All of a sudden, the date on which then graduate assistant Mike McQueary witnessed Jerry Sandusky’s alleged criminal act has changed.

The Grand Jury Presentment, which is the basis for the original sexual assault charges against Sandusky and the perjury charges against Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, reflects McQueary’s testimony that the alleged attack occured on March 1, 2002. However, now that his whistleblower suit is at the fore, McQueary changed his mind. The court filing, presumably drafted with McQueary’s participation, shows the date of February 9, 2001.

That’s a bit of a problem for a few reasons.

For one thing, because the perjury charges against Curley and Schultz were based on McQueary’s sworn testimony that the incident occurred on March 1, 2002, the perjury case is at least jeopardized and might wind up being tossed out of court because the earlier date places at least some of the basis for the perjury beyond the statute of limitations. Perjury is not a capital crime.

Another problem is that fooling around with the date casts doubt on McQueary’s credibility. Why should anyone believe him at this point when he has changed his story several times? His meandering, whether it be mendacious or just sloppy testimony could provide an immense bonus to the Sandusky defense.

For example, his initial statement to the police in 2010 states, ” On the Friday before spring break in either the year 2001 or 2002, 2002 I think… bla bla bla…” Look for a bevy of attorneys to tear McQueary limb from limb. Naturally, Sandusky’s attorney, Joseph Amendola, is at the head of the pack.

“I don’t know if it’s a lie as opposed to faulty memory, and if it’s faulty memory, what else has he misremembered? [sic]” stated Amendola.

Pulitzer prize winner Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News has more on the subject.

The whistleblower law came about because of situations in which employees notified the media or authorities about illegal or improper practices and were subsequently fired or made to suffer financial and emotional damage. With this in mind, think back to Mike McQueary’s role in the Sandusky case. Was he actually the whistle blower?

He and his attorney apparently characterized him as such in the “writ of summons”, which described it as a whistleblower case. However, the actual complaints have not been fleshed out.

OK, now this is not a joke, for all you who love to joke about lawyers, but I’m cracking up here. McQueary’s Harrisburg lawyer’s name is Elliott Strokoff. Imagine what he went through as a child! Had to toughen him up and influence his becoming a crusader for the downtrodden.  (You remember the comedic law firms of Leanback & Whackitt and the Car Talk favorites Dewey, Cheatham & Howe.)

The Centre Daily Times broke the story first.

Anyway, while Elliott isn’t too busy stroking off, he’s been working on an attack strategy for McQueary in this forthcoming lawsuit. The red-headed ex-assistant coach and former quarterback for the Nittany Lions has been placed on administrative leave and has been laying low ever since polarized public outcry made him an outlaw for not kicking the shit out of Sandusky when he was waving his dick around in the shower.

The Sandusky trial will not begin until this summer, but these ancillary skirmishes might continue for some time. Curley and Schultz remain to be prosecuted for their alleged perjury in connection with the Sandusky caper.

Everyone with just about any level of interest in Penn State needs to know the composition of the Board of Trustees for the crucial three years ahead. For obvious reasons, this election evoked greater than average interest, generating a record turnout of over 37,000 alumni votes through Thursday’s deadline. We here at the Nittany Turkey waited with bated breath and now have them here in our hot little turkey feet. You’ll be happy to know that former Nittany Lion Adam Taliaferro made the cut, along with wealthy anti-BoT activist Anthony Lubrano.  Rounding out the trio is retired U.S. Navy Captain Ryan McCombie.

More details from the Star-Ledger.

Meanwhile, back at the football complex, Adam Rittenburg of ESPN has written an informative piece about the present state of Penn State football, with an orientation toward the guys who actually do the playing.

*****

The judge in the Sandusky case approved the defense’s request to be able to subpoena police, county, school officials, says the Chicago Tribune.

*****

Moses on the sidelines? Bill O’Brien’s Ten Commandments for whomever winds up being the starting quarterback.

*****

So, you thought that presidential politics were the only place for whistle stops? Well, the Coaches’ Caravan will serve to introduce the new faces as well as some old ones to PSU fans. Next week, it sets out for the Big Apple!

*****

Louis Freeh’s internal investigation of the Sandusky scandal is set to wrap up in September. Kenneth Frazier, chair of the Board of Trustees’ Special Investigations Task Force delivered a progress report to the BoT at today’s meeting.

*****

So, are you pleased with the election results or just glad the election is over? Do you think these new BoT members will make a difference in the way Board activities are conducted?

Just a heads-up that today’s issue of “Sudden Impact” will have the Board of Trustees alumni election results, to be announced at the BoT meeting this afternoon. Go Adam!

Penn State, like most of the other Big Ten programs, was only fair ta middlin’ in the NFL Draft. Wisconsin provided one player for each of the first six rounds to tie for tops in the conference with Michigan State. Iowa had five, including one first-rounder, while four selections tied the Nittany Lions with Ohio State, Nebraska, and Illinois (although Illinois had two first-rounders and two seconds), followed by Michigan with three, and both Purdue and Northwestern with two. Indiana and Minnesota… well… the big ZERO.

