Fear and Loathing Gives in to Mirth

I don't know about you, but I'm in the need of a little mirth right now.  The Fear and Loathing needs to be replaced with some old-fashioned Bill Murray type Mirth!

So I bring you two great videos of Bill Murray playing guitar and opening Eric Clapton's Guitar Festival.

Monday Photo Caption Contest

Use the comment section to place a caption for Artie Gilkes' photo!

Devotion and Loyalty, Blurred But Unbowed

 

My wife took her usual 5:00AM run this morning and went onto campus by Beaver Stadium.  At the "Joe Statue" there was a lone figure intently looking at the thousands of items placed there by well-wishers.  She took this quite blurry cell phone picture and moved on without saying a word.  Only she would have ever known that Jay Paterno was there meditating until I posted this item!

Here's what it looked like the previous afternoon, flowers 2-feet deep:

Coming Soon:  Exclusive photos from the Penn State National

Exxxxxx Celent!

It was an excellent day of Track AND Field today at the Penn State National Meet at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Complex.  There was a good showing of alums and the crowd was as big as I've ever seen.  The quality of the events was spectacular and rather than muck up all the details now, I'll wait til tomorrow and muck them up then!

The Mile went under 4:00 for the sixth straight year and the Final Event (The Joe Paterno 4 x 400) actually made my ears hurt.  We'll get some spectacular photos from The Hawk and his teeny tiny camera as soon as he will be able to upload the more than 1,000 he took, and I'm not making that up!  The photos will include many orange spikes and more than a few Alumni Singlets!  The singlets have led to a plethora of comebacks among my 1970 and 1980 compatriots.  The largest and most active track alumni group in the world, may just become the fastest too!

It's Penn State National Time!

The hard-core members of the PSU Track and Field Alumni Golfers will be in attendance at the event starting tonight.  Some will even be running in the event!  Stop by and introduce yourself to members of the soon-to-be largest and most active Track Alumni groups in the entire world.

"Let's turn the volume up to 11!"

-Nigel Tufnel

Update:  As I prepare myself for the drive to Happy Valley, I observe that Mark "The Hawk" Hawkins did indeed soar to a 5:13.41 time in the Nittany Valley Track Club Open Mile to open the event!  Congrats!

I Used to Love Indoor Meets at Cornell

But not nearly as much as this guy!

That time is 4:50 or really 4:50.96, and that guy crossing the line is Nolan Shaheed who happens to be 62 years old!  I'm making him an honorary Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfer.  Just because I can.

The Hawk Set to Soar (Not Sore!)

Mark "The Hawk" Hawkins is set to toe the line at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Complex early Friday evening in his quest to better his "over 50" personal best of 5:25 in the mile.  A new pair of orange spikes and his Alumni Singlet will compliment his improved condition and make for a great race.  I personally won't arrive in time for his race (Work is a four-letter word ending in "K"!), but I encourage anyone out there to cheer him on.  If only John (JB) Barber could be there to call out the splits!

As an intellectual exercise, can anyone identify the type of hawk pictured?

Surreal Timing

Mark Horton, our preeminent NYC coorespondent, helped organize the recent White Out held at the Marquee Night Club in Manhattan to benefit those affected by child abuse.  He is to be commended for seeing a horrible situation and doing something about it. I can't bestow enough praise on him for the things he has done.  I was not able to make it there on Saturday, but a good crowd did. Mark will be teeing up the little white ball with us this year, I think.

This happened at the very time that Joe Paterno's family released the news that he was in "serious" condition at Mt. Nittany Hospital in State College.  The rumors and "pranks" came to a crescendo when CBS News erroneously reported that he had passed away Saturday.  Mark was at the event and described it as surreal to be surrounded by Penn Staters and those who just admired Penn State's commitment to Success with Honor at the same time that its architect was on his deathbed.  Mark will be getting back to us when figures are in as to how the event did nationwide.  He can rest assured that the rest of us alums share his desire to make victims of abuse whole again.

Blog Fact-Checkers Sacked! Openings for Interviews?

In my haste to get the post up yesterday I failed to get the facts straight (once again!).  Those responsible for checking and double-checking the facts, pictured above,  have been sacked in response to the error.  It's tough finding good help nowadays! I tried to find something meaningful about every single person on the photo and only missed by 2 or 3; Not bad for a one-time hermit!

