Penn State Phryday

Yinzers,

Well, after eight straight days of cloud-free sunshine last week into the weekend, there has been three straight days of traditional Pennsylvania weather. Gray skies, annoying rain and sorostitutes wearing vibrantly colored galoshes. Seriously ladies, let me know the next time the flood waters reach 18" in State College, then you can bring out the flood boots. Enough about that, it's time for your Penn State Phryday.

Baseball
The Penn State Nittany Lion baseball team went 2-2 in the Coca-Cola Classic in Rock Hill, SC this past week. The Nittany Lions picked up wins against Kent State and Columbia before dropping a pair to Winthrop and a rematch with Kent State. Penn State then traveled to Pittsburgh to take on in-state rival Pitt. The Panthers proved too much, beating the Nittany Lions 7-4. As the season starts to come full swing with a 4 game series with Hofstra this weekend with games on Friday, a double header on Saturday and a game on Sunday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. If you have never been to Medlar Field, it is a carbon copy of PNC Park, but only seating about 3,000. The Nittany Lions share the complex with the State College Spikes, a single-A affiliate of your Pittsburgh Pirates. Penn State will be looking to rebound from a sub-par preseason.

Men's Volleyball
Since our last Penn State Phryday, the Nittany Lions' men's volleyball team split matches. Last Sunday, the Nittany Lions dropped their match with rival Ohio State 3-1. Penn State retained their #6 ranking in spite of the loss, but it always leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you lose to any team from the worst state in the union. Penn State then rebounded on Tuesday night by thrashing Juniata 3-0. Penn State continues their defense of their national championship when they take on Princeton tonight at 7:00 pm.

Wrestling
Penn State got one wrestler to the NCAA finals this past weekend. Senior Dan Vallimont's run for a national championship in the 165 weight class ended last weekend when he fell to the #1 ranked Andrew Howe of Wisconsin. In the words of famous Penn State sociology professor Frank Clemente, "We knew how to wrestle, those kids from Wisconsin knew how to rassle." Frank should be completing his book, memoirs of his own life entitled 'Tales from the American 50's" (or something to that extent, I can't remember exactly). I highly suggest picking it up when it is released, the man is one of those life-changing human beings. Back to wrestling. Vallimont's placing of runner up in the NCAA championships gave Penn State's team an overall finish of 9th in the team standings for the season. A solid performance. Congratulations to all the wrestlers that made it to the tourney.

SHL
The Student Hockey League post-season tournament began on Monday of this week. Continuing with the concepts set by the NCAA basketball tournament, the #1, #2 (your White team) and #3 teams all lost to the lower seeds (#8, #7 and #6, respectively). Thank God this is a double elimination tournament, or yours truly would have gone out and made many poor decisions. After dropping to the #7 Yellow team 4-3 in OT, the White team rebounded with a win against a chippy Green team last night 4-2. That makes 3 wins for White over Green this season, knocking Green out of the tournament. The big news was the #1 Gray team (11-1-2 regular season) losing twice...big. Your White team plays on Monday night at 11:35 pm against the Teal team, which has not beaten the White team in 3 chances this season: 6-1, 5-2 and 6-2. That is what scares me. I hope the White boys (no pun intended) can play the Devils to the Teal's Penguins and stay alive in the post-season.

For the Glory,
B Brog