JP

The bomb has dropped on Penn State University and it is still exploding with anger, disgust, pain, sorrow and so much more.

I am a Nebraska fan by birth, choice and life. But I am also a fan of sports period, except the NBA (please keep the lockout going). I love the Big Red but I also know when my team is beat by someone I don't hold my head down and make up excuses on why we were beat. I take it as the team with the better plan and execution won that day and I applaud them for it. When you think of coaches and their programs I have followed and cheered for. Don Shula of the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins, Eddie Robinson of Grambling, Barry Switzer of Oklahoma, Paul "Bear" Bryant of Alabama, Tom Osborne of Nebraska, Bobby Bowden of Florida State, I could keep going and going. Also Joe Paterno of Penn State.

Around 9:20 last night I learned of the firing of JP through a tweet from CNN News. The items reported leading up to his dismissal last night were hard to listen to. You just didn't want to believe it happens. Needless to say the sports talk and television tonight have been mostly all about what has transpired at PSU. I am becoming tired of hearing about it for one reason. Yes, Joe Pa was and will always be an iconic coach. A man on TV right now is calling him "a great and caring man". What kind of "great and caring man" keeps on going the way he did? A student that was involved in the "rioting" last night said it wasn't fair at all to Joe Paterno. I beg to differ. It is very fair and needed to happen. Yes it is sad he has to go out with this tarnished image but the man knew of sexual assault on minor children was going on and he lived with it. I know he reported to his chain of command but doesn't common sense take over and tell you to take it another step further? Police report or something to that nature.

I will say it again, I know JP is an icon in the coaching profession. His record spells that out clearly. But the man knew of something very wrong going on and I don't think he did all he could, should or needed to do when he was made aware of it. Therefore, I won't remember what he did and his teams did on the field. I will remember what he didn't do and say when he should have.

I feel terrible for the ones that went through the sexual advances from Sandusky. I would like to see some attention paid to these people. They have lived with this for the past several years and I feel that all the publicity put towards JP is a slap in their face. I hope they get what they deserve as I hope those that did the wrong and knew about the wrong, get what they deserve.

Penn State.....I hope Nebraska kicks the livin' shit out of you this weekend. GBR!!!

CONVERSATION

As a father of 4 I take great pride in my children. Like all kids they have made some decisions that have turned out real well for them and some decisions that have not turned out so hot. But that is the part of growing up that will help define their lives.

Living so far apart from all of them has me an emotional wreck at times. I miss out on so much. So, phone calls and of course text messaging are very important. I love it when from out of nowhere one of my kids text (which is how it usually happens) because that's most all our nature now. It's easy, convenient and simple. Now when one of them picks up the phone and actually calls to say "hey dad", that means a lot to me. Tells me that I might just be on their mind as much as they are on mine.

Now, on the other hand, it is even more difficult when you continually reach out to one of your children through phone calls and of course text messages and get nothing back. No answer, no returned call or not even a returned text. That is the back breaking moment when your mind begins to wander over every decision you have ever made in your life. Where did I go wrong to deserve this from my blood? I would like to think not but then again you never know when you can't talk to them.

The paths I have been on in my life have put me on way too many roads....but those roads have made me who I am. I know these paths have hurt people that were in them as well as hurt me as I was traveling them. I have done and will continue to do the best I possibly can. I am sorry if it hasn't been perfect for everyone involved but God didn't make me to be perfect, He made me to be me. To do the right things, follow the right paths and to hopefully be a good person to others.

I don't care what I have as far as "things" in my life. I just want my family.

April

April Fools must be a thing that I got a kick out of when I was younger. Not once today did anyone try the April Fool thing on me and I didn't try it on anyone else.

I think today should be a day we celebrate like we do on St' Patricks Day, Memorial Day or the 4th of July and Labor Day but we don't. Probably because there isn't anyone that would believe anything we said or did.

I spent the day working. Came home and worked some more and did various chores around the house. Cleaned the house up a bit and then myself. Made some supper and turned on Slingblade and started deleting documents off my computer that needed to find their way to the recycle bin. Kind of funny how everything that I deleted I ended up reading even though I knew what it was before I opened it. One of those strange days.

To me this should have been a special day for certain reasons but it wasn't. It was more like a knife in the back. I guess that is why I did what I did. Some things just need laid to rest and given up on. The world is ever changing and so are the people in it. I guess the bullshit will never stop.