Thursday Skull Session

Good morning and please get in the left hand line to be awarded a Buckeye leaf if you are one of the 67% that didn't spend all of yesterday afternoon bagging on the joke that is the ESPY's - only to back that up by watching and tweeting about it.

With that little jab out of the way, please overdose on the Pepto as the release of Louis Freeh's report on Penn State's handling of the Sandusky situation is set to be released at 9:00 am this morning. 

Ahead of what should be damning prose against Joe Paterno, his family and attorneys have tried their best to execute a damage control plan complete with the publication of a letter supposedly from Paterno himself, written in December of last year. 

Now, take a look for yourself and tell me if you think it's remotely possible that the shell of Paterno's former self was capable of such a scripted defense. Remember, this is the same guy who couldn't even remember basic particulars of games in post-game press conferences. I will say, his family/attorneys did a nice job of translating his thoughts but let's not pretend this was more than barely dictated. He forgot "besmirching" was actually a word sometime around 1997. 

It's time for Penn Stater's to get real. Their icon is a joke. If he wanted the police involved, he could've had every officer and district attorney within a 100 mile radius at PSU's disposal in 20 minutes. Did that happen? No. That's all I need to know.

And guys like Dohrmann are hanging their hat on rigged raffles?! Makes sense.  

CUE RICHARD DAWSON...SURVEY SAYS! In case an afternoon conference call featuring phrases like "circle back" unncessarily took you away from 11W yesterday afternoon, please make note that we're once again asking readers to take our survey in an effort to make the site as Mila Kunis as it can possibly be. 

I promise it's worth your time. Last year, you told us you wanted more insider info, improved recruiting coverage and strategic analysis and in response, Alex began peeking in widows of every OSU offer within the continental 48, we added a fleet of recruiting junkies to keep up with Urban's seed-spreading ways, we brought on Ross to help you dominate the Monday morning water cooler chatter and added Kyle as our first ever beat writer. 

Despite the insanely wonderful growth we've experience since the last census, we have no intention of resting on our laurels so again, please give us your honest feedback on the good, the bad and, well the good. We promise to not only share the results but act accordingly to ensure we continue to improve the free experience we work so hard to provide. 

THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO WATCH GOPHER FOOTBALL - TRASHED. In an expected move, the University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted to permit the sale of beer and wine at Gopher football games beginning this fall. 

Celebrating the 11-1 vote with a shot of Wild Turkey off the aging abs of Rickey Foggie, President Eric Kaler stated, "The university ... will continue to deliver a strong message of responsible alcohol consumption." 

In all seriousness, this is a logical move for the school. That said, though they are hardly pioneers in the college football universe, Minnesota does become the only B1G school to offer alcohol in "general seating" sections. For the sake of Gopher fans, I just hope the plan is to offer more than Coors Light and Franzia. 

As for Buckeye fans, put all your mojo behind OSU's BOT embracing Ramzy's Crafty Proposal. 

The original kissing bandit wants you to take our survey

HOOPS COACHES WEIGH IN ON NEW SUMMER EVALUATION RULES. While most negative attention regarding recruiting is focused on football, the basketball side of things is probably even more shady. As such, the NCAA continues to tweak the rules not only with recruting but also with staff access to existing players. 

A recent change opened up a recruiting window in which coaches can get their sale-on from 5pm yesterday through 5pm Sunday and again from 5 to 5 on July 18-22 and July 25-29. 

Looking for feedback on this and other rule changes, Andy Katz examined the new modifications and hit up some coaches in the biz for their take. Of note:

• If existing players are taking summer classes, coaching staffs have access to the players for designated time periods. Longtime 11W nemises, UC coach and eternal whiner Mick Cronin calls this change, "the best rule change in 15 years" chiefly because it "helps in recruiting because you have a better feel for what your team lacks and what you need to recruit." 
• The Wednesday-Sunday windows look great on the surface but with coaches hell bent on maximizing every second of that window, the talk is that those that are able will be logging heavy miles on private jets for fear of commercial airliner delays wiping out an entire day or days of recruiting. The compressed timeline also gives an edge to school's that do have the financial muscle to make private planes a reality. 
• The new Kelvin Sampson Rule which allows unlimted texts to recruits has been a win. Obviously, kids today would rather get stalked on text than via phone and I hate to say it but Cronin makes a good point noting, "Unlimited calls and texts allows coaches and recruits to see who really likes who on both ends."

JUST THE TIP. I know we're all geared up for the start of football season but on an otherwise slow news night, I was happy to see that the four letter's annual Tip Off Marathon will take place a mere 124 days from today. The spectacle features 24+ hours of games kicked off by the Fightin' Huggy Bears and Gonzaga. 

The extravaganza does include a few stinkers like Stony Brook at Rider and Houston Baptist at Hawaii but the final three games are solid. 

At 7pm, Butler takes on Xavier as an appetizer to get you ready for the Champions Classic held in the Georgia Dome. The double-header in the ATL showcases Sparty vs. Kansas followed by another heavyweight bout in Duke vs. Kentucky. 

Sparty will have their hands full being just four days removed from taking on squeaky clean Jim Calhoun and his studious UCONN squad in Germany. As Eamonn Brennan correctly asserts, Tom Izzo is a freaking boss. He'd play the Dream Team if the NCAA would allow it. He's easily my favorite hoops coach outside of Thaddeus Maximus Mattamus. 

 WHAT'S UP BIG PERM...I MEAN BIG WORM. Alicia Barnhart is lovely and all but DO NOT CLICK ON THIS... Strong Side / Weak Side: Dr.J... The 10 Greatest British Athletes of All-Time... Rockstar yearbook photos... Covering a bald spot... Someone needs a hearty beatdown.