James Fanklin and Trace McSorley: The Fearlessness of Penn State Football.

Franklin's first two years seem so distant now don't they?  Do we really remember how difficult things were at the time?  We opened the season in 2015 with a loss to Temple and lost 4 straight to end the season.  Christian Hackenberg was a senior who was under pressure constantly and seemed to be a shell of the player that played the past two years.

There were many who felt Franklin had ruined Hackenberg's career and was going to ruin Penn State.

It seemed as though Penn State was at a bit of a crossroads, where our negativity about the future of the program, and specifically whether we could trust Franklin and his incoming choice for quarterback, a six foot, two hundred pound athlete that most other schools looked at as a potential safety.

Then in 2016, they lost to Pitt, they barely beat Temple, and they got throttled by Michigan, and it seemed like everyone wanted to blow it all up again.  There were a lot of fans who were filled with doubt and filled with anger.

Trace McSorely and James Franklin were not among those people.

They preached a message of positive reinforcement, that things were going to get better and that they were doing everything they could to put a winning effort on the field.

If you are a Penn State fan you probably remember Saquon Barkley winning the Minnesota game with an overtime touchdown, but you might forget the entire team effort that brought the team back from an early ten point deficit, and then later again, push themselves with under a minute to go to tie the game and force the overtime in the first place.

In that game, Trace McSorely accounted for 335 passing yards and 73 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

That would become the game that everyone pretty much agrees that things changed for Penn State.  It became part of the validation that the program was actually tracking upwards and that the work Franklin and his staff were putting in was going to bear fruit.

One of the first things I noticed about Trace was his decision making.  Early in his career, the offensive line struggled as injuries and depth became an issue for the unit.  However, Trace often successfully adapted by throwing the ball away rather than taking sacks, or making ill advised throws.

As the offense evolved over time, Trace then started making big plays down field with the help of other big time players and an increasingly talented and deep offensive line.

Signature wins against Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State would ensue, and a sense of being completely back and potentially competing for a National Championship became a real possibility.

This year, has been without a doubt a difficult year at times for the Nittany Lions, with close losses to Ohio State and Michigan State at home and a blowout loss on the road to Michigan.  For the second year in a row, goals of playing for a National Championship were dashed in the middle of the year, allowing for finger-pointing and self-pity in a fan base that is as passionate as they come.

With lesser leadership, perhaps that would allow for a disappointing end to the year, one in which the team might not show up to defeat teams such as Wisconsin or Maryland.

Instead in both cases the team responded with great efforts, cementing a nine win season with the opportunity to win at least ten games for the third consecutive year.  Instead the team responded to the leadership and came away looking like a team that absolutely has the talent and confidence to continue their climb back into the national conscience.

The two things that I like about Trace McSorley are his willingness to run, and his willingness to throw the ball deep.

Those are the plays that show a lack of cowardice, and a confidence in his teammates as well as himself.  The risks are obvious, that deep throws are, by nature, a bit more prone to fall incomplete or intercepted than shorter throws.  Scrambling runs open himself up to contact and injuries.

Yet McSorley routinely ran and threw and did everything he possibly could do to help his team win games.  In his final contest in Beaver Stadium, McSorley did the same.  Throwing for 230 yards and running another 64.  The game wasn't close but his play style was exactly the same as the coach that recruited and trusted him against Minnesota two years ago.

Fearless.

Thank You, Stan Lee.

I clenched my hands, summoning energy from the sun, growing more and more powerful by the second.  My enemies had me surrounded, but they didn't know that they were about to be engulfed in a huge storm of psionic energy that would tear them apart.

"I said...GET BACK!"

I throw my hands up to the sky, releasing a wave of solar gathered power all across my backyard, destroying the robots who had come to lock me up, for fear that I was not safe, and that my abilities needed to be suppressed.

Of course all of this was imagined; just a chance to go outside and pretend that I was one of the heroes I found in another Marvel comic book.

On Monday, Stan Lee, one of the greatest creative minds of the past 50 years passed away.  Scrolling through social media as well as National Headlines, it becomes clear that the characters that he helped to create have left a colossal imprint on the psyche of America.

While in the DC universe Superman and Batman may be the most recognizable Super-Heroes of all-time, I fell in love with the creations of Spider-Man, The Hulk, and then finally the X-Men.

