ptical among us was at least glancing at the cage, wondering if we should grab a bat and give it a try. Asked about the skeptics, those who question

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- More than 200 former Penn State football players are petitioning university leaders to return the bronze statue of Joe Paterno that stood outside the schools football stadium.The statue of the late football coach was removed in 2012. That was after his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, was convicted of child sexual abuse and an investigation accused Paterno and other former administrators of covering up complaints about Sandusky.Paterno died after battling lung cancer in 2012.The players sent a letter Tuesday to the board of trustees and Penn State President Eric Barron calling for the statues return. The players also want an apology to Paternos wife, Sue, and the restoration of the wall that stood behind the statue.We at least want the Penn State administration to stand up not only for football players and the football program, but for all of Penn State and the many alumni who want same thing, Brian Masella, former tight end and punter for the Nittany Lions, told The Tribune-Review.Masella said the board and administration have said for years they would repair the damage they created. Hes said that time has come.Masella told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the players feel the board hasnt made much progress in restoring the legacy of the players, who he said committed no wrongdoing in the scandal.University spokesman, Ben Manning, said there will be a time and a place to acknowledge Paternos legacy.Any plans to discuss the matter with the Paterno family would be done in private, he said.The board of trustees plans to meet later this month. Fake Shoes Discount . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Replica Shoes Online . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. http://www.fakeshoesonline.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Cheap Shoes Fake .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Fake Shoes Free Shipping .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. LOS ANGELES -- He took the field wearing generic baseball clothes -- white pants, navy shirt, navy cap -- looking like a guy in a commercial for a product that is not an official sponsor of Major League Baseball. He ran fast, especially for a 255-pound man with, as the press information helpfully included, 7.3 percent body fat. He threw the ball from the outfield about like an above-average high school player, and he caught fly balls with two hands, as you no doubt expected he would.This is Tim Tebow, in front of talent evaluators from 28 major league teams, standing alone on the USC baseball field with the sun beating down on him, trying to do something it would be all too easy to ridicule.The event was suffused with an unearned air of seriousness. More than 200 people -- scouts, media, helpers -- strode onto the outfield grass to watch him run a 60-yard dash. They stood in center field and down the left-field line while he fought his own feet and muscled his way through a series of throws from right field. They wrote stuff down. They thought about it. They said things like, Hes clearly very athletic, even though that wasnt ever the question.And afterward, his coach Chad Moeller testified to Tebows determination and commitment, as coaches have been doing for more than a decade, and marveled at the effort it takes to get the bat out of his hands when he has had enough for the day. At one point, to demonstrate his commitment to the cause, Tebow opened his hands to allow doubters to gaze upon his bat-callused palms.?Its probably best to leave that symbolism alone.The one thing everybody wanted to know can be condensed into one word: Why? Why would a 29-year-old football icon who hasnt played baseball since his junior year in high school put himself through this? Why would he enter the public forum and subject himself to the snide and withering comments of people who know how hard it is to play this game for money?In some form or another, he was asked those questions. As you might expect, he issued a passionate and fierce rendition of, Why not?The goal would be to have a career in the big leagues, he said. The pursuit of it is to give it all you can, be the best you can, be someone to pursue what I feel passionate about. People will say, What if you fail? What if you dont make it? Guess what? I dont have to live with regret. I did everything I could. I pushed it. I would rather be someone who can live with peace and no regret rather than being so scared I didnt make the effort.Once he got rolling, even the most skeptical among us was at least glancing at the cage, wondering if we should grab a bat and give it a try. Asked about the skeptics, those who question his motivation or suggest a thirst for publicity, those who decry the fact that 28 teams sent people to watch a 29-year-old guy who hasnt played since his junior year in high school when players with real talent cant get a look, Tebow said, Im thankful they dont get to make the choices for my life.He kept going. Its what he does. He didnt have to either, because he could have mouthed a few platitudes and it probably wouldnt have affected the decision of some team to put him in a minor league uniform for a few months, if only to sell a few million dollars worth of T-shirts.With Tebow, youre encouraged to distrust your eyes. Yeah, he looked like a tight end in the outfield, falling down at one point picking up a ball off the warning track. He couldnt pull a pitch from former big leaguers Chad Smith and David Aardsma. He two-hopped a throw from medium right to third base, and it was up the line, too.But then the man staarts talking, and you wonder if maybe you were wrong.dddddddddddd. Maybe you were being too harsh. After all, he did hit a few batting-practice fastballs high into the trees beyond right field. Maybe this, this mixed bag of results at the end of several months of work, is just the first step toward this man proving everyone wrong. You come away thinking, Damn, does this guy ever try. And does he ever care. He is the most overtly trying-est and caring-est dude of his generation.If you fail, if you fall on your face, thats OK, he said. When did that become such a bad thing? When did pursuing what you love become a bad thing, regardless of the result?In January, Tebow was working out on the USC practice football field, next to the baseball field. After he finished his workouts with quarterback coach Tom House, Tebow would wander over to the baseball field, where a group of major and minor league players were getting ready for spring training.Ryan Rowland-Smith, a former Seattle Mariners reliever, was one of the players working out. They werent really interested in Tebow; they were there to get ready for spring training. It was serious business. But Tebow kept hanging around, picking up bats and wondering if he could take a few swings.I could tell he wanted to have a hit, Rowland-Smith said. He kept asking. You know, guys are trying to get their work in. They want to face good hitters to get ready. He just kept talking about the itch.Its impossible to know what was going on over on the football field with Tebow and House going through drills to improve Tebows delivery for roughly the millionth time. Quick release, elbow up -- whatever it was, you have to figure, in the quiet of January, those drills pushed Tebow closer to the realization that he would never again play quarterback in the NFL. And so he drifted over to the baseball field, with nothing more than high school credentials to his name, asking for a turn.And one day Rowland-Smith relented. Like a g