some role after the Olympics.

Curious if others are experiencing major delays. I have never experienced delays like this and it's not greeting cards as they are flowing fine. Talking packages, including mailorder pharmacy medicines. I'm just NE outside of Columbus OH.
1. A package I ordered, shipped 1st class, was at the Ballston NY PO on Dec 1 and currently is sitting in Rochester since Dec 4.
2. A package I shipped to go to Annandale VA, book rate, went Dec 7 to Cincinnati and departed Pittsburgh Dec 14 at 1am with no further update. Frankly I didn't expect much with book rate but it is moving faster than 1st class mail.
3. A prescription from a mail order Pharmacy in Cincinnati was delivered to the Cincinnati PO on Dec 7, where it remains at this time.

I don't care about 1 and 2, but the prescription IS a major issue.

The USPS says this: ALERT: USPS IS EXPERIENCING UNPRECEDENTED VOLUME INCREASES AND LIMITED EMPLOYEE AVAILABILITY DUE TO THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19. WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AND REMAIN COMMITTED TO DELIVERING THE HOLIDAYS TO YOU.

I do understand the dilemma that they face. People not visiting so mailing packages instead, but there seems to be some issues with priority.
Also, this is all BEFORE the recent nor'easter came along.
Perhaps, a bit of an answer to my own post...my son called before I got this posted and he thinks the distribution of vaccines is contributing to this.

I only purchase dividend stocks with some growth capability, thusly, I have 2K sitting sitting in etrade to invest. Thinking BP! What do you think and thank you!

For those of you that constantly bitch about Sandy, would you like her to take the direction OSU is following for tickets and contributions? While the new program is similar to what is now used in Beaver Stadium, the pricing if far above what Penn State charges. Check out the parking pricing.

Ohio State University trustees are expected to approve a new football ticketing system that will allocate the best seats in the stadium to those who donate the most.

Trustees are scheduled to vote on the new plan Thursday that makes no changes for 2021 but switches to a new “per-seat contribution” pricing model beginning with the 2022 season. Most season ticketholders will be required to make contributions on top of paying for tickets.

“There is going to be some people who are upset,” said Gene Smith, OSU athletics director since 2005. “Then you’re going to have that constituency who will pay less. There will be people who pay less (for their season tickets.)”

Ohio Stadium will be divided into six zones. In zone 6, 14,000 season tickets will be available for purchase at face value with no required additional donation. Zone 6 seats are in the upper levels of the end zone. Seats in zone 1 are on the 50 yard line and will require a $1,500 per-seat contribution on top of the $1,287 cost for tickets to the eight home games. Contribution requirements and ticket prices range for the other zones but it boils down to the better the seat, the higher the donation and ticket prices.
Season ticket holders will also be required to make contributions of $3,000 to $6,000, plus pay $400 to $480 for parking passes. The seat contribution will off-set the required donation for parking spots.


Student seats will not be subject to the new system and tickets will remain priced at $34 per game. Likewise, suite seats will not fall under the new system.
Ohio State Buckeyes athletics reports big profits
Ohio State has more than 1,000 athletes participating in 36 varsity sports. It is one of about two dozen college athletics programs nationwide that are self-sustaining and do not rely on student fees or university subsidies. OSU Athletics typically transfers $52 million a year to the university’s general fund.
Smith, however, projects a $60 million deficit for the athletics department this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Smith anticipates that the department will borrow from the university and pay back the interest-bearing loan over five to seven years to erase the deficit.


Ohio State offering multiple ticket packages after decline in attendance
The per-seat contribution model is used by Power 5 peer schools across the nation.
“The department believes it can lower the total price of entry for many fans while also generating additional donations to fund student-athlete scholarships in all 36 sports,” Ohio State said in a written statement.
Currently, OSU’s Buckeye Club receives nearly $14 million a year in donations. Ohio State hopes to grow that to $25 million over an unspecified number of years, starting with a $5 million bump once the new football ticketing system is implemented.
“There is no question this that this is a revenue opportunity. We need to grow our annual giving program,” Smith said.
By the Numbers: Ohio State University Football
102,780 seats
50,000 season ticket holders
28,000 student tickets
8 home games in 2022

Should MLB continue to allow this kind of obvious tanking? It's fairly clear now, with one team at 20 straight losses and the other at 17 straight losses. At this rate, baseball will have not one, but two teams break the modern day record of the 63 Mets. Just pathetic.
The irony of all this is it saves the Pirates from being outed, when it's actually Nutting who needs forced out of baseball.

