Wilson Post Blogs

The NCAA dropped the hammer on Penn State football this week.

The sanctions will cripple the football program for at least 10 years.

Everything the late Joe Paterno built came crumbling down. His statue at Beaver Stadium was dismantled and hauled away.

If only Paterno and those above him had taken a stand. If only they had moved to stop former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, a convicted sexual predator whose victims were young boys from broken homes.

While the 68-year-old Sandusky will live out his life in prison, his victims are burdened with the stigma he caused forever.

Hindsight being 20/20, Paterno should have acted on evidence that Sandusky was involved in a sordid world of child sexual abuse.

Instead, he ignored it as he and Penn State administrators tried to cover it up. Their wrongful decisions cost the university dearly. They will spend years digging out from under the NCAA punishment.

So how will Paterno be remembered? Those close to Penn State will look at all the good things Paterno did while becoming an icon who grew larger than the university.

Paterno wielded more power than anyone on campus and arguably anyone in the state. What Joe said was the final word.

Few will now recognize him as college football’s winningest coach. The NCAA stripped the school and thus Paterno of all football victories compiled from 1988 through 2011.

For Paterno, that meant striking 111 of his wins from the record. It dropped him to fifth on the FBS list, eighth overall – from 409 wins to 298. It put retired Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden atop FBS coaches.

Paterno’s legacy has been damaged forever. All the good he did was negated by what he refused to do to --  stop a heinous assistant coach on his staff from molesting young boys on the Penn State campus and in his home.

Blind loyalty, that old school male bonding between football coaches, cost Paterno his place in college football history.

South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier got to know Paterno when their teams met in a bowl game. Before the game, Spurrier asked Paterno if he would have his picture taken with him. Paterno readily agreed.

Spurrier placed that picture in his den. Paterno was the first person Spurrier has ever asked to pose for a picture.

Paterno influenced hundreds of coaches in the profession. He ran a clean program. He disciplined his players when they crossed a line. He was for everything decent in college athletics. But when it came to making the most difficult decision of his life, Joe Paterno went against all he believed in. He tried to hide from the truth, hoping it would all go away.

In doing so, Paterno ruined his reputation. He helped put his beloved football program and his school in NCAA hell.

Football at Penn State will never be the same, and maybe that’s a good thing. As NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert said Monday, the culture surrounding elite college football programs has to be changed.

It’s too late for Joe Paterno and Penn State. Years of civil and criminal trials are on the horizon. Yes, some of the victims who face NCAA sanctions are blameless.

The players weren’t aware of Sandusky and his demented acts.

But Joe Paterno knew enough to act on what he had been told. Alas, he chose not to.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

Some of you might wonder why in the world I put my mailing address at the bottom of my bird articles. Even in this fast-paced world of computers and 4G gadgets, there is still several people that choose not to partake in this scientific bliss. If there were not any alternative methods of communication, besides e-mail, I would lose out on close to 1/4 of my readers.

I received a very nice card from Mary Nixon, who resides in Hickman, Tennessee, who wanted to share with me some of the critters and our feathered friends that reside at her home. My favorite part of her message had to do with a snake that was heading toward the house, until a Mockingbird drew the line in communal friendship. The Mocker must have been very brave as it actually chased the snake away. Some birds have been known to attack snakes that seem to be climbing toward their nest by pecking it on the head repeatedly. Mary said that the snake was, "moving on," sounds like an old Hank Snow song.

I was out in the back yard next to my Bluebird house when I noticed that the Bluebirds were raising their 4th brood. It seems that the strange early spring must have really messed with the Bluebird's hormones, and jump-started them into nesting over and over. This pair has already fledged twelve babies from this one house. It is in a better location than last year’s nest as it is out of sight of my house and the only times that they were disturbed was when I sat out back watching the Tree Swallows.

It is really nice to have Carole Young back where she belongs. We missed her very much as she tried her hand at living in East Tennessee, but she decided that she belonged here around us. Me and her friend, Maggie Whiteaker, were invited to a hamburger dinner this past Friday out to Carole's home.

She pretty well lives in a heavily wooded area and you know what that means, Birds and other wildlife. A virtual plethora of things that I enjoy watching. Her property has a large field where you can find Bob White Quail, another species that is getting lost in this ever growing need for people to move out into the country. One of these days, we will have to go out farther into the wilds to enjoy the familiar whistled call, "Bob White!" 

