Category: Schools

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Now that winter has arrived…

it’s time to shift to my “other job”.

I’m fortunate in that my two passions don’t overlap their seasons. Warm weather months get dedicated to golf – I’m a little off this year with only about 80 rounds played, normally I’d hit over 100 but the asthma knocked me out for a month. Cold weather months see my focus switch to Penn State basketball (practice started 12 days ago).

A friend of mine, Tim Beidel, runs a website, PennStateHoops.com, dedicated to the Nittany Lion basketball program. Tim resides in Portland Maine and started the site years ago as a way of remotely keeping up with the basketball program. He was frustrated that he had a really hard time finding information anywhere about Penn State basketball team and realized that others must be in the same boat so he started the site.

I started buying season basketball tickets when the school built our basketball arena, the Bryce Jordan Center in 1995. Like Tim, I lived in New England and couldn’t find any info on PSU basketball. I started trolling around the web and stumbled onto his site then. It was a godsend for those of us looking for PSU BB info. I started hanging around the site then, occassionally posting to the site forum.

A few years down the road, I met Tim and we hit it off (90%+ of the people on these boards I wouldn’t want anything to do with but Tim is an exception). We’ve been able to get together once or twice a year since then, either for a summer golf tournament, fall football game, or winter basketball game. Despite Tim being a married non-drinker and me the polar opposite we get along quite well (in addition to sharing a common perspective on Penn State basketball, our political and social views seem to jibe 100%).

Tim runs the website as a hobby and it’s become quite popular among the PSU hoops community. Fortunately, Tim has been able to keep the lunatic fringe often found on internet boards at bay (he even got some nice props in a story by a Harrisburg sportswriter). Penn State has numerous former players playing professional ball in Europe who use the site to keep up to date with the team. We also have recently been recruiting heavily in Europe – we have three players on the squad from overseas – and their friends and families use the board to keep track of their hometown heroes.

Over the years my contribution to the board has grown. In addition to regularly posting on the aforementioned forum, I have assumed responsibility for tracking our recruiting efforts by maintaining the “UncleLar Recruiting Matrix”. The matrix is a compilation of published reports of whom Penn State is targeting with their recruiting.

By NCAA rule, a school’s coaching staff can’t comment on anyone that they are recruiting. That creates a huge void which is filled by numerous internet recruiting services (for both football and basketball). The two biggest are the Rivals Network and the Scout Network. Each of these networks is a conglomeration of individual school sites which are run by local professionals. Blue White Illustrated runs the Penn State site on the Rivals Network while Fight On State is the Scout Networks Penn State site. Both of those websites are run by local professionals who also publish local magazines.

However, this area is so football oriented that staffs of BWI and FOS give short shrift to basketball, even during basketball season. That has opened up a niche within a niche for Tim’s board and he is able to put together a better product as a hobby than either of the professional organizations can. As evidence,

Tim’s board receives 10 times the traffic that either the BWI basketball board or the FOS basketball forum does and my recruiting matrix is also more complete that either the BWI recruiting table or the FOS table.

With basketball season just around the corner (we have an exhibition game next Thursday), basketball recruiting activities will pick up and I can settle into my “second job” just as my golf “job” winds down.

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It’s a winter wonderland…

but I’m too damn lazy to go out and take photos. Woke up today with about an inch of snow on the ground and more falling. Fortunately, the ground temp is above freezing so most of it is melting but it is sticking to vegetation.

By now the temperature have risen enough (my outdoor thermometer says 34) that it’s turned to rain but the higher elevations are getting hit with snow – the forecast for the area says the precip will shift back and forth from rain and snow all afternoon with accumulations up to 6-9 inches in the surrounding mountains.

Many of the trees in the area still have a substantial number of leaves still on them so I expect numerous power outages from falling limbs as the snow accumulates on the tree branches.

This is the earliest significant snowfall that I can remember for a while.

ED Note: I knew if I waited long enough I could find shots on the web. Here’s one from on campus – to see more go here.

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We own the Big Ten

Another great Fall (no pun intended) weekend of sports here at Penn State.

The football team romped over Illinois 63-10 after leading 56-3 at halftime. The win was Joe Paterno’s 350th at Penn State. QB Michael Robinson was responsible for 6 TDs in the first half (4 passing – 2 running) – he did not play in the 2nd half. Penn State controls its destiny in the Big Ten. If they win out, the claim at least a share of the Big Ten title and will be the conferences representative in a BCS bowl game.