I'll let our Chief Laundry and Morale Officer set things straight once again:

 Dave – the ‘80 team scored lower than the ’79 team which scored lower than the ’78 team (which placed 4^th in the NC2A meet – as Harry always referred to it).  The ’79 and ’80 teams both finished 3^rd.  I think that ’80 team was the best (out of PSU teams that didn’t finish first – Horace Ashenfelter and crew didn’t have to run against Rono and Nyambui) because we had such depth – in the ’80 District II meet, we had three guys under 30:00 for 10K (repeated that at the NC2A meet a week later) and Dwight Stephens ran 30:01.  The ’79 squad was good, but not as good as the group that came a year later (in my opinion).

Random Thoughts About the 1978 Cross Country Team While Awaiting the Penn State National

1. Coach Groves has been quoted as saying the 1979 team was his finest, but the 1978 team scored fewer points at the NCAA Championships. (* Obvious errors in this statement have been corrected in This Post.)

2.  Manager John Barber had been a runner on the team the two prior years, but became a great manager starting in 1978.  I can still hear him calling out the splits in our 400 repeats in his distinctive voice.  John has been coaching and mentoring young athletes ever since.

3. Ray Krombel was one of my favorite teammates, even though we did not have many interactions.  He was the PA State High School 2-mile Champion the year before my lowly efforts.  I still remember a coach telling me not to celebrate "like that guy last year!"  I smiled when I showed up for practice on the first day in 1977 and saw he was a teammate of mine.

4.  Ted Lyon was also a delightful character.  I even think he ended up rooming with Ray one year off campus.  It was a thrill when I got to golf with him 2 years ago at the tourney.  He is intelligent, funny and as good a golfer as I.

5.  Mark Hawkins somehow survived being hospitalized at Centre Community Hospital and having my future mother-in-law as his nurse.  That's how I know he's tough enough to challenge the 5:00 barrier after age 50 one of these days!

6.  Larry Mangan has been a big help with this web site and is slated to be even more important in the future.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to be able to call him a friend all these 30+ years.  (And he has very flat feet which dumbfound me how he is so fast.)

7. My former roommate Doug Kent (or Dudley Doo-Right as my mother knew him) was the tallest member of the team.  He's a heck of a golfer, smarter than every one on that team, and taught me many things I would not have listened to from anyone else.  He also took me to my first Catholic Mass, which I must thank him for someday. (or did I just do that?)

8.  Tom Rapp was Larry's roommate that first year.  As Larry once put it, when he moved into his dorm room he went from the fastest miler in Pennsylvania to the second fastest miler in his dorm room!  You cannot find a more decent man than Tom.  I remember a great early morning run on Easter morning where we started at 4:00 am and finished for a Church service at dawn.

9. Kelley O'Brien  was someone I always looked up to.  He was as hard a worker as I've ever seen.  I would have been perpetually injured if I tried to keep up with his mileage!  And I'm happy I always wore more clothes than did he!

10. Glenn Chumley had the most unique running gait of anyone on the team.  I once saw him waaaay far ahead of me on the Schuylkill River years after graduation.  I ran as fast as I could to catch him, and sure enough, there he was.  I told him I knew it was him just by his gait.  A streaker was photographed in the snow one time by the Daily Collegian from behind on College Avenue.  Every single member of our team knew it was him.  Coach would have killed him, but only his back-side (and gait) were evident.

11. Rich Prann was a quiet sort, but very intelligent.  He's also another one of those who beat me at the marathon distance at Penn Relays.

12.  Mike Wyatt was also one of my favorite teammates.  I remember him cringing as the team sang Earth, Wind and Fire Songs on a road-trip at William and Mary.  A singing choir we were not!  He was also the only teammate who ever stopped and came back to me on the numerous times I sprained my ankles.  I still have the spikes he gave me his Senior Year.  I only ever got one wet during all those Steeplechases.

13. I also had few interactions with Eric Christianson.  I remember him as smarter than I and harder working, though.  I'd love to find out more about him.

14.  Tim Backenstose is responsible for me having this photo to reminisce about.  He was someone to look up to, as apparently he has better organizational skills than me at the very least.  His victory at the Penn Relays Marathon is a really great memory.

15.  Bruce Baden was a very good runner and a good role model ..  His running talents were earned through hard work.  And, oh so many extra miles....  He was responsible for all 15 milers being 17 miles at the minimum, I think.

16. Captain John Ziegler personified hard work also.  He is one of the finest examples of Coach Groves turning a good runner into a great runner.  I also remember the time John missed the bus to Pittsburgh.  I remember him hitch-hiking all the way to arrive just in time for the 10K.  I'll have to ask him what Coach told him.

17.  Campbell Lovett, with his beard and large frame, seemed like a friendly bear when I first met him.  He was one of a group of guys who I thought of as mature at the time.  I'll never forget the day he returned to Rec Hall covered in mud after a 10-miler in the rain.  The "Mud Men" are indelibly etched in my memory.

