Columns
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For Former Nittany Lion Brett Brackett, Penn State’s Lift For Life Carries Extra Weight
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Brett Brackett knows all about overcoming big odds. It’s been nearly 16 years since he became a household word in Happy Valley doing just that. The date was Nov. 6, 2010, and inside Beaver Stadium, Penn State was on the 7-yard line and trailing Northwestern 21-0 with three seconds left in the first half. At…
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Paterno: Penn State-Nike Relationship Was About More Than Just the Shoes
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Today marks the end of a long partnership between Nike and Penn State. On Monday, Penn State’s athletic social media featured some pictures of Penn State athletes and the swoosh thanking Nike for 33 years. Since the university is expressing its appreciation, it seemed a good time to echo that sentiment, and do so with…
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America At 250: I’m (Still) Proud to Be an American
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I’m about to celebrate my “Mario Lemieux” birthday (my Yinzer friends will know my age immediately), and I continue to be bullish on the American Dream. Despite our flaws as a nation, I’m still proud to be an American. I also believe we can do even better in the next 250 years if we are…
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For Penn State, July 1 is a(D)idas Day
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Good-bye, Air Force 1s. Hello, Samba. It’s three stripes and Nike is out. Penn State’s 33-year partnership with Nike ends at midnight on Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, Penn State is an adidas school. It’s been a mad race to the Nike finish and adidas starting line, for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and its many partners. The…
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Requiem for an Oak Tree
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Let’s see: 10 times a week multiplied by 40 weeks multiplied by a dozen years. I’d say I walked past the big white oak on Allen Road by the Chambers Building roughly 5,000 times since I moved to East College Heights. On the 5001st pass last week, I stopped in my tracks. The mighty oak…
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Inside/Outside State College: Creating a Vibrant Downtown
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The Downtown State College Improvement District and I have one big thing in common: We’re both committed to improving downtown State College. The fact that an organization like DID exists tells you one thing—as great as our town is, it still needs ongoing attention to make it better.
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Hook: A Belated Spring Cleaning to Clear Out Column Ideas
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In honor of the last day of spring passing by, I’m going to do a little belated spring cleaning and clear out a few column ideas that are interesting to me, but don’t have enough “meat on the bone,” as it were, to fill out a full 1,000-word column by themselves. Here goes… * *…
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What Would Joe Paterno Have Thought of the Protect College Sports Act? History Is Instructive
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It is natural for those who’ve lost a father to think about them as Father’s Day approaches. Over the past several days, I’ve found myself thinking about my father and his life. Today would’ve been one of intense interest for him. The United States Senate Commerce Committee will be marking up the Protect College Sports…
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Three Penn State Wrestling Dads Offer Father’s Day Inspiration
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Wrestling aficionados across America keep searching for the key to Penn State’s dominance. It’s a topic discussed so often that even the once-clever term of “secret sauce” is getting old. Yet the question remains. How have the local mat men managed to win 86 consecutive dual meet victories and capture five straight NCAA titles? And…
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Battista: In Marriage, ‘Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard’
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Picture these recent conversations in our retirement community in Sun City: A softball friend: “Hey buddy, we are meeting some other couples at AL’s on Friday night for dinner. You and Heidi want to join us?” Me: “Thanks for the invite, but my wife and I are attending a marriage conference at our church.” The…