While a lot has changed about THON this year, the iconic line dance isn’t going anywhere. As usual, the song’s lyrics provided a mix of current events, world news, and Penn State references.

But, of course, it’s hard to perfectly encapsulate a whole year of news and events, especially after 2020. What was missing from this year’s dance?

Capitol Storming, Trump Impeachment

While THON is surely a kids’ show, it’s tough that the Dancer Relations team missed one of the biggest political events of the year. Between the acts of domestic terrorism at the Capitol Building and President Trump’s second impeachment, that whirlwind week of news should have gotten at least a mention.

Journey Brown

When Penn State football running back Journey Brown’s career came to a premature end, the college football world was shocked. Brown’s diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy means his days playing competitive sports are over. An homage to Brown, who was surely a top NFL prospect, would have been a nice touch.

GameStop Stonks, Robinhood, Wall Street Bets

While this was a more recent news event, the week the stock market turned upside down should have gotten a shoutout in the line dance. Between crazy Reddit posts, hilarious Twitter jokes, and a mini-revolution, that week was one to remember.

GameStop to the moon // hedge funds don’t know what to do

Weirdoughs, New Restaurants Downtown

Some older folks may remember the iconic “get your pizza in a SNAP” lyric from THON 2019, so why not give the same homage to Weirdoughs? The new pizza joint has been generating lots of buzz lately thanks to its always-eccentric and often strange Instagram account.

Penn State Hoops Tournament Run

While this seems like it happened ages ago, Penn State men’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament run did happen after THON 2020. The Big Ten and NCAA Tournament were promptly canceled after the coronavirus pandemic started wreaking havoc on the United States. It’s certainly not every year Penn State hoops plays in the Big Dance, so a shoutout would have been nice.

March Madness left high and dry // Lamar and Mike, we say goodbye

Entanglement

Scandalous! Who could forget Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk”? The hilarious use of the word “entanglement” to describe a relationship promptly made its way around Twitter.

Obelisks

No, not the one on Penn State’s campus. Giant metal obelisks started mysteriously popping up at places all over the world in November. The instant tourist attractions went viral quickly thanks to their strange, intriguing nature.

Get a vaccine if you’re at risk // what’s up with these obelisks?

Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”

Thanks to a viral video of one TikToker drinking cranberry juice and listening to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, the iconic song hit the charts again. It would have been great for DR to incorporate the song into the dance and perhaps even a line about the viral event.