There has been a rumor floating around that ESPN was working on an episode of Outside the Lines which would focus on the off-field problems the football has had over the past few seasons. Last week the rumor was confirmed by Allentown Morning Call reporter Bill Kline on his blog. Well, all you had to do was ask me and I could have told you it was true since one of the reporters working on the story contacted me back in April. I thought I was special, but turns out he talked to everyone. Now I just feel dirty.

So, the Penn State blogs and message boards are all fired up over this story, with the assumption that it's going to be a "hit piece" against the football program. Run Up The Score has a list of 61 players who had at least some run in with the law, but they're going all the way back to the Rashard Casey days. From the sound of things this Outside the Lines piece will be focusing on the time frame after the Meridian fight in April 2007.

I've always thought the Outside the Lines pieces were good, so I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that this is going to be a "hit piece." But, in April of this year I was contacted by a reporter from ESPN who said he was looking to speak with me about the football team's recent problems. Well, turns out he wasn't looking to speak with me so much(and why would he, what the hell do I know), he wanted to know if I knew anyone in the university who was "concerned" with the problems and was willing to go on the record. Here's one of the e-mail exchanges:
 

"The story is about the Penn State football program and its string of off-the-field incidents. We are looking for a Penn State professor or administrator who is concerned about all this, and might be willing to say so publicy...and I was just wondering if you had encountered anyone like that on campus."

Well, I didn't really know anyone he could speak to. And the one person I'm sure would love to talk has completely shut her yap (here's the last time she talked btw). So it'll be interesting to see who they did get to talk. And as Kline points out in his blog, a number of Outside the Lines' are probably produced and never make it to air, so there's always the chance we never see this.

I can't wait till the day I write my book and talk about all the stories I have about football players.