Posts filed under ‘Other Penn State sports’
Big Ten Logo Reactions
Yesterday’s unveiling of the new Big Ten logo and new division names is meeting with harsh criticism in some camps. Case in point: This short piece on the New England Sports Network’s site is called “New Big Ten Logo Looks Like it Took 25 Seconds to Make.” (Ouch.) You can read a couple of other snarky articles here and here.
Some of the negative comments have been aimed more at the names of the new conference divisions: the Leaders Division and the Legends Division. But the part that fascinates me the most is the reaction to the new logo and its variants. This is why I could never be a designer: I don’t have a thick enough skin. You do all this research, kick around all these ideas, bring to bear all this specialized knowledge, and come up with something you think meets the client’s needs—and then people immediately jump in and start trashing it.
I really started paying attention this afternoon when I discovered that the design was done by Pentagram Design. I probably could count on one hand the number of design firms I know by name, and Pentagram would be at the top of the list. One of their partners is DJ Stout, who used to be the art director at Texas Monthly (a great magazine) and who been a terrific speaker at our national editors’ conference a couple of times. Another partner is Michael Bierut, who has done design work for everyone from Benetton to Walt Disney to the New York Jets. He’s kind of a legend in the field—and he was one of the two lead designers on the new Big Ten logo.
Here is a blog entry on the Pentagram site explaining a bit of their thinking behind the logo and showing it in a couple of different contexts. I have to say that when I see it in use—on a water bottle or a football field—I actually kind of like it.
What are your thoughts on the new look? And the new divisions? Feel free to post a comment below.
Tina Hay, editor
Mr. Wonderful Goes to Detroit
Phil Davis ’08 is getting back in the octagon. The former NCAA wrestling champ turned mixed martial artist is back in action Saturday night at UFC 123 in Detroit, the showcase event of the sport’s top league. It’s the first time on the main card for Davis, who takes a 7-0 record into his light heavyweight fight with Tim Boetsch.
Davis, nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” for reasons that seem almost too odd (and occasionally inconsistent) to believe, is considered one of the top up-and-coming fighters in MMA. He’s also got a ton of personality, which is why UFC promoters figure to be rooting for him. You can find informative interviews with him at USA Today and on MMAJunkie.com, and, for the heck of it, watch him shoot some ugly but surprisingly effective free throws earlier this week at a Detroit Pistons game, where he was a celebrity courtside guest.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Penn State Sports: The Monday Blahs
The busiest Penn State sports weekend of the semester was a bit of a letdown. There was some good news: the Nittany and Lady Lion basketball teams and sixth-ranked wrestling team opened their seasons with wins, and the No. 8 women’s volleyball team extended its Rec Hall unbeaten streak to 88 matches with sweeps of Wisconsin and No. 9 Illinois.
That was the good news.
There was disappointment but no shame as the field hockey and women’s soccer teams both fell to higher-ranked opponents in NCAA tournament play. The men’s soccer team, meanwhile, hosted the Big Ten tournament at Jeffrey Field, beating Northwestern in the opener and upsetting top-seeded Indiana in the semis to set up a meeting with Michigan in the final. We were blessed with unbelievable weather this weekend, so I took in both Friday’s semifinal and Sunday’s final.
I also took our camera; credit for whatever half-decent shots I got goes largely to our Nikon D40. Here’s one from Friday afternoon’s semifinal against IU. That’s Penn State midfielder Drew Cost (8) lining up a long-range shot. (Click to enlarge)
Jeffrey Field is one of my favorite places on campus to be in the fall. The sunsets up there can be gorgeous, and they made for some great shadows and color on the field. It’s also a nice backdrop for a fan looking contemplative over his vuvuzela.
Penn State lost the title game to Michigan, 4-1, a score that didn’t reflect how well Penn State played — the Nittany Lions actually outshot the Wolverines 23-16 on the day. Here’s one of those shots, a first-half attempt by freshman forward Jordan Tyler.
The Nittany Lions’ only goal came late in the first half, when Cost received a pass on the edge of the Michigan box, made a quick move to his right and shot low toward the far corner…
The keeper never had a chance.
The final score was a bummer, but at least the kids had a good time: That’s my son and my buddy Dave’s two boys clowning around at halftime.
Figured I’d end it with some cuteness.
The soccer team awaits confirmation of an NCAA at-large bid, to be announced Monday afternoon.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
JoePa Gets 400, and Much More From a Busy Weekend of Penn State Sports
It’s shaping up to be a beautiful week in State College, fitting weather for the campus-wide good vibes still lingering from Saturday night. I took my 5-year-old to Beaver Stadium, and after the game I told him that one day he’d be able to tell his kids about seeing Joe Paterno win his 400th game. Honestly, I don’t think he grasped it; all my son knew was that he had a blast high-fiving our neighbors in section NAU over and over again in that second half.
In the two days since, there have been a bunch of great stories on Joe Paterno’s 400th career win (we’ve already linked to a couple of them on our Facebook page). Here’s a couple more you might have missed:
-This wrap-up from the Altoona Mirror is cool for the embedded video link, which offers a close-up view of Paterno on the shoulders of lineman Eric Shrive and graduate assistant coach Gus Felder ’02 (who I’m pretty sure was on the field as a player when Joe broke Bear Bryant’s Division I victory record back in 2001). It offers a (more…)
We’re Not the Only Penn Staters Celebrating Our 100th Birthday This Fall
We just got copies of The Penn Stater‘s centennial issue back from our printer — check the blog next week for more on that — but we got a reminder today that we’re not celebrating alone. The men’s soccer team this year is marking its 100th season of competition, and on Saturday afternoon, the Lions will try to mark it with a win over a ranked conference rival.