To me it was the X-Men cartoon that really made me fall in love with this fantasy universe.  I had always enjoyed the idea of fantastical heroes, but something about the X-Men drew me in more than the rest, and I think that something was in how they were made.

I was different from most kids due to my relative size.  I was bigger than most and that made me an outcast at times.  I wanted to fit in, but on some level it always felt like someone would point out something that made me different, that made me not like the rest of the group.

I think that's why so many kids enjoyed those comics, that they always saw a little bit of themselves in the actual build of the characters.  They also saw those characters then battle adversity and eventually succeed.

For most people who are left out of the mainstream, that was a big message.  That even though some people may not like you because you're different, that doesn't stop you from doing the right thing and becoming successful at your own right.

Growing up can be hard at times, but I'll always have Stan Lee to thank for making my life a little easier.

High Expectations On A Rainy Day. Why I'm Looking Forward To Tomorrow's PSU vs. Wisconsin Game

The rain poured down this Friday morning like cold shrapnel, taking the last of the leaves off the tree in my backyard.  It was forming a bit of ice and slush on the porch and on my windshield.  The skies are grey and the level of optimism for the weekend seems to be plummeting with the temperature. 

This Saturday the weather will be in the 30's, cold and wet.  There will be little to no sunshine, and the football team that so many in the area enjoy rooting for has been struggling for over a month since they lost to Ohio State.

Yet all I can think about is how this is another opportunity football team, and it's fans and alumni to prove themselves.  To show up and support one another through another difficult climb.

Will we have enough love for each other that we still want to celebrate?  That we still want to cheer on those athlete's that give it their all for one another and for those who came before them?

I will be attending tomorrow's game against Wisconsin, my first game since the Ohio State loss.  I plan to eat some cheese, and maybe even have a glass of wine or two, and spend some time with friends and family talking about Penn State football, pop culture, and whatever else we want to celebrate. 

A part of me can't wait to show up tomorrow.  I can't wait to show my support for a team that has struggled through this season.  Because I believe we need each other now more than ever.

For the past seven years this community has been healing and bonding, and we have achieved things far faster than anyone expected.  We took the adversity the world had thrown our way and responded by doing the right things day in and day out. 

I couldn't have been happier as two coaches helped push Penn State out of the mire and a positive attitude and an incredible zeal for doing things the right way kept the school and it's alumni together.  Even in the losses and the struggles, you could see that the effort, passion, and exuberance to play for the sake of the game, for the sake of each other was still there.

I believe that tomorrow we will see exactly what type of team we will have to finish this season. 

I do not expect a sell out crowd, I do not expect good weather, and I don't expect Penn State to play anywhere close to a perfect game.

But I do expect us to bring energy and enthusiasm to that stadium tomorrow.  I expect that the fans that show to be loud and passionate just as I expect the players to do the same.  I expect that we don't turn on one another, to point fingers at players and coaches and to instead pick each other up and encourage for the next play.

Penn State football will always be more than wins and losses.  It will always be more than the size of the crowd.  Penn State football, and Penn State athletics in general is about the pursuit of greatness in the face of adversity.  It's about beating odds and not worrying about the weather.  It's about being a great person as well as a competitor. 

It's about doing the things that make each other and ourselves happy.

Tomorrow, win or lose, bad weather and all, I expect that I will leave with a smile on my face.

 

Our First Halloween.

The child looked in my direction with a look of absolute dread.  He had stopped flatfooted, his eyes staring with wide eyed trepidation as to what he was about to encounter.  I smiled behind my mask.

Ever since the purchase of our new home, Halloween was a date that my wife and I knew we wanted to be a part of.  The dressing up and pretending to be things that were mystical and fantastic, beautiful and horrifying.  The days of yesteryear and the present mixing up as vampires, wizards and pirates go door to door with comic book and movie characters. 

It is also a day where friends and families increase their bond. 

I remember Halloween very fondly, where I would go door to door with my best friend Billy, and our parents would drive us from neighborhood to neighborhood so that we could get as much candy as we could.  To us, it was an adventure, to briefly pretend we were something else and to get as much sugar as possible.

Looking back now it seems like we must have gathered literally pounds of it by the time we got home. Our bags full of bite size bits like tootsie pops, gummy bears, various chocolate bars, licorice and more.  It was always exciting to see the newer candies become introduced and to enjoy the latest concoctions from Nestle, Hershey and Mars.

