Archive for November, 2009
College Avenue on Thanksgiving Day
Years ago I heard someone say that State College is the only town in the world in which a 55-year-old man goes home for the holidays. In case you need proof of that, here’s a photo that one of our freelance photographers, Nick Sloff ’92, took of College Avenue on Thanksgiving Day.
It’s definitely pretty quiet around here on holidays.
You can follow Nick’s photography blog here.
Tina Hay, editor
Cael Sanderson Profiled in the New York Times
Some great visibility for the Penn State wrestling program: Sunday’s New York Times has a substantial article on the program and its hoped-for revitalization under new head coach Cael Sanderson.
Penn State hired Sanderson, who is the best collegiate wrestler ever (as evidenced by his perfect 159-0 record and four NCAA titles), to be its new coach last spring. Given that the Lions haven’t won a national championship in wrestling in more than half a century, Sanderson’s move to Happy Valley “at first glance … looked like the equivalent of Sanderson leaving Broadway for regional theater,” the Times article says.
But Pennsylvania is wrestling country, and Penn State has great wrestling facilities and fans. As Sanderson told the Times: “It’s like if I was a football coach with a chance to go to Texas where all the great players are, where they have the best facilities and where the fans support you to this incredible level.”
Under Sanderson (whom we profiled in our Sept-Oct issue), the Lions are off to a good start this year and are ranked No. 15 in the latest coaches’ poll. But Sanderson has much bigger ambitions for the program than just a top-20 ranking. “Coach has made his goal for us real clear,” wrestler Quentin Wright is quoted in the Times article as saying. “We want to win a team championship, and we want to win a lot of them.”
Tina Hay, editor
Penn State and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl?
That’s what David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News is predicting. If the Lions don’t go to Tempe, Ariz., then Jones sees them playing in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. By his analysis, the Orange Bowl is out of the picture for Penn State.
Bowl pairings will be announced next Sunday, Dec. 6.
Tina Hay, editor
Lady Lions Win Tournament—and a Few Laughs
Not only did the Lady Lion basketball team capture first place in the Dead River Company Classic in Maine over the long Thanksgiving weekend—they also showed off their entertainment chops at the tournament’s Thanksgiving Day banquet.
Check out their Disney medley, featuring solos by sophomore guard Emily Phillips—and note Coach Coquese Washington at the far end of the head table; the team casts her in the role of Cruella de Vil.
You can’t beat that for team chemistry.
Tina Hay, editor
William Hartmann: Mixing Art and Astronomy
William Hartmann ’63 is an interesting Penn Stater whom we’ve talked from time to time about featuring in the magazine at some point. He’s a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, and he also is an artist who specializes in painting the planets and other parts of the cosmos.
Last week he gave a talk on space art at St. Mary’s College of California, and the school’s student newspaper ran a story yesterday about that.
Hartman was a physics major at Penn State; he went on to get a master’s and Ph.D. in geology from the University of Arizona. In addition to his work at PSI, he also has written three college textbooks on astronomy and planetary science, plus some popular-press books, including A Traveler’s Guide to Mars (2003) and The Grand Tour: A Traveler’s Guide to the Solar System (2005), among others.
Tina Hay, editor
Great Story on the Lion Mascot
This week’s issue of ESPN Magazine has a great piece on college mascots, centered almost entirely on our own Nittany Lion mascot. The writer, Larry Smith, followed current mascot Clint Gyory around during Homecoming weekend and wrote a terrific article, accompanied by excellent photos by John Loomis. He talks about the hilarious skit that got Gyory the job, about what kind of shape the lion suit is in after a football game (says Gyory: “It smells like death”), and about some of the rules of being a mascot (never stop moving, never talk, never take off your head).
A fact I didn’t know: The Lion suit is machine washable.
Here’s a little more:
The suit is stored in the Lion’s Den—also known as the basement of the house Clint shares with four roommates—next to a boom box, cases of ramen noodles and a freezer stuffed with chicken wings. Four backup Lion suits hang next to it, all stored out of sight. “You don’t let people see it, get in it, play with it,” he says. “You keep the suit safe.”
The article isn’t available online unless you pay to become an “ESPN Insider,” but you should be able to pick up a hard copy at your local newsstand. The date on the magazine is Nov. 30, so it should be available for a few more days, I think. It’s the one with Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson on the cover.
Tina Hay, editor
Holiday Travel Advice
I’m thankful that for the first time in five years, I can have Thanksgiving dinner with my family simply by jumping in the car and driving a couple of hours west. (A drive that is, incidentally, way easier than it was when I was a student thanks to I-99 and some road-widening on Route 22. No more interminable five-hour bus rides from State College to downtown Pittsburgh for me!)
Those of you who need to brave the airport should take a look at these travel tips from Ben Mutzabaugh ’97 EMS, USA Today’s travel guru. He stresses something I’ve always aspired to, although I’ve not always achieved it: No matter how frustrated you are, be nice to the airline employees.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Same Touchdown, Different Angle
I just saw the new issue of John Black’s Football Letter (if you’re an Alumni Association member, you probably have it in your e-mail in-box by now) and noticed that it includes a shot by Steve Manuel ’84, ’92g of one of Graham Zug’s two third-quarter touchdowns against Michigan State. Steve shoots Penn State football games for us; 99 percent of the photos you see in The Football Letter are his.
The photo of Zug’s touchdown was taken at the same moment as the AP photo that I liked so much, just from a different angle. And if there was any doubt about whether the ball crossed the plane of the end zone, there isn’t after you see Steve’s photo.
Looks like Steve liked the photo well enough to include it on his blog.
Tina Hay, editor
P.S. If you don’t get The Football Letter—or The Penn Stater for that matter—you can get them by joining the Alumni Association.
Ira Glass Comes to Penn State?
Apparently the producer and host of the public radio show This American Life was indeed on campus two Saturdays ago. On a Web site called BleacherReport.com, Penn State student Megan Klock writes that Ira Glass and his staff came to University Park to do a piece on life in a football-crazy college town.
Glass did some interviews on the Friday night before the Indiana game, according to Klock, then he strolled around town on Saturday—and if you’ve ever tried to walk along College Avenue on a home-football Saturday, you know what a Mardi-Gras-like atmosphere the town has. He also visited some tailgates, and he sat in the student section during the game.
No word yet on when the piece is scheduled to air. Check your local listings….
Tina Hay, editor
A Word From the Orange Bowl Guy
David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News was in East Lansing for Penn State’s 48-14 win over Michigan State on Saturday, and he spent a little time talking to Michael Kosnitzky, the Orange Bowl scout who was at the game. Here’s how Jones assesses Penn State’s chances of playing in Miami on Jan. 5.
Tina Hay, editor
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