As we made the trip down her driveway, which has washed out with all the rain and looks like a war zone, there were numerous species that followed us to the house. Field Sparrows and Indigo Buntings escorted our hungry group down all the way to the small "crick," which is northern for creek, where the woods begin.

If you are like most college football fans, you take your favorite team’s upcoming schedule and go down the list.

You give out wins, losses and tossups and total them up for a best case-worse case scenario for your team. It’s a great way to pass the time before that first kickoff and the season starts to roll downhill.

BeyondTheBets.com is one of several on-line sites that provide projections and let you decide.

There has been a lot of chatter among Tennessee fans as to how many wins Coach Derek Dooley needs to save his job.

Certainly current Athletics Director Dave Hart has given no indication as to what that number is, or if he even has a number.

One thing for sure: Dave Hart is looking for improvement in all aspects of the program and winning games is the best defense Dooley has.

Beyond The Bets has Tennessee’s line at 7½ wins. Which side of the fence do you see the Vols on?

Let’s play the games on paper, admittedly a risky proposition.

The Vols need to get out of the gate with a win and it won’t come easy against N.C. State in the Georgia Dome. I think this game is a must win if the Vols are going to have a solid season. A tossup.

They have three pastry opponents including Georgia State, coached by Bill Curry. The program is still in its infancy and the Vols won’t stumble here.

Akron and Troy are must wins. I wonder how full Neyland Stadium will be for these three games?

Now, let’s get to the meat of the schedule.

After Georgia State, Florida comes to town. Will Muschamp is feeling the heat in Gainesville. In a Knoxville New-Sentinel poll as to which SEC coach’s seat is the hottest, Dooley gathered 66 percent of more than 2,000 voters. Muschamp was a distant second at 17 percent with Kentucky’s Joker Phillips at 11 percent.

Florida is a swing game, one Dooley has to win to convince Hart there is progress being made. I think the Vols outscore the Gators and keep hope alive.

After Akron, the Vols go Between the Hedges, a place Dooley became most familiar with during the years his father, Vince, coached the Dawgs.

It’s another swing game, one I believe the Vols will lose.

After an open date, the Vols stay on the road at Mississippi State. This is a must win for both programs -- one I think the Vols will find a way to win.

Next up is defending national champion Alabama in Knoxville. Won’t be a fun time in K-town. Tide rolls.

A trip to South Carolina is no place to lick your wounds. The Gamecocks won 11 games last year for the first time in school history. Vols lose here.

Now it gets easier. After Troy, the Vols welcome SEC newcomer Missouri. Vols show the Tigers what it’s all about.

A trip to Vanderbilt should be a pivotal game for both programs and how long has it been since anyone said that? The Commodores couldn’t find a way to beat what was arguably the worst Tennessee team they will play, but this one is a tossup.

The Vols finish with a win against Kentucky.

I have them winning seven games, with N.C. State and Vanderbilt as tossups.

I predict they will split those games, giving them an 8-4 season and a bowl invitation. Dooley survives.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We should be catching a break this week on these extreme high temperatures. It seems that every day for the past week has been in the 100s, and now the humidity is so high you can chew it. I am in hopes that this year at the Wilson County Fair it will not get as hot as it did several years ago

I took a side trip out to the blown out bridge on South Dickerson Chapel Road this past Friday, and every few yards had an Indigo Bunting singing its little heart out. They must be one of the most prolific birds in the county. I wanted to get some pictures from there to go on my facebook to share with my friends that subscribe to "If you grew up in Lebanon, you remember" page. An old friend, BC Yahola, is on there and we try to share photos and our memories with all the others. Check it out.

Of all the birds here on my side of the road, there is one who stands out with his singing. It lives across the street where Holly Boyd resides with her husband, David, and two children, Ayla and Atticus. Their back yard is fenced in with lots of plants growing there. That makes her back yard a paradise for a Song Sparrow. Sometimes it will visit me to feed on the ground where I toss out mixed seed for my ground scratchers.

By ANGEL KANE
Wilson Living Magazine

The first words out of Neill’s mouth when we hit the beach were, “Nikoli, do you want to dig a hole?”

And so it went for a solid week. Each morning my youngest would rise and his day would go something like this.

Get up whenever he naturally awoke.

Breakfast was served to the little master. His only decision being, would it be Cocoa Puffs or eggs and bacon?

Decisions, decisions.

Immediately thereafter, he would put on his swim trunks and grab a newly washed and dried beach towel and would race out the door to the beach.

