Black Shoe Diaries: FanPosts

Just curious - Hookmania Edition

HookMania — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:31:13 -0000

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?

Poll

How did you become a die hard Penn State fan?

Logan El Done At Towson

Run Up The Score — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:26:23 -0000

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.”

This is a BTN commercial

gbd106 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:03:32 -0000

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.

Just Curious

BSD — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:26:14 -0000

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.

Poll

How did you find Black Shoe Diaries?

Coastal Carolina Ticket Exchange

BSD — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:21:44 -0000

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.

D-Line Question

Roland86 — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:29:51 -0000

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?

Devon Still breaks leg

NittanyLionForLife — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:31:01 -0000

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."

Interview with Adam Rittenberg is up

DevonEdwards — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:41:05 -0000

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.

1. Big Ten 2. SEC 3. MAC(?!?)

Kevin HD — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:07:41 -0000

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

Just a crazy/stupid thought

ReadingNitFan — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:59:45 -0000

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

Greatest Show in College Football Poster

runlikeanantelope — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:42:40 -0000

Did anyone else pick up this year's Penn State football poster at the BJC? Definitely the best one in the past couple years.

It's an aerial view of the White Out vs. ND last year at night and says "The GREATEST SHOW in college football" on the top with the schedule at the bottom.

I went back yesterday to see if there were anymore, but they were gone. I did hear they might be printing more this week though.

going to the Illinois game

jetskijoe — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:40:29 -0000

A buddy and I are driving up from Columbus to the Illinois game on Sep 27, 2008. I was looking for a hotel or a place to stay on the way back home since the game is at 8pm. Will be a long game of partying and watching Penn State win. I figure the best play to stay is probably outside of Penn State because by now I probably won't be able to get a hotel room. Can anyone recommend a hotel towards Grove City? or anything towards the west?

Thanks

Dan Connor

BlueWhiteLife — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:30:40 -0000

I went to the Panthers/Colts game Saturday night...good crowd for a preseason game.

DC LED THE TEAM in tackles with 6 (if i recall correctly). Tim Shaw was in on special teams and in the 4th quarter was in @ LB.

It was cool to see them "hanging-out" on the sidelines together. I hope Tim makes the cut again...he is F A S T!

(and now for the beloved "75" filler)

WE ARE...PENN STATE WE ARE...PENN STATE

Justin King

bluewhite80 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:02:19 -0000

I just wanted to post a little update on our own Justin King. From Scout.com...

Rams 4th round draft pick Justin King will have surgery and be put on Injured Reserve, according to Rams Head Coach Scott Linehan.

You can find the rest of the story here: http://stl.scout.com/2/777931.html

What a shame. I think many people were interested in seeing what he could do in the pros this year. The article says they are thin on that position and he was going to see a lot of playing time this year.

Penn State Ticket Exchange

BSD — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:30:44 -0000

Every once in a while I get an email from a user asking if it's ok to troll BSD to either sell tickets or solicit other users for tickets. As a blogger I don't have a problem with this. Why should I? If it drives traffic to BSD I'm all in favor of it.

But here's the deal, I want to do it in an organized fashion. If everyone throws up a fanpost every time they get an extra ticket to Coastal Carolina or Youngstown State the quality of BSD is quickly going to go down the toilet. So with that in mind I'm creating this Fanpost specifically for the intent of exchanging tickets. Please leave a comment in this thread indicating if you have tickets to sell or you are looking for tickets to buy. And of course indicate how many tickets you are looking to buy/sell. I would prefer you not indicate any prices you are looking for in selling your tickets. We all know scalping is illegal, right?

If you wish to make a transaction I recommend you do so off the board in a private email. I would advise against posting your email address in the comments. The spam bots are sneaky about plucking them and flooding your email box. I recommend everyone check out their SBN profile (link at the top of any SBN page) and make sure your email is posted there. SBN uses encryption to protect your public email so you can be sure it's safe. Clicking on a user's name in a comment will direct you to their profile page where you can look up their email address.

One more thing. I would like to see this post remain linked on the front page. To do so we need at least three or four people to recommend the post. You can do so by clicking on the "rec" link at the bottom of the post before the comments begin. So if a few people could do so that would be great.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

Sportsblog Nation, Black Shoe Diaries, it's owners, operators, and it's authors assume NO RESPONSIBILITY for ANY damages incurred during any point in any transaction. If you try to unload your Ohio State tickets for $500 each and get busted by an undercover cop, that's your problem. If you make an arrangement to meet someone on game day to buy his tickets in person and he gets too drunk and passes out in the back seat and doesn't deliver, don't come crying to me. BSD is only providing a service so that people who wish to buy or sell tickets can get in contact with each other. Any trust you put in making business deals with strangers you meet on the internet you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Can we just PLAY the games already?

