Columns
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Expect Penn State Running Backs Singleton and Allen to Be Even Better. If That’s Possible
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Penn State’s RB1 is really 2. Perhaps RB1A and RB1B would be more appropriate. You decide which is which. Over the past three seasons, roommates Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen have accounted for nine out of every 10 carries by a PSU running back — 89.8%, to be exact. Here’s the individual Tale of the Tape:…
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Paterno: One Man’s Heaven
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A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of a dish of Peachy Paterno ice cream from the Creamery and mentioned that it was a taste of heaven here on earth. Heaven… Recognition of the advancing years on a long walk got me thinking about what heaven would be like. There is an assumption (no…
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The Grandkids Tour 2025: They’re Brilliant! They’re Bonkers!
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Children are lunatics. I say this after spending much of the summer with my grandkids, whom I adore. The oldest of the four is about to turn 7; the youngest is almost 2. Two things strike me about this crew. One is that they’re brilliant. I don’t say this in a prideful way. They’re not…
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Pizza Marks the Time in State College
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With apologies to “Field of Dreams,” I like to think that here in Happy Valley, “The one constant through all the years has been pizza. State College has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But pizza has marked the time.” As a baby…
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Who Is Penn State’s Backup QB? In Their Own Words: Smolik, Grunk, Franklin, Kotelnicki and O’Brien
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When backup quarterback Beau Pribula entered the transfer portal and departed Penn State for Missouri at the start of the Nittany Lions’ College Football Playoff run last season, he left a huge hole on the roster. His game-winning second-half performance two months earlier at Wisconsin was proof positive of that. It is up to either…
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Penn State Football: James Franklin’s Top 10 Takeaways From Media Day
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Penn State football is four days and three practices into the 2025 fall season, as James Franklin, his coaches and players met with the local media on Saturday to preview a season for which fans, media and the Nittany Lion head coach himself are expecting Very Big Things. Prior to the sessions, the media had…
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Penn State Football Begins the Road to No. 1 With Its First Practice on Wednesday
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Penn State football officially kicks off the 2025 season on Wednesday, when it holds its first full-squad preseason practice of its fall camp. PSU players reported back to campus on Tuesday, after a short break from a summer full of conditioning, small group work with their position coaches and informal team-member workouts. Now, it gets…
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Battista: Service to Others Is a Mindset, and a Gift
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We just completed our eighth year of Overspeed Hockey camps in Sun Valley, Idaho. That’s 16 weeks of service to over 700 kids predominantly from Idaho but with some coming from Washington, Oregon, Montana, California, Utah, Wyoming and even as far away as Florida, It’s a great camp in a gorgeous area of the country. …
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How Many National Championships Will Penn State Win in 2025-26? (The Record Is 4)
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Four. That’s the number of most national championships won by Penn State in a single school sports year. How much longer will that record last? Given the excitement about this coming Penn State sports season — set to kick off shortly, with soccer exhibition games at Jeffrey Field on Aug. 8-9 — it’s a number that many…
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Finding Meaning and Joy in Walks Through Back Alleys
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I walk a lot. Walking is a time to ignore tech or have a mental conversation with yourself or even to get some time with no distractions. As I walk, my mind wanders and sometimes it results in a column that covers a lot of ground….this is one of those columns. When you walk the…