Alright I am curious how everyone became a Penn State fan.  I'm sure most of you are in the student/alumni or family tradition category but there's got to be some other situations like mine.  I grew up in Ohio in a very pro-OSU household.  But my parents never got a chance to make me a Buckeye fan because as far as I can remember I've been a Penn State fan.  My dad says I just latched onto Penn State by watching college football with him.  Apparently there was a Penn State game that made quite an impression on me and I guess I've never been afraid to be independent which is good because these days I live in Michigan about 10 minutes away from the Big Smaller House.

Alright so let's hear it.  How did your Penn State addiction begin?

I post this not to bury the kid, but just to point out that star evaluations don't necessarily account for self-motivation.

http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/sports/Logan-El_out_at_Towson.html

TOWSON, MD. – Offensive lineman Antonio Logan-El appears to be taking his show on the road — again. The controversial player from Forestville High School in Prince George’s County is no longer part of the football team, Towson coach Gordy Combs confirmed on Monday afternoon.

“He’s made a personal decision he is not going to play football anymore and he is going to go to school here,” Combs said. “He wanted to focus on something great and being more of an academic person.”

Logan-El would not comment if he was continuing to pursue a criminal justice degree at Towson or if he was officially done with football.

“I am just not talking about it right now,” Logan-El said. “I am going to have to say no comment.”

Logan-El verbally committed to Maryland as a sophomore and was ranked a five-star prospect by Rivals recruiting services as a senior. But when it came time to sign his National Letter of Intent, he switched to Penn State on the last day at a press conference at the ESPN Zone in the Inner Harbor.

The 6-foot-5, 308-pounder redshirted his freshman year at Penn State, but transferred to Towson the next fall because of ailing family members. At Penn State, Coach Joe Paterno became so displeased with Logan-El he benched the offensive lineman for the team’s spring game and questioned his desire to play the game.
And so does Combs after Logan-El was hampered by hamstring injuries that enabled him to play just eight games.

“There’s a commitment in the weight room, a commitment in the agility program and it’s a time commitment,” he said. “You wager whether it’s worth it or not and I think that’s where some people are.”

COME TO PENN STATE!!!!!!!

featuring all of the big ten coaches.  you can say what you want about any of them, but they are all boring compared to joe.

Joe is trying to be over the top, and he doesn't quite pull it off, and that's why its probably the greatest commercial spot i've ever seen.

We are going to need the ending spliced off and embedded on the main page come jan/feb.

I'm always looking to bring in new readers here at BSD. The bigger and more diverse of a community we can build the better and more fun it is for all of us. Sometimes I wonder if I'm putting effort in the right areas. So I was curious, how did you all stumble upon this tube of the internest we call Black Shoe Diaries?

Feel free to leave me detail in the comments as well. I would also be interested in knowing how long you have been reading BSD. Maybe I'll do another poll on that next week.

Seeing as I can't find a way to keep the ticket exchange post up, I'll create a new post for each week. If I forget then someone else can go ahead and start one for me.

The standard disclaimers still apply. BSD is only providing a means for people looking to exchange tickets can get in contact with each other. After that you are on your own and BSD assumes no responsibility.

This Ticket Exchange post is for Coastal Carolina only. Future ticket exchange posts to follow.

With all the losses to the defensive line, has there been any talk or ideas of position changes to compensate for the losses? Maybe Gaines to the inside with a Jerome Harris or Gbdayu or someone taking the edge, I mean Tim Shaw played a hybrid LB/DE, so that type of position isn't completly unheard of here. I know older players are harder to shift in their spots, but I was just trying to think of a way to fix the problem, Thoughts?

per FOS

http://pennstate.scout.com/2/780106.html

"Sources say the redshirt freshman defensive tackle sustained another injury this weekend. Get the latest in this update.
Penn State redshirt freshman defensive tackle Devon Still and preseason practice just don't mix. According to program observers, the 6-foot-5, 302-pounder sustained a broken leg in a scrimmage Saturday.

It is not clear how much time Still will miss because of the injury.

This marks the second straight year Still has sustained a serious injury in the preseason. As a true freshman last August, he had a strong first week of practice before sustaining a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee.

However much time he misses, Still's loss will impact an area already hurting from the loss of 2007 mainstays Chris Baker and Phil Taylor, who were both dismissed from the program for disciplinary reasons shortly before preseason practice began.

FightOnState.com will have more on this injury as news becomes available."

Hey guys, I mentioned a week ago that I was going to interview ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, who writes, among other things, a great blog for the Worldwide Leaders.

I sat down and talked with Adam today, and you can find the entirety of the interview at NittanyWhiteOut.com

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy.

Wow, I still have 20 more words to go.  I want to thank everyone who suggested questions, I couldn't get to all of them due to time constraints, but I tried to fit as many in as I could.  More thanks to Mike here at BSD, who helped me formulate the tone of my interview.

If you feel like doing a good thing today, I would encourage you to head over to the latest web site to feed off of your blind pride: donorschoose.org

If you feel so inclined, money goes the specific project that you select.  You can apply your donation to a conference contest, on which the Big Ten is winning handily.

1. Big Ten $5,874
2. SEC $2,243
3. MAC $1,141
4. Big East
5. Pac-10
6. ND

I recall hearing awhile ago that OSU takes/took one day a week to practice for their game with Michigan regardless of who they're playing that week.  Has our situation with Michigan gotten that bad that we should start thinking about doing this?  I know it's crazy and it's about as likely to happen as JoePa retiring on his own but it's a slow day at work and I'm bored. 

I'm so tired of this streak.  It passed ridiculous a few years ago and now it's moved on to pathetic. 

Oh yeah, here's some stats I put together to show how far ahead OSU and Michigan are above everybody else where it counts....in conference.  Wisconsin and PSU are basically deadlocked.

Big Ten Records Since 1993:

OSU   92-27-1

UM     91-29

PSU    73-47

Wis     72-45-3

Big Ten Records Since 2000:

OSU     50-14

UM       50-14

Wis       36-28

PSU      32-32

Big Ten Records Since 2005:

OSU     22-2

UM       18-6

Wis       17-7

PSU      16-8