His Dad Was A Wrestler
January 8, 2008 by Run Up The Score!
It’s 7:54 a.m. and James Laurinaitis just missed another tackle. Or was driven off the play 10 yards. Or jumped on another pile and got credit for a solo tackle.
Your choice, really.
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funny thing that.
i watched the first half with great scrutiny on young james. he could not shed a block, was late in coverage, and frequently was seen on the corner of the screen when the play ended.
it was like he almost had no instinct for the ball. not a good trait. i just pray the eagles feel fine with their LB situation. am pretty sure we are drafting a DE or OL, anyway
Have to agree, if there’s any game to show how overrated the guy is, it was last night. I watched the game with a Bucks fan and pointed out how poorly he was playing all throughout the first half (LSU sure exposed the middle of the field, where JL should’ve been). I killed the talk in the second half for fear of my life, but that still doesn’t change Laurinaitis’ no show.
I didn’t even know the guy was playing until they showed he had 18 tackles or whatever they gave him credit for. He looked like a Purdue LB in coverage…that average LSU TE looked like superman as he got first downs and touchdowns with ease.
Did you guys know that Brady Quinn’s sister married AJ Hawk?
Same garbage.
Whats amazing about the whole JL thing is that LSU didn’t hesitate for a second to run at him. Considering how often they did it, you have to think someone along the way told Les, “Hey, this guy sucks, lets run at him 7 or 8 times every drive.”
Connor was totally screwed.
Uhh… you guys know that Laurinaitis was the game’s leading tackler, right?
I know Connor is a great LB, but you’ve gotta have blinders on to totally ignore LA’s fine performance.
Connor is a very good player but I think Lee is even better. More physical and has that killer attitude.
Hey Monkey, do you know that Little ‘Roid Rage (or whatever James WWF nickname is) looked like a buffoon on pass coverage and looked tiny on power run plays. It’s too bad his grandma was giving him credit for tackles that he simply didn’t make. He was a no-show just like the vest last night.
Breaking news: In addition to whatever other award he suspiciously won, Laurinaitis was also named the Gino Capone Award winner, for the most number of tackles made 12 yards downfield, past the line of scrimmage.
Congratulations, Leaping (onto the pile) Lanny Poffo-aitis!
maybe he was the leading tackler becaue they were running right at him all night and he was giving up like 8 yards a carry.
admit it already, JL has no business winning that award.
Gino Capone! I had forgotten about him — thankfully.
Oh yeah, the award goes to the linebacker most likely to tackle someone… after they rip off a run for a first down.
Thus, contributing next to nothing. Except a new set of downs for the other team.
Now now… let’s be fair… sportsMonkey’s right… Laurinaitis had a GREAT game… from an LSU fan’s perspective.
I couldn’t believe he had 18 tackles. But I figured anyone could rack up 18 tackles when the offense isn’t scared of him. And really, why should they be scared? Because his dad was a wrestler.
Gino Capone recorded 100 tackles in a season too. That’s all I’m sayin’.
So… Connor’s performance against OSU:
- 18 tackles, his defense gave up 37 points.
LA’s performance against LSU:
- 18 tackles, his defense gave up 38 points.
Interesting how, after the Butkus voting, some of the folks here (and in other PSU outlets) used Connor’s game against OSU as proof of his superiority.
But then just a few weeks later, those same fans mock LA for an identically statistical game against LSU.
You can’t have it both ways. If LA had a bad game last night, then Connor had one against OSU. And we all know that wasn’t the case - DC was a stud that night.
But there’s no way anyone would admit the inconsistency, because of the sour grapes surrounding Connor’s loss of the Butkus. I know how you feel - we felt the same way about Hawk’s snub for Poz a couple of years ago.
On a related note, I’m _very_ amazed at this relatively new vitriol coming from Penn State fans toward Ohio State. For the first time, I think I’m starting to understand what Michigan fans feel like re: Notre Dame or Michigan State fans. Interesting that you view it as such a big rivalry… the feeling really isn’t reciprocated on this side. Don’t get me wrong, PSU is a big game every year, and it might be a budding rivalry, but it’s not OSU’s biggest game every year like it seems to have been for Penn St.
Where does the hate come from? OSU and UM, now that’s 100+ years of history, there. But PSU? What has OSU done to anger so many PSU fans? Your fans assault us in the streets and post it on the Internet, they assault the OSU band to the point when it boycotts the game in Happy Valley, etc.
The team has a pretty good history against Ohio State, something you should be happy and proud of, not angry about. Ki-Jana Carter set his record in the Horseshoe. PSU’s final #3 ranking in 2005 came in large part due to a great victory against the Buckeyes, and it would have been an even better ending had the officials not cost the team the victory against UM that year.
It’s just a game, fellas. LA isn’t a “bad” LB just because you delighted in watching his team lose out of anger for your guy losing the Butkus. Life goes on.
//Gino Capone recorded 100 tackles in a season too. That’s all I’m sayin’.//
True. All of them after surrendering at least a 7 yard gain.
wow, where did that come from?
you know whenever an osu fan talks about this years bukus, all you can ever get out of them is that hawk was hosed, not that JL is better, even from the second biggest homer fans in the nation.
as for the rivalry issue, we never really consider you a rival, just a big game, like your games against texas. texas does not hate you guys, you dont hate them, but its still a big game. the problem is we dont play any of our ‘rivals’ (pitt namely, wvu and cuse to some extent). i’ve heard osu people play this card before and i think its funny. no one has ever, ever said “psu v. osu is one of the best rivalries in sports, better than osu-um”. So why do OSU fans we think that? Or that we even care about OSU as a rival. We hate you, mostly, because you beat us often.
You can talk all centry about history and tradition and how we’ll never measure up, but that kind of stuip logic is why the big ten is the way it is right now: old, stupid, and stuck in their ways.
