Friday, 11/11/11 – Hometown View

It’s hard to imagine but there will be a day soon that the words Penn State will not be mentioned in a newscast or sportscast. Eventually the TV crews and reporters will leave State College and life will almost return to normal although the definition of normal has probably changed forever…at least on a college campus that has lived an almost Camelot-like existence.

There are reports that in the next few days another angle to the child sex-abuse scandal will be revealed which will be as bad and even worse that what we already know about Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State who apparently preyed on young boys through a youth foundation he ran.

The worst week in the 156-year history of the school will end tomorrow when the Nittany Lions 12th ranked football team hosts Nebraska. It’s the final home game of the season and the first in 61 years without Joe Paterno as part of the coaching staff. While many feel the game is insignificant in the wake of what’s happened this week I disagree as the game will provide a badly-needed diversion and allow students and alumni to come together and show their allegiance to their team and university.

Closer to home the NJSIAA Football Playoffs get underway this weekend with 20 teams from the Shore Conference in the mix for one of the 20 state sectional championships that are up for grabs. Our Shore Sports Network will be in Barnegat tonight for the Bengals first-ever home playoff game as they take on Point Boro in a South Jersey Group 2 matchup that will be broadcast on 105.7FM. A few miles south Southern Regional also plays a home playoff game for the first time in school history when they entertain Triton in a South Jersey Group 4 contest. Among tonights other playoff games, Jackson will host Sayreville, Brick Memorial visits Manalapan, Lacey is at Timber Creek and Point Beach heads to New Egypt.

The King Rice era at Monmouth University begins tonight when the Hawks open their men’s basketball season at perennial national power Villanova. It’s the head coaching debut of the 42-year old Rice, a former point guard at North Carolina for Dean Smith who most recently was an assistant at Vanderbilt. All of Monmouth’s games will be broadcast this season through our Shore Sports Network on 1160/1310AM with Eddy Occhippinti handling the play-by-play.