18.  Bob Snyder was hurt when I began my career as a Freshman.  I kept hearing about him, but figured I was beating him in those first races straight-up.  That didn't last long, however.  I soon discovered that I wasn't faster than an All-American!  His "That's McConnells BURGH, you big dummy." retort whenever someone said McConnellsville is also etched into my DNA.

19. Alan Scharsu was probably the purest runner of all on that team.  I swear he was all lungs, heart and legs.  A virtual running machine.  Note on the photo, though, that at the time I was still smaller than he!

20  Don Ziter has always been one of my best friends.  Despite being in a Fraternity (p*ssing Coach off to no end!) Don can rest assured that I will be there whenever and wherever he needs me. The 3:00 am episodes of Rat Patrol at his Frat on (Wednesday?) nights were a highlight of my undergrad years.
 
21. Jim Close was on the team, but really a half-miler.  I remember the time he hitch-hiked to the finish of the Bypass Loop Time Trial and made the mistake of getting out of the car within site of Coach Groves.  It was several days before Coach let him back on the team.

22.  Brian Boyer IS PSU Cross Country.  No one was there for as many teams as Brian.  He was actually a better runner in the years following his undergrad years than he ever was while really on the team.

23.  Brad Althouse also beat me at the Penn Relays Marathon.  It seems those guys should create a club or something!

24.  Jim Clelland never said a word the first two years I knew him.  Actually he did, but you really had to listen closely, or you missed it all.  He also once fell out of the van on the way to Beaver Stadium.  The door actually fell off!

25. Al and Jeff Wolfe were twins from the Kane, the coldest region of PA.  It's actually true that I was running a morning run on the golf course one day when both of them flew past me.  I yelled to them and told them to talk to Coach to see about getting on the team.  I'll bet they don't even remember that!  I don't know which one it was on a cold winter run one day, but his nose turned ashen gray.  He laughed and said that always happened, ever since he got frostbite as a kid.  I have always remembered to never visit Kane in the winter.

26. Dave Spears is another great golfer.  I know Tim and the other Yanomamos will get him back on the links one of these years.  Heaven knows we need his swing!

27.  Mark Dunmire joined me on the team as Freshman.  We both walked on as top finishers at the PA State meet just several months before.  I have stated before that he won the Mile that year, but others say he was second.  Only Mark Haywood would know the answer to that one and he somehow wasn't there for this photo!

28.  Jeff Sanden is also one of my best friends.  A great golfer, and probably p*ssed as Heck that I never have given him The Golden Putter yet!

Bringing Back the Mirth: More Chinese New Year Goodness! Flying Dragons

This is for my incredible daughter.  (They both are, but only 1 is Chinese!)  Take a few moments and delight in watching some great scenery with some calming music.  I think all Penn Staters need a little of that right now.

Chinese Scenes from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.

RIP Coach Paterno

Joe Paterno was a smart enough man that he realized several months into his stint as Athletic Director in 1981, that he knew to get out as soon as possible.  I was one of the few beneficiaries of the deal, as I received two copies of my Athletic Letter in 1981 because of it.  I kept this one, as seeing the signatures of Coach Paterno and Coach Groves on the same piece of paper (or is it lamb-skin?) only happened a few times in the History of the Earth.  Apparently, JoePa got on Coach Groves' naughty list in  Coach Groves' very first year.  The story, as told to me by Coach Groves himself, is that Paterno "borrowed" a film projector from the newbie Track Coach and never bothered to return it. So much for that!

My interactions with Coach Paterno over the years have always been good.  I've run into him many, many times, with never a bad moment happening.  He used to walk to work every day past North Halls and I often saw him during my morning runs.  Yes Coach, I swear I ran them, at least the first 3 years!  I also ran into him on the golf course and the park next to his home several times when I stayed in State College over the summer before my Senior year to "train like an animal".  (Unfortunately, the animal turned out to be a two-toed tree sloth, but that's a story for another day.)

I also saw him at various chariity events over the years.  but the very best and most memorable time was at the intersection next to the Old Creamery following a football game in the 90's.  After the victory, the crowd pours out from the stadium and trudges toward campus, with many, many people heading straight to the Creamery.  On this day, I had just arrived at the intersection when a pick-up truck driven by an obscure offensive lineman coach, pulled up and dropped off its hitchhiker from the truck bed.  Out jumps JoePa, who then sauntered toward home to get ready for dinner.  Almost no one other than me saw him walk off, just minutes after the game.  I couldn't believe it.

RIP