Black Shoe Diaries Penn State Podcast noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)

With Kevin chained to his desk at HQ, it became necessary to scour the BSD writing staff for a podcasting partner. Let's face it, nobody wants to hear me speaking alone for a half-hour. It's just sad, man. Sad. Thankfully, Devon stepped up to the plate and the News Gods gave us an early gift, as details filtered out regarding the negotiation and settlement of an August 2011 amendment to Joe Paterno's coaching contract. After kicking that around a bit, we moved on to what it's like to witness a Bill O'Brien Penn State practice, as well as Devon's experience as a student during The Thing And Everything After.

Oh, you say we're light on news and a podcast isn't warranted? So did Kevin. He was wrong. We powered through the emotional and ethical quandaries posed by the aborted Danny O'Brien transfer, wondered who will be in charge of gameday operations at Penn State next year, and hatched the idea of a BSD Punt, Pass and Kick commenter competition (with the obviously required legal waivers). We also discuss the ongoing tenure of the BOBsled, his quarterback choices, and much more.

We tried something a little different yesterday, and asked you for questions to be addressed on the podcast. Needless to say, this was a beautiful mistake and we'll be doing it again. It was so great that we had to break up the podcast into two separate files. So here's the Q&A portion, which is about 30 minutes in length. We got to a rather significant portion of them.

The podcast returns with a deluxe two-part edition. The first half is a discussion of BOB and the BOBettes, as they emerge from the massive shadow of Joe Paterno and attempt to recruit in the Age Of That Thing. We also talk about the big news of yesterday -- the mind-blowing decision by the Board of Trustees to release the "Oh, in case you didn't remember, here's why we fired Paterno and Graham Spanier" statement on the day of Jerry Sandusky's pre-trial hearing. The second half will be coming soon, and is a 30-minute session of mostly serious responses to your partially serious questions.

Two Adams don't make a right. Black Shoe Diaries' favorite Adam (Collyer) joins me on the latest BSD podcast, which includes a guest appearance by ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. I know many of you have strong feelings about ESPN and their coverage of Penn State over the past three months, but Rittenberg is a really good guy who knows what he is talking about and we certainly appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to join us. Some minor technical difficulties popped up at spots, but the conversation was a good one that included Penn State's recent recruiting success, an outlook for 2012, and Adam Collyer stating that Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are equals. Some other things to look out for: 2012 Big Ten predictions (Michigan State is a popular pick, and we can't really pick a Leaders Division favorite) Big Ten Heisman candidates (Collyer names Silas Redd, but only as his dark horse candidate) See if you can hear me cracking a new beer in the 23rd minute

With 2012 National Letter of Intent Day (a/k/a Signing Day) just two days away, we assembled a crack team of Big Ten recruiting analysts to take a look at the Class of 2012, early prospects in the Class of 2013, and any Signing Day theatrics that may be coming the Big Ten's way. Joining me were Ace Anbender of mGoblog and Alex Gleitman of Eleven Warriors. Say what you will about their respective teams, it was a real pleasure to speak with these guys (though when the conversation finally got around to Urban Meyer stealing all of Penn State's doodz, I was admittedly a little miffed).