There he would find waiting, just for him… chairs, umbrella, pale, shovel, kite and a boogie board. Together with his friends he’d spend hours and hours… digging a hole, running into the surf, catching a few waves and then back to… digging a hole.

Texas A&M and Missouri officially became new members of the Southeastern Conference on July 1.

Their real induction comes next week when they join 12 other teams, each represented by their head football coaches and three players at the annual SEC Football Media Days in Birmingham.

I was there the day then-SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer welcomed Arkansas and South Carolina to the conference in 1992.

I had known and covered Kramer during his days as Vanderbilt’s athletics director. But the day he wore a large plastic Razorback snout on his head, was indeed groundbreaking.

It was totally out of character for Kramer, who was always dignified in his role at Vanderbilt and as the SEC’s commissioner.

Last Sunday, our church family hung around talking about this and that after a great service. My old bowling partner, Anthony Walker, started asking about how the birds in my life were doing and when will I write about the Belted Kingfisher. It’s strange that almost everyone that has anything to say to me always gets around to asking me something about birds.

Many years ago an old friend, Neal Blackburn, photographer for The Lebanon Democrat, pinned the name "Birdman" on me as I was taking pictures for the articles in the "About Birds" featured each week in their newspaper. I'm not sure if he knew my real name, but he taught me quite a bit about taking pictures and developing my own negatives and prints. Barbara Manners also started calling me her “Bird Guru” which Karen Franklin picked up real quickly. That is quite a reputation for me to live up to.

For the first time in Vanderbilt basketball history, the Commodores saw two players taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.

John Jenkins went No. 23, to the Atlanta Hawks. Festus Ezeli was the last first round player taken, No. 30 by Golden State. The Commodores could have made it three, but Jeffery Taylor was the first player taken in the second round.

The only draft picks to get guaranteed money are first rounders. Those in the second round start their NBA careers behind the 8-ball, as their teams don’t have significant money invested in them.

Prior to Jenkins and Ezeli, the Commodores have had only three first round picks, dating back to the first year of the draft, 1957.

By BECKY ANDREWS
Wilson Living Magazine

There is something very scary about the crossover from 12 years old into “teenage land.”  Not for the child – ahem – young man of course. He’s elated. Even though this new milestone has very little impact on anything in his life as far as rules for bedtime and social schedule goes. Besides the number itself, the only noticeable change is the tone in his voice and facial expressions when me or his dad talk to him about… ANYTHING.  In the span of one year, it seems this oldest child of mine has inherited the entire world’s wisdom.

Our conversations as of late go something like this:

Mom: “Turn the TV down; I could hear it when I pulled into the garage.”

Teenager: no response. In fact, I don’t think he even notices me standing beside him.

Mom: “Hey! Turn the television down!” This startles him.

Teenager: “Alright! You don’t have to yell at me! It was this loud when I turned it on. Why do you blame me for everything?” This is always followed with a very exaggerated eye roll.

I promised I wouldn’t put this in a column. But I’m going to anyway because I need a column for this week and I stay way away from water on holidays. I believe you will agree this beats a wrap up of some fishing tournament or one of the TWRA canned releases. This sounds like something I would do back when I was drinking.

Where have all the Hummers gone? Almost sounds like some old-style song. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth, at least in my yard. I have seen only one at my feeder in front of the kitchen window. Right after the feeder was placed, it didn't take two days before the ants found it. Thank goodness for ant moats, purchased last year from my friend in Mt. Juliet, Roy Garr. In about three days the ants had returned with a vengence, so why was the water disappearing so quickly? It didn't take too long to discover the reason. My large family of Carolina Chickadees had been using it as their personal water fountain and bird bath along with natural evaporation with all this hot weather. Now all I have to do is keep my eye on the moat and keep water all the way to the top. My other family of Tufted Titmouse and House Finch must have been watching the Chickadees and now they have joined in the antics and started using the ant moat as well.

Usually about this time of year, I am asked, if I have ever killed a buck still in velvet. Of course, that refers to the soft covering on the antlers now readily visible. In fact, I have killed two, both quite small. That question is usually followed by, “Where is the best place to kill one?”

To answer that, you have to break it down into two categories. Do you want to kill a big one in relative comfort or do you want to just kill any buck and endure the biting insects. Let us go with big ones in relative comfort first.

Let the Jerry Sandusky case serve as a cautionary tale to parents of young children.

Don’t ever believe that sexual predators such as the former Penn State defensive coordinator don’t exist in your town.

