Sideline dangerous for JoePa
Octogenarian coach and part-time tackling dummy Joe Paterno is expected to return to the sideline today to coach Penn State's football team.
Paterno, 84, was injured in a collision with a Penn State player Sunday during practice. He was released Tuesday afternoon from a hospital, where he had been treated for hairline fractures to his right arm and pelvis.
JoePa has become JoePow.
This sideline injury is his second in five years.
In 2006, he broke his leg in a sideline collision during Penn State's game at Wisconsin.
A probe should be conducted to determine if the blindside hit by receiver Devon Smith a few days ago was made at a Nittany Lions booster's behest.
Many Penn State supporters aren't smiling in Happy Valley. They believe after 45 seasons it's time for Paterno to walk away -- while he can.
■ FIRST DIPPING, NOW HITTING -- San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy's use of hypnotism to give up smokeless tobacco should be expanded to help his hitters.
Bochy and two members of his staff tossed their cans of chewing tobacco into spittoons after hypnotherapist AlVera Paxson rewired their thought processes about the nicotine habit.
Bochy should be seeking hypnotic help for the Giants' anemic offense, which ranks 29th of 30 teams in runs scored and 27th in batting average and home runs.
The team's penchant for winning close games last year en route to capturing the World Series has carried over to this season, allowing the Giants to spend much of the season in first place in the National League West. But if San Francisco falls three or more runs behind early, it has little hope of staging a comeback.
Giants batters -- you can't call them hitters -- need help soon, or Bochy might go back to loading tobacco between his cheek and gum.
■ NASCAR KNIFE ATTACK -- Parking attendants and those who direct traffic at sports events often are recipients of profanity-laced tirades or middle-finger gestures when told where to park or when they can enter.
Rarely do they respond by attacking security workers with knives.
Two Philadelphia-area men remained jailed after being arrested at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., after one stabbed security guards several hours before Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the Pocono Record reported.
Police said Daniel Kupper, 20, is being held on $100,000 bail after he stabbed two members of the track's security force during a fight around 3:20 a.m. Sunday when the van in which he and an older brother were riding was not allowed to enter the track.
According to police, the perpetrators got out and began fighting with security.
Kupper stabbed a 50-year-old security worker in the neck, shoulder and back, police said. He also stabbed a 55-year-old security staffer in the collarbone and back. Both were treated at a local hospital.
It's incomprehensible to think how Kupper would have reacted at the Cup race at Kentucky Speedway four weeks ago when traffic was backed up for hours and thousands were turned away from full parking lots.
COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