I have now witnessed something even more bizarre... 13u traveling baseball teams and families. My 13 yr old godson/nephew lives in the bay area. He is on a high functioning team that travels all over the country. Last month he played 10 games over a 4 day period in tourney in Cooperstown NY. Now he is in Omaha. I brought him up here today from Dallas as his parents can't arrive until Friday (their other son in similar thing on 16u team playing in Phoenix). These parents are beyond nuts. The lobby of the Holiday Inn Express is full of 40 something hardcore boozer all wearing their sons team jerseys, drinking boxed wine, gambling, eating pizza, and carrying like teenagers on the senior trip. There's not a BMI under 35. Are there a few wreckable milfs? Well sure but that's a low bar. I am all for dedication to your sons athletic fulfillment... but I really think the games are an excuse. I can't wait to see who answers the bell at O-dark thirty. First game is at 0730am. Will be 108 degrees tomorrow in Omaha.

Carry on...

Not interested in political complaints. Just wondered if you have personal knowledge of someone who, in your mind, took ridiculous efforts to avoid Covid. In my case, a neighbor would go out in the morning and use salad tongs to pick up her paper which was already wrapped in plastic. She would then leave it in her garage for 3 days before reading it. She stopped doing this after we all got vaccinated.

My son is very involved in film making and believes that AMD computer chips are much higher quality than Intel Chips and that the AMD chips are much more economical. He bought a $1,000 worth of AMD at $31 per share and it is currently worth about $79 per share. He is thinking of buying another $5,000 worth of the stock. (He has about $30,000 of his own money -- mostly given to him by his Chinese aunt and uncle)

I am leery of buying stock on a strong upswing, but people have obviously done well with stocks like Apple and Amazon which have gone up and up and up. In any event, without much knowledge of this stock on my part, I am currently neutral. If people have ideas or special knowledge of AMD or the computer industry, I would like to hear their suggestions.

You have to root for this kid given the situation. He is a warrior, and I hope he sticks it in the Stanford AD's face.

Now to the important part. Where is he next year as a 4th year sophomore?

I can't help but notice how well he would slide right in to one of our largest 'oppotunities for improvement'.

1) I think I heard Stanford will honor all scholarships so he could stay just to get his degree and not wrestle, then target using his final years of eligibility in grad school somewhere else on close to a full ride.

2) Stanford under pressure could revive the program and he would stay

3) like Real Woods, finish up his degree by the end of summer then it's off to wherever, for that matter he could finish his 4th year achademically at whatever pace he wants virtually.

All of the above get him a Stangord degree which of I were in his position, I would consider a must.

I don't see Bartlett or SVN growing into a 165, neither do I see Facundo down there. So we have Joe Lee, Dunbar, Boone, Manville???, Maybe Baraclough, and off course there is my crazy idea of pushing a protential NC Starocci down, which sounds doable but only with respect to making room for Facundo.

I think it more likely that Brooks moves up on a year or two and Facundo slides in to 184. Yep don't ask me about Beard, other than to say when Bo moved up kids had to move out of the way.

So that leaves the real important questions:

Q1) Does Cael want him? Given he is 165 and has 3 years of eligibility left, to I think the answer is hell yes. He would immediately make us contenders with Iowa next year even if they bring back everyone.

Q2) Would he want to come to PSU? Who knows. Maybe he would rather go from Stanfotd to somewhere like Cornell for Grad school. Now there are some shingles for an office wall. He has already accomplished what he needs to do in wrestling. Then again, wrestling for Cael Sanderson is something anyone might want to carry forward as a lifetime achievement, not to mention the likely National Championships that go with it.

My revised must get list now includes: 1) Bouzakis 2) Shane Grifith

citing mental health concern. She says she'll accept the fines which are 15k per post-match interview. She made 50+ million so essentially a drop in the bucket for her. Link below has comments from Rafa and Swiatek saying they understand her side though the media is part of their job.

It's tough for tennis players since it's such an individual sport. The women's game is really thriving now and Osaka is right there at the top. It will be interesting how she handles this going into Wimbledon and the US Open.

Of 35 years of watching PSU football I can only remember one game where JoePa packed up the team after a loss and skipped the post game interviews (accepting the Big 10 fines). Can't remember the game.

They weaseled their way in despite being independent.

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Start it off with this guy....does some great covers....just discovered this cover of Purple Rain....

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New show on HBO starring Kate Winslet as a hometown hero detective in a town (fictional Easttown) on the outskirts of Philadelphia, working to solve a year old missing persons case while dealing with the issues of her day to day life. Much has been made of her efforts to faithfully replicate a 'Philly' accent and for those from the area or know it well, you can tell when she's trying a bit too hard. Still, very high quality production values (Guy Pierce also stars) and HBO tends to hit more than miss. Wife and I watched the first episode and it has some Twin Peaks, The Killing, Sharp Objects vibes - all to say very good, and the ending really leaves you wanting to find out what's going on, why, and for how long. It's not available to binge watch, but worth checking out.

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An Open Letter to Judge John Boccabella:

We are encouraging you to give careful consideration in adjudicating the egregious miscarriage of justice in the misdemeanor case against Dr. Graham Spanier, the former President of the Pennsylvania State University.

