Given the approach that Tim Beckman took to openly recruiting Penn State football players, in the wake of the sanctions imposed in 2012, Nittany Nation would have liked nothing more than a little karmic payback. Had this Penn State football team won today, it might have possibly been the final nail in the coffin of his Illini regime. Obviously, it didn’t happen that way as Illinois won 16-14 and the hate for Beckman in Central Pennsylvania grows even stronger.
Like Emperor Sidious said to young Skywalker, I say to Nittany Nation now:
“I fell your anger. Let the hate flow through you.”
Penn State football fans have such bitter vitriol for Tim Beckman that I’m not even going to show the low road version of this phenomenon.
Behold the high road instead:
This has been billed as put-up-or-shut-up time for Illinois’ used car dealer of a coach Tim Beckman. He of the 2-20 Big Ten record could be out selling pre-owned Isuzus if his prediction of a big finish and bowl win doesn’t come true.
That’s David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News and Penn Live.com. He covers Penn State football for Central Pennsylvania’s #1 newspaper and news website. Remember he’s the professional here in this situation. His take is the polished, mature perspective on what happened three years ago.
I have no problem at all with Jones homerism, nor with his blatant tossing of proverbial red meat to his base. Just about every media member, including myself, is guilty of these very same practices from time to time. I don’t find fault with the lack of objectivity in that piece. What I have an issue with is how much the Penn State football community still clings to this incident. How much it still incenses them, three years later.
Trust me, you do not want to read Tim Beckman’s Twitter mentions this week; at least not those tweets by Penn State football fans.
Let’s review the big trending topic from Tim Beckman’s first Big Ten Media Day in 2012.
The incident that occurred right around this time and created all the bad blood. No other school went to go aggressively poach PSU players after the NCAA set them free to transfer if they so desired. Beckman’s staff made the Illinois program look like amateur hour. It didn’t do anything “illegal” (whatever that means in the eyes of the NCAA) he just did something that showed little class and no respect. And on top of it, the Illini coaching staff’s PR spin of what went down in State College was also bush league. The incident made my list of Beckman’s ten worst verbal gaffes at Illinois.
He’s made about ten more new gaffes since I wrote that two months ago. But most importantly, the only thing that came from this small black eye for the program…was a back-up OL who never even played a down at Illinois and then transferred later to a FCS school. So all that ill will created by Beckman, and perpetuated by Penn State football fans, resulted in absolutely nothing.
For BOTH TEAMS!
It’s time to GET OVER IT! Nittany Nation!
It was THREE YEARS AGO!
I’d write this same exact column, had PSU won 16-14, instead of vice versa. I’d write it if PSU won 77-0, or if the Illini won 77-0 today.
I cannot condone or defend what Beckman did, but the reaction of the Penn State football community is even more indefensible and inexplicable. It’s been three years now. You should have realized that this mistake/gaffe/error in judgement on Beckman’s part was made out of his ineptitude; not malice.
Most of Beckman’s mistakes come from being in over his head; not from a sinister motive.
So how about we bury the hatchet, Penn State football people?
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2