Columns
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Battista: Who to Believe?
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Halloween 2025 has come and gone but it reminded me of one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on a naïve audience. On Oct. 30, 1938, just over 87 years ago, a then 23-year-old Orson Welles used a relatively new technology (for the masses) to put fear into the entire nation with his CBS radio broadcast of…
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PSUPoorman’s Top 10: It Ain’t as Bad as You Think
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sure, Penn State’s 38-14 loss to the top-ranked Buckeyes here in Ohio Stadium was not what you had hoped for two months ago. Or certainly what you expected. But, it has been that kind of season. A bad season. A really bad season. There are some silver linings. A few. So, we are…
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Penn State’s Loss to Ohio State Could’ve Been Worse. Of Course, Indiana Is Next
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Penn State’s 38-14 loss to Ohio State here in The Horseshoe on Saturday could have been a lot worse. Like 63-14 worse in 2013, when Urban Meyer pressed on the gas pedal and took it to the sanction-decimated Nittany Lions and Bill O’Brien to the bitter end. Like Penn State’s 45-6 loss…
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Penn State Football Must Regain Its Identity
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Like an underage student trying to get into a downtown State College bar, Penn State football’s ID has been taken away. Not a physical card — but an identity nonetheless. Over its 139-ish seasons (number varies depending on who you ask), the program has come to be defined by certain characteristics, including…
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What Players, Coaches and the Numbers Are Saying About Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles
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Penn State’s game at Ohio State on Saturday in The Horseshoe will be a homecoming of sorts for Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who was hired away from the Buckeyes back in January. But, we probably won’t be seeing a TV adaption of it on the Hallmark Channel any time soon. As the Buckeyes’…
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Local Historia: Murder by James Munks, Part 2
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Crime, confession, execution and resurrection in the early 1800s.
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We Had to Destroy the Universities to Save Them
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“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” – Ronald Reagan Skim most any document wordsmithed by President Trump’s courtiers and it can almost sound reasonable. Take the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a letter sent to nine universities that sets conditions…
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Hook: Should Fans Expect — Or Even Want — Longevity in the Next Penn State Football Coach?
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Longevity. A long continuance. That’s what I think of as this fall has unfolded. Because this is the first fall in over a decade that my wife and I have been able to focus our weekend sports attention solely on the Penn State football team. When your son plays youth sports – club and scholastic…
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Penn State Has Two Historic Roadmaps for Beating Ohio State in The Horseshoe
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How difficult is Terry Smith’s job as Penn State’s interim head coach, taking his on-the-ropes 3-4 Nittany Lions to The Horseshoe to face undefeated and top-ranked Ohio State? Well, Penn State has done it before. And won. Twice, in somewhat similar circumstances — in 1964 and 2011. That has to provide some hope for Smith…
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An Important Voice of the Past Rises to Guide Us Once More
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Eighty years ago this week (Oct. 25, 1945) Angelo Paterno rose to speak to an audience in New York City. World War II had concluded just weeks earlier. The awful scope of some of man’s greatest atrocities was still not fully understood. A mighty struggle against overt fascism and authoritarianism abroad had set the world…