Columns
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Inside/Outside State College: Something Is Still Missing Downtown, but I Think It’s Coming
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Inside/Outside State College is a regular column by Jeff Deitrich offering views on downtown and the outdoors within a 30-minute driving distance. State College last month was named the Best College Town in America by USA Today. Congratulations to my favorite town! It’s nice to see it be recognized, even if it may have been driven…
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Hook: Let’s Import Some Irish Driving Habits
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It’s late May in State College, most of the Penn State students are gone, and we locals have the town to ourselves again. It’s also a time when seemingly all the drivers who wouldn’t normally take to the roads of Happy Valley decide it’s OK to go out and cruise around at 10 miles an…
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Paterno: Legislation Is Needed Now for College Sports Reform and Stability
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College sports are a mess. This is the age of uncertainty and instability happening against a backdrop of a financial crisis that no school can outrun forever. Many long for the days when we read only about the glory of young men and women competing for the love of the game and for the glory…
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Inside/Outside State College: May Is the Month for Birding
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Inside/Outside State College is a regular column by Jeff Deitrich offering views on downtown and the outdoors within a 30-minute driving distance. The first weekend in May brings an unusual and under-the-radar contest to our area—the annual Birding Cup sponsored by Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. Chances are you don’t know about it or what it signifies.…
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Battista: Remember to Eat the Heart of the Watermelon
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Can I ask you a personal question? Do you wake up every morning and start your day by counting your blessings and giving thanks for another day? Do you periodically make a list of the people in your life that you need to reach out to just to say your life is better because they…
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Frank: You Think You’re Frazzled? Listen to These Kids
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As I’ve gone from being the same age as my students’ parents to being the same age as their grandparents, I’ve increasingly felt like undergrads and I live on different planets: They don’t know anything I know; I don’t know anything they know. This can complicate grading their work. When my journos-in-training drop names into…
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Hook: Getting Ready for Penn State’s Adidas Switch, and a Concession Stand Request
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The day of reckoning we have all been waiting for since last September is now less than two months away. Of course, I’m talking about July 1, 2026 – the day when all Penn State athletic team’s uniforms will showcase an Adidas logo. Penn State jerseys, hats, shorts, pants, shirts and equipment will henceforth be…
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Paterno: These Core Issues Must Be Resolved for the Long-Term Stability of College Football
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In 2026, college football and college sports face a most uncertain future. Athletic departments are having financial difficulties, and even the largest schools are not immune. Nationally it is common to be operating business models that require “donors” to cover their “revenue sharing/labor costs” each year. Involuntary student activity fees, general funds (tuition and tax…
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Column: Nonconference Teams Penn State Football Should Schedule
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Penn State’s 2025 nonconference slate featured matchups against Nevada, Florida International and Villanova, and this year’s slate isn’t much better, with Marshall, Temple and Buffalo on deck. With all due respect to those schools, the Nittany Lion faithful deserve higher quality out-of-conference games, including at least one power conference foe per year. The benefits of…
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Wayne Sebastianelli Made an Enduring Impact on the Lives of Many
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It is part of our humanity that our lives intersect with other people’s lives. It’s unavoidable. And then there are those who move across life’s sky to become like a sun shining on the lives of so many others. On Monday, Penn State, State College, Northeast PA, the medical community here and across the country,…