John Hook
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Penn State Board of Trustees Composition Should Reflect Modern Realities
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A column appeared a few weeks ago on StateCollege.com’s sister site Onward State discussing the retro uniforms that several Penn State athletic teams have worn – specifically women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and, most recently, men’s soccer. The throwback uniforms use the university’s original pink and black colors rather than blue and white. The…
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An Open Letter to State Rep. Takac on Public School Funding
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An open letter to state Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township: Dear Representative Takac, Last Tuesday on this very website you shared your opinion about the state’s funding of Pennsylvania’s schools. I could nitpick a few items in your comments, such as: You mentioned underfunding, sufficient funding, fair funding and equitable funding for PA schools, yet…
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NCAA’s APR Is a Misleading Measurement
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Well, the euphoria certainly lasts a couple days when it’s a holiday weekend doesn’t it? When you are a sleepy little hamlet of around 50,000 permanent residents, and also home to the second-largest football stadium in the country – which 110,000 people filled on Saturday night to watch Penn State get all-time win No. 49…
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The Ride’s on Us
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Last week I drove from our home in Ferguson Township on the west side of town to a few stores on North Atherton Street, using a detour around the Walmart plaza to avoid the one-lane road construction just before the intersection with Woodycrest Street. And yes, it worked – I was in and out of…
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Educational Process Might Need a Ride on Spaceship Earth
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The flagship attraction of Epcot in Walt Disney World is Spaceship Earth – the big ball near the main entrance to the park. It’s a ride on which you travel back in time to the dawn of humanity. The initial scene on the ride is of early humans sitting around a fire in a cave…
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Young Athletes Deserve Encouragement, Not Negative Predictions
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“Whoa! Ok! Ok! Ok! Ok! My turn. You don’t have a crystal ball. You can’t look at a kid and predict his future any more than I can. I’ve sat at those tables and listened to you tell those parents ‘When I know, I know. And when it comes to your son. I know.’ And…
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Hook: For Penn State Athletics’ Fundraising Goals, It May Be Time to Pull Out All the Stops
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I’m not a big social media user. I have a grand total of 15 wonderful people who follow me on Twitter @TheRealJohnHook. But I do get emailed notices from Twitter when something is posted that their algorithms believe I’ll be interested in. I must admit that occasionally the algorithm is right and I will click…
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202 Miles from State College to Buffalo: A Traveler’s Guide
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Over four years ago on these pages I chronicled the end of our family’s exploits driving U.S. Route 322 south of State College to support our son’s athletic interests during his youth and high school years. Then four weeks ago I wrote about our son’s graduation from college and our relief that our educational experiment…
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Hook: A Look Back at Past Success Might Show the Way in Finding Penn State Baseball’s Next Coach
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It’s baseball’s time of year. The NFL is well into its offseason. The draft is long since passed and offseason workouts and minicamps will conclude this week. College football is done as well and spring practices are over. Camps for both the NFL and college teams won’t start until late July and early August. The…
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Hook: Our Little Educational Experiment Worked
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There’s a famous scene in the movie “Jerry Maguire” – the “You complete me” scene – that includes the memorable finishing line, “You had me at hello.” For me, however, the best dialogue from that scene happens near the middle when the character played by Tom Cruise says, “But tonight, our little project, our company,…