Columns
-
Paterno: What’s Happening in College Football Is Not a Sustainable Business Model
—
by
“We need to find one of these really rich people in this city to step up and stroke a check and I’ll do everything I can to make you the most famous person in this city… You’re telling me there’s not one person who could stroke a $20 million check right now?” — Arizona State…
-
Battista: Can I Survive The Elimination Diet?
—
by
It’s that time of the year when we give all our good intentions to complete our New Year’s resolutions another try. I can probably say I have realistically been setting New Year’s Resolutions since my mid-teens, so consider this my 50th anniversary. Over the years it’s been: getting stronger, getting faster, gaining weight, losing weight,…
-
Frank: Greetings From Hellscapes of Immigrants and Couch Monsters
—
by
I’m sitting in a coffeeshop in Portland, Oregon, on the first workday of the new year. My granddaughters have gone back to school, my daughter has gone back to work in her home office and my son-in-law is, like me, prepping for a new semester. Earlier, Nick and I hunkered down at the dining room…
-
Hook: Portal Pondering
—
by
Let’s talk about the transfer portal. Because it certainly seems like the primary topic of conversation around Happy Valley these days, doesn’t it? Which football players are leaving the Penn State team and which players are joining the Penn State team. As a “mini-expert” in the transfer portal – our son used it twice during…
-
Paterno: Separation of Church and State Is Both American and Christian
—
by
With the first dawn of the new year it is natural to look ahead to 2026. Much will be made of “America 250.” Many of the loudest promoters of this milestone are people who haven’t got much of a clue as to why this nation was founded in the first place. Our job this year…
-
The Transfer Portal Opens on Friday: A Penn State Football Primer
—
by
The NCAA calls it “the notification-of-transfer period,” when student-athletes officially inform their school, and hence, the NCAA that they are interested in changing schools. We all know it as the Transfer Portal. For Penn State and the rest of college football, the portal officially opens at one minute past midnight this Friday. Penn State may…
-
A Battista Family Christmas Vacation
—
by
The holidays really are among the best times of the year for our family. Although, there is a certain amount of stress involved in coordinating our travel plans from South Carolina with our own family and synching it up with our extended families. I almost cynically called this column “Joe and Heidi’s Excellent Christmas Vacation…
-
Ode to the Hungry Eye
—
by
I woke up at 2:30 one morning last week feeling like I was being stabbed in the eye. I wasn’t, of course, so my next thought was that some particle was in my eye, something big and jagged. I pictured a morsel of granola. Here is where I was grateful to live with someone who…
-
Hook: Remember the Jacob Ghaners of Your World
—
by
We’ve lived in Ferguson Township on the west side of Happy Valley for over a decade, which means that I’ve driven West College Avenue to get home many times over the years. It also means that I’m very excited about the construction of the new Rutter’s at the corner of Blue Course Drive and West…
-
Paterno: The Story of a Penn State-Yankees Connection
—
by
With Penn State headed to play a game in Yankee Stadium, let me tell you a story of an enduring Yankee/ Penn State connection. In July 1985 the USFL spring football season was winding down. The Baltimore Stars (originally the Philadelphia Stars) made the championship game in Giants Stadium. Being an avid fan of the…