Some of them are teachers. Some of them are youth coaches. Some of them are volunteers who hang around kids’ games. Some of them live next door.

Sandusky was a man to be revered around the storied Penn State football program. He established a foundation designed to help young kids from broken homes learn life lessons.

They didn’t need the kind of help Sandusky forced on them.

By ANGEL KANE
Wilson Living Magazine

So the call came in about 8:30 Tuesday morning. Our storage unit had been broken into.

When Brody called me from the unit, I could hear the anger in his voice.

“Nothing is missing! They took nothing! Do you believe that? But they broke my $20.00 lock. That just ticks me off!”

“Are you sure? Everything is there? My two sofas are there? My brown velvet pillows, my glass end table with the scratch, the set of plates I had in college, what about my Santa painting?”

“It’s all here. Even the thieves don’t want your stuff!” (Still angry)

My stuff has been a source of contention for many years. It’s not that I am a hoarder, by any means. It’s more like I’m a collector of...stuff.

My family recently went on a two day camping trip to Fall Creek Falls, in Pikeville, with some friends. One of the first things I noticed when we arrived at the wooded campsite was the sound of birds all around us. After a few hours and a little patience I discovered we had quite a variety, which included Tufted Titmouse, Chickadee, Cardinal, Blackbird, Chipping Sparrow, Downey and Red-Bellied Woodpecker. However, there was one call in particular that was close, frequent and unfamiliar to me. I soon discovered there was a large family of Northern Flickers near our camp site.

I believe this is the first time I have seen a Flicker, but they were easy to identify.  They are 13-14 inches in length and very unique. They have a beautiful red “V” on the back of their head, a spotted chest and a black crescent on their front lower neck and black cheek patches. Their sound is a very distinct “wicka-wicka-wicka.” I tried to count how many there were but of course they would not hold still long enough for me to get an accurate count. I’m assuming there were 6-8 and most likely parents with their first set of fledglings. Flickers are a type of woodpecker but are primarily ground feeders who prefer ants (which make up almost half of their diet). They also eat other insects, fruit, berries and seeds and will visit bird feeders.

By BECKY ANDREWS
Wilson Living Magazine 

The day started off as a big fat lie. My sister Christy visiting from Portland, Oregon had come to town and together we decided to take my children for a relaxing day by the pool. She didn’t know any better. She can’t be held responsible for agreeing that this day would be anything less than heavenly. I, on the other hand, should have known from experience that taking my boys anywhere while they are in the midst of summertime boredom (just 7 short days after a stay at the beach) was a recipe for disaster or at the very least a recipe for a fight.

When we mentioned going swimming both said something along the lines of, “Um. I’m not sure I want to go. Can we just stay home and you guys watch me make it to the next level Dragon Ball Z Bootikai Tenkaiechi 3? That would be better.”  When Christy calmly explained that there was no way she was going to watch them play a video game that she couldn’t even pronounce when she could be soaking in a heavy dose of vitamin D on this reprieve from the northwest, they obliged to shut her up.

Hot weather, cold weather, clear water, stained water, I don’t care. The fluke can produce when other baits do not and they will catch an amazing variety of fish species. The fluke is a specially designed type of soft plastic worm. There is a variety of ways to fish it. I prefer just a four or five-ought hook and no weight.

The fluke can be used in shallow or deep water and when properly rigged is about as weedless as you can get a lure. It is primarily a bass and stripers (rockfish) lure. The fluke is simple to fish. Just cast, let settle, twitch and let settle again. Being so weedless, they are superb for fishing in heavy cover. My favorite tactic is to cast into shallow water and let settle until out of sight, then twitch it and bring it back to the surface and repeat. Most of the strikes come just as it settles out of sight. Often in shallow water, when fish are feeding tight on the bank, the strike comes the minute the fluke hits the water.

How difficult is too difficult when it comes to golf courses?

When difficult shamelessly flirts with impossible.

I have never played Olympic Club at San Francisco. I pray I will never have to.

Watching the world’s best golfers play the Alcatraz of golf courses was enough to convince me. That, and the fact I could not stuff enough golf balls in my golf bag to get me through the first six holes.

If the rough that makes the place look like a deserted field isn’t enough to diminish your golf ball supply, you can always count on those golf ball-eating trees they have guarding the Olympic Club fairways.

The Big O chewed up the world’s best golfers and spit them out in the Bay.

Take Tiger Woods for instance. He had two fabulous rounds and I thought: hey, he is back. Really back.