Dear poisonous nut:
The team we hate the most is obvious. You’re not it. I hope this reassures you in some small fashion.
M1EK’s right, he hates Penn State more than any rival
I don’t know - I think that most folks “here” were pretty down after the tosu game - I don’t remember any “dan connor was a god during the tosu game” - cause he sure wasn’t. PSU’s defense was smelly that night.
btw, which team do we hate the most? I didn’t get the memo.
For what it’s worth - the only B10 team that I didn’t actively cheer for was - tosu.
MSU is our rival, duh.
How can fans of ANY other team possibly think there’s a better rivalry (or trophy) than that of the Land Grant?
an osu beat us in the air, not on the ground, it wasn’t until the tossed all over our secondary that our LBs had to backup and the run opened up. to be totally honest i didn’t have a problem with the play of our LBs all year. Also, don’t forget that we have several key Dline injuries leading up to that osu game. the buckeyes didnt have any of these problems last night, LSU, from the start, sent a goofy white kid right up the middle over and over again, even when OSu knew it was comming, and they ran for 7 or 8 ypc.
This is what Ohio State (and to a certain extent Michigan) fans like to do. Because Penn State fans get excited to play Ohio State, we must then consider Ohio State to be our biggest rival. Then, perhaps to compensate for small genitals, they feel the need to tell us that we don’t matter to them.
Penn State fans get excited to play Ohio State because they are usually a good team. Think of it as a compliment. Is RUTS not allowed to make fun of other teams? Maybe someone’s a little sensitive?
And those incidents happened as a buildup to an 8:00 game. Much like the incidents at Columbus that occurred against Texas and have kept Ohio State from hosting a night game since. Funny thing though-we played Michigan, Nebraska, Miami, and Notre Dame at night. Yet, while I’m sure some shit went down, not nearly as much happened as when Ohio State comes to town. Could it be because no other fan base is as aggressive and obnoxious as Ohio State when they come to Happy Valley? Nah….
monkey-at least connor had some kind of measure of success- an interception- in the OSU game. yes, we got curb stomped, but at least connor had relevance in said game. he actually made the tackles he was credited for.
lastly, please do not make broad statements like “Interesting how, after the Butkus voting, some of the folks here (and in other PSU outlets) used Connor’s game against OSU as proof of his superiority.
But then just a few weeks later, those same fans mock LA for an identically statistical game against LSU.”
1. Blanket statements really hold no relevance. Actual evidence does. Find someone who said both statements and hold them, not us, accountable for what was said.
2. Laurinitis’ game was not statistically identical.
For the record, i don’t see OSU as our rival. Or Michigan. MSU? Hell yeah-I want the landgrant trophy!!!!
also-Shogun-great call on the Gino Capone award. Phenomenal.
While we are bashing Ohio State, I have something to say.
Why is it that OSU fans are such big UM fans as well? Is that really what your rivalry is all about, talking bottomless shit to eachother but then rooting for your team to pull out a win against Northwestern so your ‘rivalry’ game becomes more important? I know for a fact this is the case, I know from the many OSU fans I talk to and things I read online all the time (like just today at BHGP)…how in the world do you get away with this?
No one every roots for Pitt, ever*. Or our rival MSU. Why? Because the Land Grant game is already nationally relevant. And if its not, well the nation can go f*ck themsleves, its not about them. We don’t need ESPNdicksucking to make us feel better about our wins.
*There are some PSU fans who wanted pitt to beat WVU, I can’t blame them for this, but this is by far the exception.
No one every roots for Pitt, ever*. Or our rival MSU. Why? Because the Land Grant game is already nationally relevant.
**CLASSIC**
If you think that was a fine performance by Laurinaitis, you are completely insane. I mean, come on. Insane.
Penn State fans have the rivalry discussion on a monthly basis — who really is our rival, who perceives us as a rival, etc. None of it matters. Penn State just has a series of big games. Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State. They all matter to us in varying degrees, but you’ll never find a majority picking one over the others (although we’d certainly want a victory over Michigan more than anything else these days). We’re kind of like Tennessee in that regard, at least until Pitt gets back on the schedule, which they certainly will be a few years after Joe Paterno is squeezed out.
I believe most of the PSU/OSU kerfluffle started during the A.J. Hawk vs. Posluszny awards battle. The weird thing is, 85% of the vitriol was coming from the Ohio State people. I doubt you’d find many Penn State fans calling Hawk overrated. He wasn’t. He was a very, very good linebacker. I think a lot of PSU people just wanted their OSU counterparts to acknowledge that a reasonable person could consider AJ and Poz equals.
As for this year’s game, it was won by Boeckman and his offensive line. After Penn State scored their only offensive touchdown, I didn’t see another team in the nation play better than OSU did for the last three quarters of that game. Also, I was hoping that Ohio State would win last night. I’d gladly trade hearing about SEC Speed for the next 11 months (or whenever bowl season starts) for obnoxious, crowing Ohio State fans.
But Laurinaitis…damn. He’s not even the best linebacker on his own team. He can’t shed blocks. He doesn’t tackle well. But, you know, his dad was a wrestler.
I’m beginning to think that perhaps young Road Warrior James should take Mr. McMahon up on his offer to join the WWE…
…why everyone projects him as one of the (if not the) best LB prospect in the draft is beyond me.
I’m not saying he’s BAD. He’s not. He’s just a little above average, in my opinion.
Is there a way that we could make the B/W game our rivalry game? We usually beat ourselves anyway… so it would be perfect!
Our rival is the men in the black and white stripes.
I thought our rival was Temple. I mean, those Temple fans were talking a lot of smack this year.
There honestly were Temple fans talking trash on the Penn State Scout board and at the game. I’m guessing it was because of their near miss against uconn.