As State College excitedly prepares for the arrival of President Obama on Wednesday, one worry that is becoming more and more ominous is whether or not he'll be able to make it to central Pennsylvania. Find out why the President's trip to Happy Valley may be in doubt after the jump.
It was feeling like deja vu all over again. A huge crowd filled the Bryce Jordan Center and a ranked team was coming in, this time in the form of the seventeenth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Twelve minutes in, the Nittany Lions were down 22-9. Everyone could feel the blowout coming. But this time, it didn't.
For the first 17 minutes of Wednesday night's game, it looked as though Penn State's NCAA Tournament hopes were floundering away. A loss to 8-11 Iowa, a team with only one Big Ten win, would almost certainly put a defining blemish on the Nittany Lion resume. But that's the nice thing about having seniors leading your team.
A 10-0 run to close the first half and a strong second half effort propelled Penn State to a 65-51 victory, keeping their hopes of playing in the Big Dance come March a reality.
UPDATE- 1/28/11 at 11:30 AM: Jay Paterno has contacted Onward State with this statement:
I have had this account for family stuff. I don't want family pics and family posts going all over the place.The other facebook page is for recruiting and public stuff. I have two pages.
Onward State has unlinked to Paterno's private page and hopes that you respect his wishes for privacy.
Jay Paterno may very well be the most social media savvy member of the Penn State community outside of the student body. He writes for StateCollege.com and keeps up a pretty decent Twitter account. He's even on The Facebook, as father JoePa might call. It just got a bit harder to find him on that last one though.
Sometime this week, JayPa changed his name to Al Smith. Why would he do such a thing?
Just over two years ago, Onward State writer (now editor at-large) Eli Glazier made the profound statement that "Dollar Dog Night Makes Many Happy." For those of you who are unaware of this gem thought up by the athletic department and Bryce Jordan Center, Dollar Dog Night is a promotion where you can get a hot dog during a men's basketball game.... FOR A DOLLAR!
Now, after countless hours of research and polling of you, the Penn State students, we have come to the conclusion that Dollar Dog Night makes EVERYONE happy. As poor college students, we like food for cheap and what is better than a frankfurter for four quarters? Nothing, that's what.
This morning at the Nittany Lion Inn, the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to attach the name "Pegula Ice Arena" to a complex that will house Division I hockey as well as many other recreational events starting in late 2013.
The arena and new men's and women's hockey teams were made possible by an $88 million gift from Terry and Kimberly Pegula, which was announced back in September.