Joe Paterno to Robert Bolden: You'll Play For Me, Or You'll Play For No One

Robert Bolden, the former starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions (he started eight games before being benched in favor of Matt McGloin) has asked for his release—and been denied.

Apparently, Bolden isn't interested in the prospect of being in competition with a walk-on (Matt McGloin) and a wild card (Kevin Newsome) as he enters his sophomore season. By all accounts, he's probably imagining that his prospects could be much better elsewhere. Unfortunately for him, Paterno expects him to honor his commitment to the Lions and play out his existing contract...oops, wrong sport, sorry.

Paterno expects him to honor the letter of intent he signed last February, and won't jeopardize his depth chart simply because some 19-year old kid is unhappy about his minutes—this might be a good time to mention that the 2011 class for the Lions is looking thin and there isn't a quarterback prospect anywhere in the mix. If Penn State loses Bolden, it's Newsome and McGloin—assuming Newsome doesn't decide to transfer. 

Translation: things could become Unhappy, in Happy Valley, very quickly.

While you must applaud Paterno's gumption in playing chicken with his young star, the first question you have to ask is why bother keeping a guy who doesn't want to play for you? Aren't you just tempting fate and taking a major risk that his discontent trickles into your locker room?

Why bother?

On the other hand, perhaps Paterno is gambling that Bolden hasn't really thought this through, and he's really just doing him a favor. After all, why waste a year of eligibility sitting behind someone else, at another FBS school, when you could feasibly come in and win the starting job in the spring.

Patience is a virtue, right?

Whatever his motivation, Paterno is taking a pretty big risk in denying this kid his out. We'll soon see if it's a gamble that pays off.

Related articles

• QB Newsome stays behind, may transfer (philly.com)

Penn State Football: Brett Brackett's TD Catch Helps Catapult Joe Paterno to 400

It seemed harmless enough, an end of half touchdown score to bring a team back from the brink of embarrassment. At least, that's what the fans of the Northwestern Wildcats might have been thinking when they saw Matt McGloin connect with Brett Bracket for six points with less than :06 seconds left to go before the half.

Brackett's touchdown catch, however insignificant it might have seemed at the time, became just the momentum grabber the Nittany Lions needed to go from zero to 100—on both sides of the ball.

Or perhaps, better still, ol' Joe Paterno might have delivered one helluva halftime rally cry to his guys. Might he have told them they were better than their play showed? Perhaps he let them know that the play they had exhibited to that point was unacceptable and sub par?

Maybe he just said, "win this damn game, I don't need the press stretching out this 400 nonsense".

Whatever he told his players in the locker room, it worked, because the Penn State team we saw in the second half was very different than the one that was overrun in the first half. They came onto the field and lit up the third quarter with 21 unanswered points and stymied the Northwestern offense the rest of the way.

It was a win befitting of a coach that so many have come to love and respect, not only for his longevity in a game that has become more about "lately" than "history", but for his honesty. Paterno has always been a straight-shooter. Perhaps the Brooklyn boy in him wouldn't allow him to be anyone else.

Joe Paterno is now the winningest coach in FBS history and, quite frankly, it's an honor that no other coach is ever likely to have again anytime soon.

Congrats to Joe Paterno!

Related articles

• Penn State rallies for Joe Paterno's 400th win (sportingnews.com)

Ohio State vs Michigan: Does The Big Ten Realignment Tarnish Their Rivalry?

The Big Ten announced its new alignment following the addition of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2011, and Michigan and Ohio State will be placed in seperate divisions. Will that make the annual season-ending battle against these two traditional powers less interesting?

Honestly, the one thing that made this match-up so crucial was the fact that it meant something—a trip to the Rose Bowl in many cases. Now, the Big Ten will not only maintain the rivalry in-season, but offer it the possibility of happening twice in one season via the conference championship game.

How is this a good thing?

Granted, right now, Michigan doesn't seem to pose any threat of giving Ohio State a run for its money— this year or the next. But, the Wolverines will not be down forever, they will eventually get rid of the stain that is Rich Rodriguez and this rivalry will return to its former glory. When that happens, how much juice will it have if neither team is playing for anything of importance—nationally?

It hurts both Michigan and Ohio State on a national level because no one outside of those who reside in Columbus or Ann Arbor will be able to get excited to see the two teams play—especially if they feel it will happen more than once.  It will cease to be must-see tv for a large segment of college football fans who love not only the rivalry itself, but what it stood for.

Here is what ESPN's Andy Katz had to say about the realignment:



Beyond this, though, the real losers are the Big Ten basketball fans—wow. 

This alignment essentially gives Michigan State a red carpet to March Madness every year while giving the finger to the fans of Penn State, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. No doubt the fans of those programs are staging a silent protest as we speak—just another reminder that college football rules the checkbook.