The undefeated and #1 ranked womens soccer team knocked off Michigan 4-2 on Friday. On Sunday, they defeated Michigan State 3-0 to claim their eighth straight Big Ten soccer title. Tiffany Weimer scored in both games to tie then break Brandi Chastain’s NCAA record of scoring in consecutive games. Tiffany’s record is now 17 straight (unfortunately, Portland’s Christine Sinclair has also scored in 17 straight and she has a chance to extend it to 18 tonight). Tiffany also broke former PSU star Christie Welch’s Big Ten record of 82 career goals.

The men’s soccer team also won a Big Ten title this weekend by knocking off Michigan State 1-0 in double overtime, their third consecutive B10 overtime win. Like their female counterparts the men are undefeated and untied in Big Ten play. However, unlike the womens 8 titles, this was the men’s first B10 conference title. Of course, we are recent members of the B10 and while the men may not have had any B10 titles before they have won 11 national titles while the women are still looking for their first.

On Saturday, the sixth ranked women’s field hockey team won their 16th straight game setting a new Penn State record. The 2-0 win over Ohio State clinched at least a share of the B10 title for the women. The game featured a “Natural” type moment when Penn State was awarded a penalty shot on a foul by Ohio State. It was late in the first half and PSU led only 1-0. Senior Mallory Weisen is on crutches due to a stress fracture but coach Char Morrett called for her to take the shot. Dropping her crutches Mallory hobbled onto the field and lifted a shot over the Ohio State goalie to give PSU a 2-0 lead. The ladies will travel to second place Indiana on Friday to attempt to win the B10 title outright.

The third ranked womens volleyball team went on the road this weekend defeating both Iowa and 12th ranked Minnesota. The ladies remained unbeaten in B10 play and now hold a commanding two match lead over the rest of the conference in the race for the title.

That means over the weekend, out athletic teams went 7-0 in conference play, won two big ten titles outright, won a guaranteed share of a third, and remain in the drivers seat for two others (the combined conference record for the five squads is 33-1). A pretty good weekend overall.

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First Posting

I don’t get on the pc often at home. Nick is on it a lot. Not much new other than not being able to get White Sox tickets was a bummer.

Chris and I went to ISU today to register him for his first semester (spring 2006). He is now an official Redbird. He will be studying to be a teacher in Physical Education. I understad ISU has a very good program.

Thanks to all of you who sent your thoughts to Mary on her dad’s passing. Mary is never on the computer so I have passed those on to her.

Too bad about Penn State. The boys and I watched the game. They really got into it. As soon as it was over I decided to keep it in perspective as Larry says he does. Who would have thought they would be 6-1! Larry, I have a $100.00 bet that Penn State wins more games then ND. I didn’t think either one would be as good as they seem.

When the game was over the boys and I starting looking forward to the White Sox game. We are big fans. Chris REALLY gets into the games. He is not pleasant to be around when they lose. Fortunately, not something we have worried about lately.

Well, that’s about it around here. I’m going up to watch the Cardinals and Astros. For tonight’s game we will root for the Cardinals. We really don’t care who wins. We just want both of these teams to wear themselves out before Saturday.

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Franco Harris and Mondo Martinis

I was downtown last night at Tony’s Big Easy Bar & Bistro preparing for the ninth Annual Mondo Martini Contest (yours truly, UncleLar is a four time undefeated champions of the event – FYI, it’s a martini making not martini drinking contest – more on Mondo Martini tomorrow after I win my fifth title tonight) when in walked Franco Harris along with Gary Gray, whom I have mentioned on this blog before. Gary and Franco were teammates on Penn State’s teams from 69-71.

Gary and Franco joined me and helped taste some of my creative work. Franco won four Super Bowls while with the Steelers and ever since then the Steelers have used the rallying cry “One for the Thumb” during their annual chase for another ring. I jokingly told Franco I was planning on getting my own “one for the thumb” tonight.

After perfecting my cocktail, Gary, Franco and I went over to the Gingerbread Man (or G-Man as it’s affectionately called here). It’s amazing to watch how much recognition Franco gets. He hasn’t played ball in twenty years yet he is still adored by many fans. There were bunches of college kids coming up to us using their cell phones to get their picture taken (admittedly they just shoved me out of the way but still I was still part of scene).

