Thoughts From The Valley

The Hangover

How I am feeling: Refreshed. Things have been crazy of late for Your Editor and Mrs. Your Editor. Work. Kids. Money. The same old stuff. Just more of it. And so a weekend away from it all was, well, very nice.

What I am drinking: Spaten Premium Lager. For $10 less than it costs to buy a case of Becks, you can instead have a case of this equally good (and maybe even better) traditional Munich lager. Light, refreshing, snappy, just hoppy enough. A great Autumn beer and especially good as an accompaniment to grilled sausage. And by the way, grilled sausage is the Official Grilled Food of TCFA.

What I am listening to: Levon Helm, Dirt Farmer. Kudos to two-time TCFA Champion Mike Unger for turning me on to this album from Helm, truly one of the titans of American music. You probably know him as the drummer from The Band. What you might not know is that Helm recorded this new album (and it is a truly fantastic album, I must say) after beating throat cancer. You can hear a very insightful interview with Helm by NPR's Fresh Air here.

My thoughts on the weekend: As I mentioned up above, folks, the last couple weeks have been fairly stressy ones here in The Beautiful Wissahickon Valley.

There have been moments, in fact, when I wondered how I'd ever manage to get done what needed to get done and handle what needed to be handled. So my trip this weekend up to Penn State, to see the Nittany Lions take on the Oregon State Beavers and spend some quality time with Mrs. Your Editor, really could not have arrived at a better time.

And just as I expected, the trip served exactly the purpose it was supposed to serve: It calmed me down.

It calmed me down a lot.

From the moment we pulled into town, all of that stuff I was so worried about seemed to fade into the background. For one day, at least, I was living in the moment. And the moment was good.

We had a wonderful lunch and a few beers at The Autoport Hotel lounge (recently renovated, by the way, and worth a visit for you Penn State travelers; their beer list, especially has been upgraded, and the food was excellent). We took a nice long walk into town. We met Nick Cerimele, Esquire, and his buddies at The Phyrst, a legendary State College basement bar. We watched Ohio State struggle with Ohio University. We visited Your Editor's Brother In Law (and were impressed to see that he actually cleaned his apartment for our arrival). Then we hit the game.

And we know how that went: It went well.

A few hours later, of course, the trip was over. And this morning we returned back home--to same old stressors that we ran away from in the first place (and I write this as I look at my laptop appearing on the verge of its second meltdown in a week's time; which would be a disaster).

But somehow, all of that stuff doesn't seem quite as daunting now.

Or at the very least, I'm decompressed enough, thanks to that day in Happy Valley, to see that, really, they're not all that important. Things will get done. Or they won't. But we'll survive.

And besides, life should not be fretted over. It should lived. Enjoyed. Savored.

The good times are there for the taking, folks.

And I intend to take them.

Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust

 

 

Three: Much praise is being heaped on Penn State's offense right now, and certainly, that praise is deserved. With the best receiving corps in the Big Ten, a big, mobile, smart quarterback, one rising star at tailback (Evan Royster is good, folks), and one of the best offensive lines Penn State fans have ever seen, this offense has been electric so far this year and figures to remain so. So no, I'm not worried about the Penn State offense. But between injuries (Sean Lee, Devon Still and, on Saturday, Jerome Hayes), suspensions (Maurice Evans, Abe Koroma) and outright dismissals (Chris Baker, Phil Taylor) the Penn State defense has been absolutely eviscerated over the last couple of months. Yes, I meant that: Absolutely eviscerated. There's no getting around this fact: At best, Penn State is fielding its second-team defense right now. Along the defensive line, you're looking at third-teamers. And so the loss of Hayes was an especially crushing blow; he's not only the most versatile player on Tom Bradley's defense (he can play defensive end, linebacker or even some defensive tackle), but also one of the unit's most respected and well-liked players. Hayes saw his season ended by a torn ACL last year, spent 10 months rehabbing and had only in the past week gotten back to full strength. Now he's suffered a torn ACL on his other knee. He is crushed. So are Paterno and Bradley. And I hate to say it, but all of this stuff is going to cost Penn State down the line. You can't compete at this level without depth on the defensive line. And right now, Penn State just does not have that. In other words, that offense better be ready to score some points. Because if Penn State is going to beat Ohio State or Wisconsin, they're going to have to outscore them.

Two ...: Sitting behind Your Editor and Mrs. Your Editor at the Penn State game was a very nice young lady who just happened to be a Notre Dame alum. She was receiving score updates via her Blackberry. Or at least that was the plan. But Notre Dame took the field and looked absolutley horrible against a bad San Diego State team (the Aztecs lost in Week 1 to something called "Cal Poly"), so that nice young lady basically received no updates at all. Eventually she just turned off her Blackberry completely. And really, she looked despondent. As well she should have. Because if Notre Dame looked that bad against a team that bad (Notre Dame did win, but needed on huge break and a late rally to do so) this season may well be just as miserable for Fighting Irish fans as last season was. Which would be heartbreaking for us all, wouldn't it?

One ...: Florida is overrated.

Touchdown ...: The much-anticipated showdown between Ohio State and USC is now just six days away, and after watching Ohio State struggle mightily with Ohio University on Saturday, I must say this: All those predictions I made about Ohio State flying out to Los Angeles and stomping the Trojans should be completely disregarded. I'm not sure what's up with The Vest and his squad, but they quite frankly looked awful against the Bobcats. Ohio's front seven dominated the Buckeyes for the entire first half. Really, they dominated them. Ohio State went on to win, of course, thanks in part to five Ohio's turnovers. But the Buckeyes looked bad enough that they were dropped to No. 5 in both polls by Sunday. Suddenly, this trip to the Coliseum looks like a nightmare for both Ohio State and the Big Ten, which can't afford any more public relations hits. But I fear the league is about to take one. Because if Ohio State plays next week like they played this week, they won't just lose at Troy. They'll be annihilated.