Cpiritual27 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:42:19 -0000

This from Holtz and May, regarding the B10 this upcoming year. More of the same:

Wells is the best offensive player in the league (probably true), Laura is the best defensive player (gimme a break, he would've been the 3rd best LB on our team last year), Pryor will be the best newcomer (debatable, since no one knows how he will be used), the coach on the biggest hot seat is JoePa, and oh yeah...did you know we had some players with legal issues?

I can't wait until we can actually PLAY the games and hopefully prove some of these guys wrong. Moreover, I can't wait until there are some new things to talk about so we can stop hashing the same stories to death. I get it...OSU is God's Team, PSU is a bunch of thugs, and JoePa is old. If only there wasn't still Rodney Kinlaw until the season begins...

I'm interviewing Adam Rittenberg

DevonEdwards — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:24:26 -0000

Hey guys, I'm Devon Edwards and I write for the blog NittanyWhiteOut.com. You might remember us as the website that ranked all the college stadiums a month or so ago.

Well, I've lined up Adam Rittenberg for an interview. Adam, as you might know, writes a blog for ESPN about the Big Ten.

I'd love to get some questions to ask Adam. Please post some in the comments, or feel free to email me at edwards.devon@gmail.com

If you have any questions, and to see the interview when we get it up, visit NittanyWhiteOut.com

Thanks a ton,

Devon

PS Football Student Tickets Info.

PSULion29 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:52:33 -0000

So just some updated that i learned this morning. I stopped by the BJC and checked on the status of my football tickets and was informed that they have not even gone out yet. the first game is.... 23 days away?(from the time this post was written) and they haven't gone out! wow!! so say they go out the 15th, I'm originally from Georgia(i'm not) but my tickets go back there.... am i going to be able to get my tickets for the first game? i'm gonna have to just through my ass to get them here and hope my parents are good about sending out mail!!

Another thing is with the tickets. i'm pretty sure the system in place will be that students will no longer have paper tickets. If you buy football tickets they will be added to the chip on your student id card and before entering into the Beav, students will swipe their ID cards and have to be the person on the ID to enter. Not a bad idea!! i doubt tickets will be selling out as quick and i bet virtually no branch campus students will be getting tickets since they now can't sell them for $1000.00 to a ticket broker in Nebraska. Whats everyone think?!?

Chris Baker; transfers to Hampton I believe

RBGmug — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:37:35 -0000

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/08/07/baker_eligible_for_move.aspx

It appears that he still has love for Larry Johnson:

Baker said Johnson told him this would be "an opportunity to start over ... and get to the next level."

"[Johnson] was like a father figure," Baker said. "He always expected the best of us. He coached very intensely, he wanted the best out of every player so that's how he coached and that's how he treats you. If you ever needed something, he'll be the one that will sit down and talk with you. If you're ever wrong, he'll be the one to tell you that you're wrong."

------------

Seems Chris Baker should realize why he is gone by now...if nothing ever happened OFF the field than this wouldn't even be in question, so he has nobody to blame but himself. Also, after the HUB fight he seemed to indicate he didn't do anything wrong and that another teammate was allowing Chris to be thrown under the bus; he should also be VERY pissed off at that person and not consider them a friend. Other than that and his "not really having a relationship with Joe" I wish him the absolute best, hope he realizes this is all on HIM and I absolutely DO believe that Chris Baker will be playing in the NFL.

Special Teams

speedomike — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:35:18 -0000

With all the talk about the new-fangled offense, and the offseason hits the defense took, there's an aspect of this team that's being overlooked. We could be filthy on special teams. Phil Steele has us as the #2 ST in the country ledbyVHTWallace(PS#2)!!!! So that's a good thing.

Taking a look at what we bring on special teams:

-Kevin Kelly is money from inside the 40. Inconsistent beyond that. Good!

-Derrick Williams is one of the better punt returners in the conference. Great!

-AJ Wallace had the highest KR average of any returning....uh....returner in the Big Ten. Grand!

-Jeremy Boone led the Big Ten in punting last year. Wonderful!

No yelling on the bus! (I couldn't get the video into the post.)

The kickoff coverage was horrendous last year, but it seems like we've got the athletes to get that fixed. If so, I think our special teams can be a big part of our success this year, and take some pressure of the offense and defense.