I have had some minor celebrity incidents here in State College (I’ll explain some time) but I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through that everyday like Franco. I even asked him if it bothered him and he very graciously said no, that the fans had always been good to him and he was glad that he could make them happy by obliging them with a photo. I thought that was a huge contrast to what we see in many athletes today.

Have to leave now but more tomorrow on my Mondo Martini (hopefully) winning entry.

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Not so Happy Valley this weekend

There’s a ton of people going nutso because of our last second football loss to Michigan on Saturday but they are the ones who usually overreact to everything. Fortunately, I’m one of the few who keeps a broad perspective on things.

So. while the loss was heartbreaking, ending our winning streak at eight which was the third longest in the nation behind USC and Texas, and eliminating our changes to get to the National Championship game, there still much to feel good about the program. For one thing, at the beginning of the season I doubt that many fans realistically thought we would be 6-1 at this point. Secondly, we are still in first place in the conference and we control out own destiny when it comes to winning the league championship and getting to a BCS bowl. If we win out we will hold the tiebreakers on the other B10 schools.

Our others sports are still going quite well too. Friday night the 4th ranked women’s volleyball team beat Michigan 3-0 and then came back on Saturday to knock off Michigan State 3-0. UncleLar niece Kaleena Walters set a PSU career record for digs in the Friday match. Those two matches left Penn State atop the conference with an 8-0 record.

While the VB match was going on here in State College, the women’s soccer team were in Columbus beating Ohio State 1-0. The lone goal was scored by Tiffany Wiemer who has now scored in 15 straight game and has tied Brandi Chastain’s NCAA record. Earlier in the week, the women were voted the #1 team in the country, taking over the top spot from North Carolina. The women also hold down the top spot in the Big Ten conference with a 7-0 record and are the only undefeated team in the conference.

Saturday was a pretty full day for me. At noon, I went to watch our 6th ranked women play and knock off their archrival Michigan State 2-1. That was the women’s 14th in a row, one away from the team record. The win left the Nits undefeated in conference play and atop the league standings. Earlier in the week, UncleLar niece Natalie Berrena earned her second B10 Player of the Week Award for her 2 goal performance against Iowa.

Immediately following the field hockey match I travelled to Tussey Mountain, a small amusement area about five miles south of town. I got their in time to watch a friend of mine, Kevin Becker, finish the Tussey Mountain 50 Mile Ultramarathon. Kevin finished about 8:25:00 which placed him about 10th. I did one marathon once, which is 26.2 miles and it was painful. I can’t imagine running 50 miles but Kevin did and looked just fine. He was even able to join us later in the evening for beers to celebrate his finish. Kevin couldn’t have finished at a better time. The race started at 7AM so 8:25 got him done at 3:25 in the afternoon. I had just enough time to congratulate him and to hightail it home in time to catch the 3:45 football kickoff.

On Sunday our sports teams continued with their winning ways when the men’s soccer team duplicated their sister team’s effort by also knocked off Ohio State 1-0 in Columbus. The men, while not #1 ranked in the country like the women, are like the women in that they are undefeated in league play and sit atop the Big Ten standings.

So while we may have lost the big one, overall the weekend was a success with the five squads going a combined 5-1 with each of them remaining atop the conference and in good shape to win B10 championships.

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White Out photos

By request, a photo from last night’s White Out.

The White Out concept was introduced last year for the Purdue game.
Here’s a shot from that game.

Another photo, this one a vidcap from a guy in the west stands.

Found a collection of photos, click here to view

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Full Report

It was a very very Happy Valley this weekend. The huge Penn State win over Ohio State in football, more on that later, was bracketed by several other athletic competitions.

The weekend started out with a doubleheader soccer match featuring Penn State and Northwestern in men’s soccer followed by Penn State and Illinois in women’s soccer at PSU’s Jeffrey Field. In the men’s match, the Nits defeated the Wildcats 4-1 to run their league record to 2-0 and keep them in first place in the Big Ten. UncleLar nephew David Gray scored his first career goal with a header off a free kick (David is a defender who doesn’t normally get scoring opportunities but because he is one of the taller players on the team he moves up front on free and corner kicks to attempt headers – this one worked perfectly).