In this misdemeanor case, any form of incarceration of Dr. Spanier, a 72 year-old, non-violent individual with no criminal history and serious medical conditions, serves only as vengeance and has no socially-redeeming value.

Due to Dr. Spanier’s medical conditions, specifically late stage cancer and substantive heart problems, recklessly exposing him to the inherent dangers of incarceration, which includes COVID, would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Notwithstanding Dr. Spanier’s extremely severe medical conditions, this case has been fraught with blatant prosecutorial misconduct, violation of constitutional rights, collusion, witness tampering and jury tampering accomplished by prosecutorial and investigative entities some of whom have since been disciplined for their actions in this case.

In addition, the jury foreman in Dr. Spanier’s trial has indicated that he wishes he would have acquitted Dr. Spanier. Another juror stated she was not convinced Dr. Spanier knew but voted against him because “he should have known;" both instances raise great doubt in regard to the jury decision.

This occasion affords you the opportunity to be on the right side of history in a misdemeanor case that should have never been brought.

Sincerely,

John Snedden, retired NCIS special agent

Al Lord, former Penn State trustee

Gary Schultz, former Penn State vice-president

Anthony Lubrano, Penn State trustee

Maribeth Roman Schmidt, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship

Sue Paterno, wife of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno

Ryan McCombie, former Navy SEAL commander & former PSU trustee

Just some general questions...
Is DeSanto still on the team at Iowa?
Is Lee wrestling this season? If so, is he heading into this season without any surgery on either knee? Thx in advance...

Penn State wrestling has made an addition to its upper weights for the 2021-22 season. Former Cornell wrestler Max Dean will wrestle with the Nittany Lionsunder head coach Cael Sanderson moving forward, according to his brother Gabe Dean, a former two-time NCAA Champion.

“He’s at Penn State now,” Gabe said Monday on an episode of “Beyond The Fight,” hosted by Chael Sonnen. “He’s going to be training and wrestling there.”

Max, who is a two-time All American and finished second at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships at 184 pounds, will be a junior when it comes to eligibility. The 184-pound slot on Penn State’s roster is held down by 2021 NCAA Champion Aaron Brooks, but Gabe said his younger brother will likely bump up a weight.

The lot has about 20 certified preowned cars for sale but no new cars.
I was told that it is because the chip shortage has completely halted production.

I drove by the Jaguar dealership on my way home from the Cadillac dealer and their lot was full of cars. It also looked like the Honda dealer had plenty of cars. I'm not sure why it would be different for Cadillac.

Looking to get a new one....4 year old Char-Broil just sh!t the bed...anybody have any experience with a Nexgrill or something else that is affordable? I do a decent amount of grilling year round and I understand that you get what you pay for but I still can’t bring myself to pony up the dough for a Weber. Any feedback would be appreciated

It looks like Bob Baffert is in some trouble. Medina Spirit, has failed a drug test and its Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been indefinitely suspended from Churchill Downs, officials said Sunday.

In a news conference Sunday morning, Baffert said the winning horse tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone, 11 picograms above the legal limit in Kentucky racing. Shortly after, Churchill Downs, who hosts the Derby, announced his suspension.
So this won’t effect the betters who won or lost money as a result of these shenanigans, but the purse for the winner will be withheld from the Medina Spirit owners. Maybe now the press will stop gushing over Baffert, and the horse will not be running in the Preakness. Horse racing is a very crooked sport and this certainly tarnishes all the fancy hats and bourbon aura.

You are always in my prayers.

On a private island. Has a glass elevator and chandeliers, marble countertops, and plenty of panoramic windows where you can confirm that the sun also rises over the surrounding lake. There's an outdoor pool, a small movie theater and bar, and a weight room and sauna, along with five bedrooms and nine full bathrooms. All this for the $15 million plus annual property taxes of just over $71,000.
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The Yale Corporation will handpick future board members. (The Yale Corporation is what their Board of Trustees is called).
"Yale University's board of trustees will no longer allow independent candidates to run for the school's governing body, doing away with a key mechanism independent and conservative alumni have used to seek representation.

Senior Trustee Catharine Bond Hill announced Monday that the board, also known as the Yale Corporation, was eliminating the petition process through which candidates not handpicked by the university could seek election. The move comes just months after the first petition candidate in nearly 20 years, Victor Ashe, secured a spot on the ballot.
While Yale says the decision will stop well-funded, "issue-based candidates" from bringing politics to Yale's board room, critics say the move stifles alumni and candidates who have for years tried to peer behind the curtain concealing the Yale Corporation's decisions."


I hope that nobody at PSU would ever stoop so low...or am I living in the past?

Just announced as a 7:30 start.

Probably will be the white out.

Probably not College Game Day though, Alabama plays at Florida that day as well.