Archive for December, 2008
Friday Sports Update
Maybe you can win for losing…
It had been a year and three days since the Penn State women’s volleyball team lost a set (or a game, depending on your preference). That was before Thursday night, when Coach Russ Rose’s unbeaten, top-ranked squad met No. 4 Nebraska in the national semifinals in Omaha, Neb.
That unbeaten streak is over. Thankfully, the Nittany Lions still won the match, a dramatic yo-yo of a five-setter that started with Penn State winning the first two games (or sets—I really should find out which one’s more official) and stretching its unbeaten game/set streak to an NCAA-record 111 straight. The Cornhuskers, playing in front of the biggest crowd in tournament history—officially 17,400, about 17,000 of whom were raucously supporting the ’Huskers—rallied to win the next two sets/games, sending the crowd into a frenzy and leaving the Lions looking very shaky.
37 down, 1 to go
Then Penn State came out for the decisive fifth set, the players suddenly back to their typically poised and confident selves, to close out a 25-17, 25-18, 15-25, 22-25, 15-11 win. The match ended at 12:20 a.m. ET. I’m glad I stayed up.
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, the defending champion Nittany Lions (37-0) will face No. 2 Stanford in a rematch of last year’s NCAA final. The title match will be broadcast live on ESPN2. And if you missed last night’s epic, the Penn State-Nebraska match will be replayed on the Big Ten Network today (Friday) at 10 p.m. ET and again on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
If you need to kill some time before Saturday night’s match, why not check out…
-This video feature on new PSU football recruit Kevin Newsome. We knew this kid had nice moves on the field….
-JoePa’s Virtual Birthday Party. I wouldn’t count on an appearance from the coach himself.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Poignant Story About Aaron Maybin
My friend Elaine Nell Keller ’68 in Boiling Springs, Pa., who follows Nittany Lion football even more closely than I do, called my attention to a story that ran this week on Aaron Maybin, Penn State’s All-American defensive end. In the piece, Maybin talks about the death of his mom when he was just 6 years old; the story is, needless to say, very sad. It’s a side of Maybin I never knew about.
Tina Hay, editor
A Last-Minute Gift Idea
I can’t technically recommend it (because I haven’t actually read it), but I’ll go ahead and offer a quick plug for the latest novel from David Morrell ’67, ’70 PhD: The Spy Who Came For Christmas.
Morrell, whose 1972 debut novel First Blood inspired the movie Rambo, returns with a holiday thriller set in Santa Fe, N.M. The characters include Russian mobsters, a charismatic Middle Eastern preacher, and a double-agent with a five-week-old baby hidden under his jacket; like I said, I haven’t read it, but it certainly sounds compelling.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Joe’s Staying, and Kevin’s On His Way
Some news you’ve probably heard by now: Joe Paterno has agreed to a three-year contact extension to coach the Penn State football team. (Here’s an entertaining take from Phil Sheridan of the Philly Inquirer, and here’s some breathless analysis from some guy on ESPN.)
Some news you might not have heard: Within a couple hours of the announcement of Paterno’s new deal, highly rated prep quarterback Kevin Newsome of Virginia committed to play for Penn State. (You can find some grainy but impressive high school highlights of Newsome here.) Newsome (pictured) had originally committed to Michigan before changing his mind — a common occurrence in the recruiting game these days — and his commitment makes Pat Devlin’s transfer last week much easier for Nittany Lion fans to take.
In college football, as in life, there are no guarantees: The wording of the University’s press release seems to give both parties some wiggle room, and there have been plenty of “highly rated” recruits who never pan out. Future uncertainties aside, Tuesday afternoon was a good day to be a Penn State football fan.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
New Deal Art and The Penn Stater
A mural in the Freeland, Pa., post office, painted in 1938 by Bucks County impressionist John F. Folinsbee
I got an e-mail the other day from David Lembeck ’85, whom we worked with a few years ago on a photo essay for the magazine. In 2005, Lembeck and photographer Michael Mutmansky ’97 were working to document and raise awareness about the 1930s-era art that can be found in post offices throughout Pennsylvania. Our photo essay about their work ran in the September-October 2005 issue—it was called “Mail Room Marvels.”
Anyway, Dave e-mailed me to let me know that our article had opened some doors for them. WITF, the public television station in Harrisburg, did a documentary on the subject, and now the post-office art is the subject of an exhibit at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg. How cool is that? The exhibit, called A Common Canvas: Pennsylvania’s New Deal Post Office Murals, just opened in late November and will stay up through May 17.
You can download a flyer announcing the exhibit here and the museum guide here. Both are in PDF format.
Tina Hay, editor
The Finals Countdown
Walking to work this morning, I passed a young woman holding a steaming Dunkin’ Donuts cup in one hand and a sheaf of red papers in the other. Which reminded me: It’s Finals Week.
As most University Park alumni know, those red sheets of paper are the trademark of Nittany Notes, the off-campus note-taking service that does an especially brisk business at the end of each semester. The sight brought a smile to my face, reminding me how happy I am to no longer be spending my last few dollars on class notes I should’ve taken myself — and would have, if only I’d made it to class more often. It was also a nice reminder that, in an age when technology has altered so much about the student experience, some things — like desperately cramming for finals, even as you walk down College Avenue on a Monday morning— never change.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
More PSU football…
A couple (more) Penn State football items on this Friday:
-Last night, senior AQ Shipley received the Rimington Trophy as the outstanding center in college football. Shipley was one of three Nittany Lions named to the Walter Camp All-American team: Sophomore defensive end Aaron Maybin joined him on the first team, and wideout/kick returner Derrick Williams—who on Sunday was named team MVP—earned second-team honors.
AQ Shipley
-Author, freelance writer, and occasional Penn Stater contributor Michael Weinreb ’94 Com has a great piece today on espn.com that compares the Big Ten’s football reputation to the precarious position of Detroit’s Big 3. My favorite lines:
“The Big 12 represents the future: the notion that you can actually outgain every opponent you face and win a national championship. Their coaches are quirky men with pirate fetishes, and their quarterbacks have names such as Colt. It’s all quite exciting. And the Big Ten? Its coaches have hip-replacement surgery and wear sweater vests, and its running backs have Depression-era nicknames like ‘Beanie.’”
Mike’s a good writer. He was also in my wedding, and I reserve the right to some day tell an embarrassing story about that in this space.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Ted Anthony on Chip Kidd
I thought it was fun to see Ted Anthony, a respected AP correspondent, reviewing a book by Chip Kidd, a respected graphic designer. The reason it’s fun is that both are Penn Staters: Ted Anthony is a 1995 grad in history and Chip Kidd is a 1986 grad in art.
(Chip Kidd has a blog of his own, by the way. It’s pretty entertaining.)
Tina Hay, editor
Neil Rudel on Pat Devlin
Neil Rudel ’78 has covered Penn State football for the Altoona Mirror since forever, and always has interesting insights about the program. His take on quarterback Pat Devlin’s departure is intriguing. Some of it is probably speculation, but some of it seems based on info from the sources inside the program that he has cultivated over the years. In any case, it’s worth a read.
Tina Hay, editor
Alan Furst on my iPhone?
I love my new iPhone, but I’m not sure I’m quite ready to use it to read books just yet. Still, several traditional book publishers apparently are banking on this as a new market for their work. A story in Publishers Weekly and other news media says Penguin and Random House are the latest to offer books via iPhone. Among the authors whose work Random House is making available is none other than Alan Furst ’67g, the mystery novelist whom we profiled in the magazine in May-June. His latest book, released right around the time our story appeared, is The Spies of Warsaw.
Tina Hay, editor
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