Follow the money?

Recommended reading: Sarah Ryley's story in The Daily about business ties involving former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and board members of The Second Mile that may have played a role in the decision to not call the police about the alleged sexual crimes of Second Mile founder Jerry Sandusky, Paterno's former defensive coordinator.

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/12/05/120511-news-paterno-business-1-5/

Bobby, Bobby Bobby …

I guess Florida State coach Bobby Bowden really cares about retiring as the all-time wins leader in college football.

How much does he care?

Reportedly enough to look for proof of what he says were 22 victories he earned coaching South Georgia Junior College from 1956-58.

Really.

Bowden, 79, is a single win behind Penn State’s 82-year-old Joe Paterno (383-382) but the NCAA intends to strip FSU of 14 wins over academic fraud involving some of Bowden’s players. With Bowden ostensibly set to step down by 2011, there's no way for him to make up that gap.

Unless ...

Bowden successfully petitioned the NCAA to accept 28 wins he earned from 1959-62 at Samford University, known then as Howard College. But junior college victories, I believe, are bit of a stretch.

A little sensitive, are we?

Jay Paterno has a job, quarterback coach for his father, Joe’s, Penn State football team. But Jay volunteers for other duties — searching the electronic universe looking for people saying unkind things about the Nittany Lions.

"Jay tells us all the time," quarterback Daryll Clark said. "He goes on the Internet and prints out an article about something about somebody saying something about us. Then he comes back and tells us."

According to ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg, common are: can’t win on the road; inflated national ranking; weak nonconference schedule.

"This week, we were listed under the most overrated teams," center A.Q. Shipley, pictured at right, said. "Our goal was to prove that we're one of the best teams out there. We feel like we haven't gotten the respect that we deserve."

All together now: Awwwwwwwwwww …

Poor, poor Lions.

After Penn State beat up on Wisconsin 48-7, Shipley said, “We came out to prove something to the world.”

Hate to break it to you, Ship, but the world really doesn’t care. It’s got its own problems, and the delicate collective ego of the Penn State football team isn’t among them.