In the women’s match, the Nits defeated the Illini 3-1 to run their league record to 5-0 and 13-0 overall. The women are the #2 ranked team in the country and, like the men, sit atop the league standings (they are actually shooting for their eighth consecutive league championship). UncleLar doesn’t have any nieces playing soccer for PSU this year (my last PSU soccer niece was Joanna Lohman, who graduated as an three time All-American and the Hermann Award runner-up, soccer’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy). PSU does have one huge star this year though. Tiffany Wiemer scored in her 13th straight game which puts her just two short of Brandi Chastain’s NCAA record 15 straight.

Also on Friday, the PSU women’s volleyball team traveled to Evanston to meet Northwestern in a league match. The 4th ranked women defeated the Wildcats 3-0 keeping them undefeated and atop the B10 standings at 5-0. UncleLar niece and senior setter Sam Tortorello dished out 37 assists and UncleLar niece and senior libero Kaleena Walters led all players with 12 digs.

So Friday ended with victories by three of our teams all of whom remained in first place in the Big Ten.

Saturday opened up with the 4th ranked women’s field hockey team meeting Iowa in Iowa City. Niece Natalie Berrena scored two goals to lead the women to a 4-0 victory over the Hawkeyes. The win was the team’s 13th straight win and kept them unbeaten in league play and atop the Big Ten at 3-0. Natalie and the rest of the team hopped a flight back to State College in time for Natalie to join her “JR and Natalie” bandmates performing Saturday night at the Cafe 210 in State College (which is where UncleLar wound up celebrating the football victory).

Early Saturday evening, the women’s volleyball team continued their weekend roadtrip with a match against #6 ranked Wisconsin in Madison. The ladies came away with a 3-0 sweep of the Badgers who had been undefeated in league play up until Saturday night. UncleLar niece Sam Tortorello continued her quest to repeat as a first team All American with 40 assists. Niece Kaleena Walters came up with 18 digs to come within 3 of becoming PSU’s alltime leader. With the win Penn State became the sole undefeated team in the conference.

Later Saturday night, the football team posted their 17-10 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes. The win put the Nits undefeated and alone atop the Big Ten standings (notice a familiar theme here – three teams play, three teams win and all three end the day undefeated in conference and atop the Big Ten).

Sunday saw our soccer teams back on Jeffery Field for another doubleheader. This time the ladies went first, up against B10 foe Northwestern. This time it was a romp as they rolled over the Wildcats 8-0. Tiffany Wiemer scored again to draw within one game of Brandi Chastain’s record. Her goal was the 80th of her career putting her within two goals of PSU’s Christie Welsh’s Big Ten record for career goals. Wiemer will be a shoo in All American and one of the leader’s for the Hermann Award.

In the second half of the doubleheader, the men took on Wisconsin. The had nowhere near as easy a time of it as the women did. The men were extended into overtime before they managed to score a Golden Goal and pull out a 1-0 win over the Badgers. That win allowed the men to keep pace with the ladies undefeated and atop the B10 conference.

So for the weekend, we had five teams take the field (football, field hockey, women’s volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer) for eight contests. We won all eight and each team remained undefeated and in first place in the Big Ten conference. It was a very very successful weekend for PSU sports.

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Expecting Full Report

Well Larry, let’s hope you have something to write about after today’s game. No recurrance of whooping cough is keeping you away I hope.

Must be the biggest Nittany Lion game in what a decade??? Expecting midnight photos of you and partying nieces at the Tavern.

ARE THERE ANY WHITE SOX FANS OUT THERE?

Kenny

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UncleLar "Niece" named National VB Player of the Week

Sam Tortorello, one of my Penn State surrogate nieces (when my real nieces and nephews are so far away, someone has to fill in) was named college volleyball’s National Player of the Week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Sam is the girl immediately on my right in this photo that I use for my Blogger Profile.

Sam is only the second PSU VB player ever to be named the national POTW. The first was Syndie Nadeau, another niece and directly above me in the photo.

I like this photo so much that I actually use it for my Facebook profile too. Unfortunately, since Facebook is targeted for the college crowd, Elliot is the only extended Fall Family member who can actually see it (Chris – once you get to ISU, you will be able to join Facebook too – I’m looking forward to having you as one of my Facebook friends).