Matt Dery's Random Thoughts: Cutler Says This Week Will Be Different

1. Joe Paterno has decided to retire, stepping down as head coach at Penn State at the end of the season. The 84-year-old embattled coach released a statement this morning saying that this sexual abuse case at Penn State is one of the great sorrows of his life, and in hindsight he wishes he had done more.

Paterno added that the Penn State Board of Trustees should not spend any time on him, and that
they have far bigger issues on their plate.

Yet reports say Paterno has not talked to any of the trustees and made this retirement decision at the end of the season on his own. School President Graham Spanier has stayed quiet throughout this ordeal. Reportedly he has been told not to speak publicly by the board of trustees.

 2. The Lions travel to Chicago Sunday and the Bears Jay Cutler talked to Detroit writers today via a conference call. Cutler said it's going to be a totally different ballgame this weekend, as opposed to back on October 10th when the Lions throttled the Bears.

 3. This is the second straight day Jahvid Best and Sammie Hill did not practice. The NBA lockout has reached day 132, but the players and owners have scheduled a meeting this afternoon in New York to try and get a collective bargaining agreement complete. Commissioner David Stern
did say yesterday that a deal will get done.
And Indiana basketball recruit Gary Harris, one of the top players in the country reportedly will not make his college decision between Michigan State, Purdue, and Kentucky until later this week. That's according to his mother.