The high-scoring Nittany Lions (led by junior forward Corey Hertzog, the nation’s top scorer) welcome No. 25 Ohio State to Jeffrey Field Saturday at 3 pm. It’s Senior Day for Penn State, when the Lions will not only send off five graduating players, but also plan to welcome back luminaries from the program’s past, including legendary coach Walter Bahr, two-time All-American Dick Packer ’56 (pictured at right) and 1979 Hermann Trophy winner Jim Stamatis ’80.
Looks like a bunch of former Lions might be back in town, and after a damp, chilly week, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous. My dream Saturday itinerary? Leave the house tomorrow with the football team up two or three touchdowns at Minnesota, stop by the Creamery, and get to Jeffrey Field in time for kickoff. Fingers crossed.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
ESPN Brings You Penn State “Student Bodies” In 3-D
Here’s something unexpected—and a little weird—but very cool: As a tie-in with its current “Body Issue,” ESPN The Magazine chose one college from which to get a broad survey of athletes’ bodies. That school? Penn State. But these aren’t just photos of student-athletes—they’re 3-D images done through some sort of high-tech (and highly realistic) scanner. The results, which you can scroll through here, are strange, enlightening, and compelling.
Why’d they choose Penn State? According to the blurb that opens the feature, the magazine was attracted by “one of the nation’s largest (325-plus scholarship athletes) and smartest (82% graduation rate) athletics programs.”
On a cool personal side note: Five of the 29 athletes featured — including Lauren Purvis and Jack Crawford, pictured above — have also appeared as our magazine’s “Lead Athlete” profile over the past couple of years. Kind of proud of that, even if our images were only 2-D.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Connie Moore Is Running, Smiling, and Winning
Connie Moore ’04 became a national champion on Sunday, winning the 200 meters at the US Track & Field Championships. Her time of 22.40 was a personal best and the fourth fastest in the world this year. The Chicago Tribune has a great story today about Moore, an 11-time All-American at Penn State who had pretty much given up on running because she wasn’t enjoying it anymore. She mounted a comeback last year after a chance meeting with Al Joyner, the former Olympic triple-jump gold medalist who now coaches. The victory puts Moore (in sunglasses, above) in the mix for the 2011 world championships and the 2012 Olympics.
Other current and former Nittany Lions stood out at the USATF event: Outgoing seniors Bridget Franek ’10 and Fawn Dorr posted top-five finishes, with Franek fifth in the steeplechase and Door third in the 400-meter hurdles. Ryan Fritz ’10 tied for sixth in the high jump.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Another National Honor for Megan Hodge
We knew that Megan Hodge was the best player on the best volleyball team in the nation last season — and maybe the last three seasons, all of which ended with Penn State national championships. Hodge ’10 won’t be around next year to extend the Nittany Lions’ streak of 102 straight victories, but her daunting legacy — she was a four-time first-team All-American — will be remembered for a long time. That’s all the more true after Hodge was named co-winner of the 2010 Honda-Broderick Cup, given annually to the collegiate woman athlete of the year. Hodge shares the award with UConn junior Maya Moore, start of the Huskies basketball team that has won 78 straight games and the last two NCAA championships.
There’s some good scene in this SI.com story about Hodge and Moore – arguably the most dominant individuals on the two most dominant college teams of their generation — chatting on the bus ride to Monday’s ceremony in Los Angeles, before they knew they’d be sharing the award. Afterward, Hodge said, “It kind of threw me for a loop when he said both of our names. It was definitely like a ‘Wow’ moment and unexpected, but still very exciting. It’s a very meaningful award.”
Hodge is the first Penn State student-athlete to win the Honda-Broderick award.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Penn State Gets Its Man — Again.
The men’s lacrosse team has announced its new coach, and based on his résumé, the hiring is a great one. Jeff Tambroni, who led Cornell to the NCAA Final Four in three of the past four seasons, is the man charged with leading the Nittany Lions to a place among the game’s elite. Tambroni replaces longtime Penn State coach Glenn Thiel ’66, who retired in May.
The hiring looks like a coup for the Lions, who lured a proven coach from a successful program to take over a team that finished just 2-11 last season; indeed, the move left many in the lacrosse world scratching their heads. But Tambroni says family ties explain it: He was an All-American at Hobart College, but his wife, former Cornell field hockey coach, Michelle Frates Tambroni ’91, was a field hockey standout for Penn State. (Michelle hopes to help Char Morett ’79 with the field hockey team in some capacity now that she’s back in town.) Regardless of the details, it’s another impressive hire for Penn State, who brought in respected Creighton soccer coach Bob Warming to replace Barry Gorman last month.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Bridget Franek is an NCAA Champion
When I interviewed Bridget Franek for the sports profile in our March/April issue, she made it clear that her already loaded resume — which included Big Ten championships and All-American honors — wouldn’t feel complete until she added a national championship. And she knew the steeplechase was her best chance to get it.
Running at the NCAA Championship meet Saturday in Eugene, Ore., Franek achieved her goal, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:38.86. At the end, it was something of a blowout: Franek finished a full 13 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. The win marked her 10th All-American honor and helped the Penn State women to a fourth-place showing at the meet.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
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