ESPN The Magazine: Be the Ball. Pretty much the trippiest thing I ever read on ESPN.com (or any other sports site for that matter). The Magazine relates the experience of a Nike 3005 collegiate football (yes, the ball) as a part of the Spread HD offense in the Penn State-Illinois game. Never before have I thought so much about what it might be like to be a football.
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The Genesis of the Roar. The second item on this page is a nice little story about the lion’s roar they play on the PA system at Beaver Stadium during football games. Apparently it started as a radio show effect, then started being used at wrestling matches and basketball games. Other schools have come up with copycats but the lion’s roar was the first.
Penn State basketball players go where nobody knows their names. A great feature on the forgettable Penn State men’s basketball team, which recently has become more of a Big Ten spoiler (though not a powerhouse). Poor Jamelle Cornley, no one even knows he plays basketball on campus! On a side note, I think its interesting that though I don’t like basketball that much I think Dana O’Neil and Henry Abbott are my favorite ESPN.com contributors.
Crumbling Financial Giants Gave Generously To Dodd. Besides being an interesting look at the financial industries connections to a local Senator, this is also a great and timely piece from the Hartford Courant. The newspaper just launched a redesign this weekend that focused on bold design and more local coverage and this seems like a pretty good start.
Collegian: Prisoners run, walk for charity. Probably the coolest story I’ll read all day – the prisoners at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Rockview organized an 8-hour run to raise money to counsel at risk youth. Run annually for 29 years, the event has raised nearly half a million dollars. The whole thing really changes your perspective on people.
Time: The Evolution of the College Dorm. A pretty cool history of dorms as they’ve gone from tightly controlled living spaces to become more student driven – which has resulted in “country club” dorms. I would say that most of the dorms I experienced at Penn State were more of the 70s-80s era brick or cinder block variety. It’s clear though that the focus of future dorm development was on more expensive ones with amenities.
Sonic Youth. Old news by now, but ESPN the Mag named Penn State the best student section overall and most fun. Says Beno Cook, “If you aren’t impressesd with the White Out, you’re probably one of those people who thinks the moon landing was faked in a TV studio.” Well said. I’m proud to have been part of the greatest show in college football.
SportsTravel Passport and SportsCenter.com. I’m a company man and these are two great time wasters to come out of ESPN this week. The travel passport is cool, you can submit and rank all the sporting events and stadiums you’ve ever been to. SportsCenter.com has info on all the anchors and many of your favorite commericals. Great stuff.
Update: And new search launched today too. Great things come in threes.
NY Times: Unforgiving Nature of Games Personified by Hansen. A nice feature on Brendan Hansen, a local Olympian who failed in his attempt for an individual medal in the 100m breaststroke last night. It also includes mentions of one of my favorite places in the world – Karakung Swim Club. Hansen makes a good point in reflecting on his career:
“In the United States, we raise the bar so high on ourselves,” Hansen said. Then, referring to Michael Phelps, he added, “Now to even be noticed, you’ve got to win eight gold medals… You don’t know how hard it is to get on the blocks and do what he’s doing.”
Hansen’s Olympic career is typically viewed as a disappointment, because he could never win an individual gold. However with 3 medals in Athens (gold, silver, and bronze), he was one of the top 20 medalists in those games. Back then I was cynical about Hansen and Phelps, taking a little pleasure when they both failed to reach their lofty expectations. This time around though I’m really into it – I was throwing things when Hansen lost and I was jumping up and down when Phelps’ 4×100 relay won. It’s been a great Olympics so far, hope it keeps up.
The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive streaming with artist commentary on IMEEM. One of my favorite current band and has potential to be my favorite album of the summer (once I can get it on my iPod 
). Constructive Summer is a great summer anthem and there are a couple other instant hits for me on there. I just ordered the album today, so I’m hoping it will get here quickly.