paterno xs and os

As the fallout from the Penn State sexual abuse case continues, Shutdown Corner looks at two forgotten tales of how the NFL intersected with the biggest modern-day scandal in sports.

1. Joe Paterno was offered the head coaching job of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, three years after he took over at Penn State. The Rooney family reportedly offered Paterno $70,000 per season to make the jump to the NFL, far more than the $20,000 he was making in State College.

Paterno said he was close to taking the job but reconsidered after sleeping on it for a night. He told "Pittsburgh Steelers: The Complete Illustrated History":

"It was an awful lot of money, a fantastic offer. I'd never dreamed of making that much money. Then I started thinking about what I wanted to do. I had put some things out of whack. I haven't done the job I set out to do at Penn State."

Pittsburgh eventually hired one of Don Shula's assistants from Baltimore. His name was Chuck Noll.

2. Jerry Sandusky was a leading

haynesworth

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the latest team to find out that Albert Haynesworth is overweight, lazy and not worth the time or money. One day after being cut by the New England Patriots, the former NFL defensive player of the year was claimed off waivers by the Bucs.

Tampa will take on the contract Haynesworth signed with New England. The team will pay him $705,882 over the final eight weeks of the season. If he plays for the team in 2012, his salary escalate to $6.7 million, not including a $400,000 roster bonus due Aug. 1.

Whereas you could make the case that Haynesworth signing with Bill Belichick in New England was a good example of low-risk/high-reward, the same can't be said about the Bucs. Sure, the risk is similarly low, but what's the reward? What's the best-case scenario for Morris? At worst, Haynesworth is the same player he's been for the past three years. At best, he shows flashes of the play that made him a $100 million man in 2009 and single-handedly leads Tampa to

TC UDGame Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of news, stats and links from around the web.

Love -- Are you a Comcast subscriber wondering why you're not getting The Tennis Channel? This Los Angeles Times article examines the contentious fight to get the channel on a regular tier like the Comcast-owned Golf Channel. At least Comcast customers can pay for Tennis Channel. Folks on Verizon and other select providers don't have any access to the network.

15 -- Martina Hingis is joining the coaching academy run by Busted Racquet contributor Patrick Mouratoglou. The five-time Grand Slam champion will serve as an advisor.

30 -- Roger Federer may be playing in Switzerland's first-round Davis Cup match against the United States. In talking about his schedule for 2012, which centers around Wimbledon and the London Olympics, Federer hinted that he would compete in the Feb. 10-12 tie. "Davis Cup will be announced as soon as I will make a decision for Dubai," Federer said. "I hope it will be decided

djokovic ball tossIt's a dilemma we've all faced at one time or another: Stay home from work or show up and get a $1.6 million bonus?

Novak Djokovic made the tough decision on Wednesday, when he played in his second-round match of the Paris Masters despite a nagging back injury that has slowed him since his historic U.S. Open victory in September and earned a $1.6 million bonus for the effort. The world No. 1 wasn't at his best in the match, but still defeated Ivan Dodig, 6-4, 6-3.

By finishing the year at No. 1, Djokovic was entitled to a $2 million bonus from the ATP if he played in all eight Masters Series 1000 events throughout the season. He was docked $400,000 for missing last month's event in Shanghai with the injury, so the total was set at $1.6 million. Had he withdrawn from the Paris tournament, Djokovic would have forfeited all the money.

During his post-match press conference, Djokovic denied playing for the check.

"It was really somehow funny for me to see how people are coming up with that

The Fox Sports robot, Cleatus, has his own Twitter account. Here are 11 things we learned about him from scrolling through his many, many tweets.

• Can be philosophical.

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• Also annoyed by lame Ohio State alums who call it "The Ohio State University."

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• Refers to himself in the third person.

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{YSP:more}• Doesn't use proper Twitter response form a la @SI_PeterKing.

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• Is sort of creepy.

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• Can't spell "hubba."

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• Thinks you should be able to take a picture with anyone you darn well please.

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• Has questionable taste in comedy.

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• Is not a fan of Jack Nicholson, Stevie Wonder or Corey Hart.

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• Seriously, he's pretty creepy and in desperate need of a dictionary:

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• But, in the end, he shows that robots are just like us: in love with Tim Tebow.

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haynesworth cut

The Albert Haynesworth experiment has ended in New England.

Four months after trading for the mercurial defensive tackle, the New England Patriots cut Haynesworth on Tuesday after eight games in which he was largely ineffective on the league's last-ranked defense. The Boston Herald first reported the news.

Haynesworth got into a heated discussion with defensive line coach Pepper Johnson during the third quarter of Sunday's loss to the New York Giants. He didn't return to the game following the incident.

Haynesworth was all smiles in the preseason, proclaiming that he was having fun playing football again. Some took it as a sign that his disastrous two years in Washington, best remembered for his failed conditioning tests and loafing on plays, would be a hiccup in between All-Pro performances in Tennessee and New England. Instead, the change of scenery didn't do anything for Haynesworth's play. When he was in, his sheer girth managed to clog running lanes, but he was hardly the

federer pizza

Game Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of news, stats and links from around the web.

Love -- Playing in his hometown of Basel, Switzerland, Roger Federer won his second tournament of 2011, defeating Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-3. Then he went out and bought the ballkids pizza and served it on a silver platter.

15 -- To some, Novak Djokovic's loss to Kei Nishikori in Basel means the world No. 1's 2011 season won't go down as the greatest in history. Back in September we vowed not to revisit the question until the ATP season was finished, but it's hard to imagine that losing in a 500 event with a back injury would make his three-Slam season any less impressive. If that injury forces him out of Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals, that's a different story.

30 -- Ana Ivanovic thinks she can become No. 1 again. A win in Bali was a step in the right direction.

40 -- A version of the Nike cardigan Federer wore at Wimbledon in 2008 is on sale on eBay and the buyer touts it's one of only 40 made.

packers lions

With eight weeks left in the NFL season, Shutdown Corner looks at the eight best remaining games on the schedule.

8. New England Patriots at New York Jets -- Nov. 13 -- 8:20 p.m. ET -- NBC

A Patriots win gives them a virtual two-game lead over New York in the AFC East. Since 2006, the Pats have swept the Jets just once, during the 2009 undefeated regular season. One downside to this game: With the Ravens and Steelers finishing their season series last weekend, the two best division rivalries in the AFC are wrapped up before Thanksgiving.

7. Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers -- Dec. 25  -- 8:20 p.m. ET -- NBC

All I want for Christmas is for the Bears to still be in the playoff hunt and for the Packers to have something (like home-field advantage or an undefeated season) to play. That and an iPad.

[Related: Quarterback Aaron Rodgers leads 2011 NFL All-Midseason team]

6. Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants, Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa