The Paper Trail blog at U.S. News & World Report has begun its annual Best in College Newspapers contest.
The categories are Story of the Year, Nonstory of the Year, Newsmaker of the Year, and Best Alternative Media Outlet.
Firstly, we were wondering… r we alternative enough? R we snarky enough? Should we be more like Hipster Runoff? You tell us.
The Paper Trail blog offered a little explanation about the categories.
Best Alternative Media Outlet: For the past two years, this has by far been the most popular category. It’s unclear what the parameters are, but basically anything that involves …

The New York Times ran an annoying article yesterday about how USC really, really wishes it was going to play a better team in a BCS game other than the Rose Bowl.
When a team ends its team meetings in training camp by chanting “Miami,” the host city of this season’s Bowl Championship Series title game, it has greater ambitions than to beat up on what is perceived to be another lumbering Big Ten team, even if this one was a last-second field goal from playing for the national championship.
O rly?
This game against Penn State in a familiar stadium may not …

The LA Times has a neat article about Penn State’s first Rose Bowl appearance, which was incidentally against USC.
That first squad left for California on December 19, 1922, and was led by Hugo Bezdek. Heading into the Rose Bowl, they were 6-4-1 (ties were still allowed back then).
“They wanted to make it an enjoyable trip,” Penn State football historian Lou Prato said. “At long stops, they apparently got out and worked out a little, ran up and down and around the train station, did some exercises to get in shape.
It took them five days of travel to reach California.
When they …

Twitter is buzzing with Penn State mentions. Here are some of the ones we liked best.

Harrisburg International Airport was busier than usual today as Penn State fans began their journeys westward for the Rose Bowl in Pasedena. Six of seven charter planes left today, according to The Patriot News.
The increased business has slightly cushioned the airport from what will still be a poor year financially. Without the Penn State fans, the airport says the number of holiday travelers would have been down 5-7%. With the Penn State fans, the airport predicts the number of holiday travelers will be down 3-5%.
ABC 27 says that the cost for a spot on one of the Pasedena-bound charter planes …

At heart, I’m really more of a Gizmodo than a Gawker, so this story really got me going.
Nathan Smith, Photo Editor emeritus, is handling the photography at the Rose Bowl for the Collegian. He posted a brief entry on the Exposure blog about the equipment he would be taking out to Pasedena.
I brought 3 camera bodies, a video camera, seven lenses, one doubler, two flashes, two mono-pods, and four chargers. In order to get all this equipment across the country, I put it all in my carry-on, a “Rollie” bag and my Domke bag. With all that equipment I also …

Graham Spanier posted an assortment of brief movie reviews this weekend on Penn State Live– 17 reviews in total.
Spanier says that he reviewed fewer movies this year because of the short amount of time between graduation ceremonies and Christmas.
Indeed, with graduation on the 20 and Christmas on the 25, Spanier had just five days to watch 16 movies. That means he saw an average of 3.2 movies per day. Wow. Maybe Spanier should sign up for COMM 150.
There’s some insightful commentary in there. Here are some of our favs.
Regarding Valkyrie, Spanier says,
Even though we know the outcome in advance, the …

If you’re wondering where the last two days of the Penn State Football 2008 Season Retrospective are (as I did promise 12 straight days of nostalgia), I have fallen slightly behind schedule.
Blame my day job.
The good news is, Days 5,6, and 7 should be up in the next 24 hours few days.

We’ll be back soon with some Rose Bowl coverage, but until then, enjoy your winter vacations.

In anticipation of Penn State playing against USC in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, I’ve decided to use the twelve days leading up to the gridiron clash to review the incredible season the Nittany Lions have had. One game per day, with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
GAME 5: Penn State Nittany Lions versus The Illinois Fighting Illini
September 27th, 2008
The Game Scenario
‘The Game Scenario’ is my best attempt at re-creating the ambiance of the game from the fan’s point of view. Keeping in mind that this section is likely to be subjective from my point of view, …

In anticipation of Penn State playing against USC in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, I’ve decided to use the twelve days leading up to the gridiron clash to review the incredible season the Nittany Lions have had. One game per day, with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
GAME 4: Penn State Nittany Lions versus The Temple Owls
September 20th, 2008
The Game Scenario
‘The Game Scenario’ is my best attempt at re-creating the ambiance of the game from the fan’s point of view. Keeping in mind that this section is likely to be subjective from my point of view, I …

In anticipation of Penn State playing against USC in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, I’ve decided to use the twelve days leading up to the gridiron clash to review the incredible season the Nittany Lions have had. One game per day, with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
GAME 3: Penn State Nittany Lions versus The Syracuse Orange
September 13th, 2008
The Game Scenario
‘The Game Scenario’ is my best attempt at re-creating the ambiance of the game from the fan’s point of view. Keeping in mind that this section is likely to be subjective from my point of view, I …

In anticipation of Penn State playing against USC in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, I’ve decided to use the twelve days leading up to the gridiron clash to review the incredible season the Nittany Lions have had. One game per day, with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
GAME 2: Penn State Nittany Lions versus The Oregon State Beavers
September 6th, 2008
The Game Scenario
‘The Game Scenario’ is my best attempt at re-creating the ambiance of the game from the fan’s point of view. Keeping in mind that this section is likely to be subjective from my point of view, …

The gifts that Penn State and USC players will get from the Rose Bowl are pretty sweet, according to this Fox Sports report.
Each player will recieve:

Sony DVD camcorder
Commemorative Fossil watch
Commemorative Ogio backpack
Commemorative New Era 5950 fitted hat
Commemorative plaque
Commemorative autograph football
One-year subscription to ESPN the Magazine

Hopefully Penn State comes home with the Rose Bowl trophy too. (Did you know the trophy is made of nearly 16 pounds of sterling silver?)
[HT: Gizmodo]