Defensive Tackle Devon Still was projected by many pundits to be a first-round pick; however, he wound up being chosen toward the bottom of the second round, as fifty-third overall pick. He will be an important component of the Cincinnati Bengals’ rebuilding program. The Bengals had a very successful draft and should be a contender in the AFC North.

Johnnie Troutman and Jack Crawford were 14th and 23rd picks, respectively, in the fifth round, with Troutman going to San Diego and Crawford joining former teammate Stefen Wisniewski in Oakland. Nate Stupar was chosen by Oakland as well, 23rd pick in the seventh round. (Mr. Irrelevant was the 46th pick this year, Chandler Harnish, QB from Northern Illinois, chosen by the Indianapolis Colts. No doubt, Andrew Luck is quaking in his size 15 boots.)

Undrafted were D’anton Lynn, Eric Latimore, Joe Suhey, Chaz Powell, Stephfon Green, Quinn Barham, Derek Moye, Drew Astorino, and Nick Sukay. Nick Sukay has been picked up by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent (UFA). Andrew Szczerba, who was not even on my draft list, was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. Quinn Barham, who is so obscure that his first name was listed as “Sam” on the NFL site, was signed by the Detroit Lions. Finally, Eric Latimore went to the Minnesota Vikings.

That leaves Lynn, Suhey, Powell, Green, Moye, and Astorino. They are still chances that someone will take a chance on them as UFA’s, but it would be best if they brush up on their life insurance underwriter exams in any case.

Recently, a single word, vogue affectation has emerged in vocal and written commentary, in particular reflecting the perceived need to express sarcastic bemusement in commenting on current events in politics with a wink and a slant. This oft abused interjection is cropping up more and more in the media and in the blogosphere. Moreover, it is slithering into casual conversation, as any annoying vogue word is wont to do. It goes without saying that its condescending tone of ironic incredulity mixed with moral superiority, along with its exponentially grown ubiquity is beginning to piss this Turkey off. That’s nothing new. After all, this old curmudgeon gets pissed off when the last drop winds up hitting the water after the flush is complete. And thanks to a benignly overgrown prostate, it frequently does so, but I digress. (TMI. Really?) Anyhow, someone needs to turn off the spiggot.

“What is this word, already?” you ask.
Really?

“Yes, really.”
That’s what it is.

“What’s what it is?”
OK, so you can’t glean in from the headline and I hand it to you and you still don’t get it? Really?

The vogue word today, much as it was in the 1970s, is really. Only the punctuation and inflection have changed to protect the no longer innocent.

Back in the 1970s, the word was used as a semi-disinterested, declarative interjection to convey vacuous agreement. Sometimes it was pronounced to rhyme with “Philly”, especially among the Valley Girl demographic. Here’s a conversation from the 1970s, taking place in a fern bar. (If you have to ask what a fern bar is, you weren’t of age in the 1970s.)

She: I’m like totally into the Bee Gees. They make me feel like dancing.
He: Rilly.

She: So, like what’s your sign? I’m a Libra.
He: Rilly. Like, I’m a Aquarius.

She: Rilly. You wanna get out of here and have some fun at my place?
He: REALLY?! We’re outta here!

That was the 1970s, and this is now. We’re a less kind, more sarcastic genre of humanity a generation later. Now, we use the word to express condescension and derision in a unilateral conversation, as if we were commenting on something someone else said, only we said it. It works for both mocking agreement and mocking dismissal — you have to guess, but it’s usually directed at a knowing audience, so you’re supposed to know. This “Really?” thing has all but replaced the ridiculous, “Well, duh!” Here are some examples.

• In The Weekly Standard: Cheney’s heart transplant won’t change his approach to work. Really? (Meaning: Wow! This guy is one tough cookie who is purporting to be able to handle a full schedule. It’s going to be impossible and we don’t really think he can do it but it’s great that he thinks so.)
• In the Daily Kos: Cheney’s heart transplant won’t change his approach to work. Really? (Meaning: Yeah, right. This guy’s heart was black to begin with and he’s a warmonger and that’s never going to change. His “work” is grabbing money and killing people.)

It plays equally well (???) in prosaically spoken prose, particularly on those 15 second sound bite laden news programs we no longer watch.

• Channel 9 Eyewitness News: The Magic won’t be going deep into the playoffs without Dwight Howard. Really? Marla will have the story after the break…

I suppose that we’re stuck with the “Really?” crap for a while. Flare-ups of this kind usually die a slow smoldering death, smothered by overuse, but fanned by the minions of heartlanders to whom it remains a new thing for a while longer because it took a while longer to get there. Inevitably, however, it will be replaced eventually by something even lamer.

The Turkey has done written enough. Really?