This is a time to create memories that seem to last a lifetime.

So needless to say, I wanted to make an impression.

As we went through the stores looking for decorations, the first thing that came to mind was a fog machine. 

To me, the holiday screams for a mist that shrouds the night further in the shadows, where tricks of the light can help create an atmosphere that's frightening despite the real knowledge that at the end of the day it's all an illusion to get some treats.  The fog machine, I felt, would help add a lot of depth to the occasion.

My first decoration, Bert, the fancy skeleton.

I settled, without much reading, on getting a smaller model I thought would do the trick, as well as a few various light up decorations for general decor.

Oh, and a semi-lame, semi-cool skeleton that shakes its cage as a motion sensor is triggered.  Very cool during the holiday, very annoying if you forget to turn it off after demonstrations to your friends or family.

Decorations in tow, my wife and I begin the set-up.  Lights and cobwebs begin to adorn our front porch, followed quickly by plastic spiders and other various creepy crawlies.  While putting some near the window sill, I notice a real, rather large brown spider run back behind the opened window shutter.  It makes me a bit nervous that I've set him up with more cobwebs to potentially drop from. 

One sheet of cobweb can go a long way.

After some yellow and black warning tape is finally applied, my wife and I are pleased with the set up and anxiously await the 31st.  The house, we believe, will be a success.  I did however fail to test the fog machine, an error I would later regret.

As the day arrives I fill with both excitement and dread alike.  Will everything go as planned?  Will it be as enjoyable as I had hoped?  Was I making too big of a deal about this?  I finally test out the fog machine and am severely underwhelmed.

The machine sputters out just a few sprays before needing to go into a cool down mode.  On top of which, the fog almost immediately dissipates in the open air.  The machine I had gotten was designed as an indoor only model, best used for one room.  A fact that was lost on me at the time of purchase.

I try to think of another way to utilize the fog machine, settling for running the machine inside to obscure the house as the kids would open the door to get the candy.  It still kind of worked, but it also resulted in fog escaping through small vents near the roof and looking like our house was actually on fire.

As a bit of good news, my wife was extremely thankful that a neighbor noticed and came by to make sure everything was OK.

The final touch is a blue tooth speaker playing a "Spooky" playlist off of Spotify.  It adds another festive touch to an already festive scene.

With the night about to begin, I decided that I would not try to scare the kids by jumping out of bushes or anything, but rather take a more subtle approach my just putting my mask on and watching the kids come by.

Patiently Waiting..

For the most part, it was an exercise in extreme patience.  The rain had begun to trickle down and certainly played a factor in how many were willing to brave the streets and for how long.  After about 40 minutes, I had still not been noticed by any trick-or-treater's. But then, finally, he saw me.

The boy looked to be maybe in the second grade, no more than 8 or 9 years old.  An age where you still believe that rabid panda in the window might not be exactly what it seems.  The glow of the soft orange lights and red mesh eyes made it difficult see, but even I could see a look of terrified apprehension. 

Then, my excitement faded, as I had gone too far, and the kid and his parents turned around.

"Allie, go tell them we're here, and to get a bag of chips; they're going away."

My wife volunteered to be the one to actually give out our treats, and with a background in child care she deftly handled the situation, giving the child an extra bag of chips for "finding the panda."

After two hours and roughly 50 guests later, the night is over.   I think about the night in its entirety and I'm pretty happy with how the day went.  I felt that we did a good job of making the night memorable, that years later, the people that visited our house will think about it as a positive experience and one that they might pass on to others.

The finished products.

The Home Of The Brave.

The leaves are no longer a dark green, but seemingly a sun touched yellow that gives the illusion that it is permanently day break outside.

The houses becoming adorned with various gourds and the obligatory carved pumpkins.

The local stores have begun to put out their Christmas decorations in an effort to get people in the spirit to spend, spend, spend.

In grocery stores and coffee shops, cinnamon spiced treats, seasonal beers, and the newest variations of pumpkin spiced lattes get introduced.

The chatter changes from what you did on vacation, to where will you be for the holidays in November and December.

It seems almost like your standard fall in good ol' US of A.

Except this year also involves the mid-term elections.  One of the true opportunities the citizenry of the country has to actually change how the government operates.

In front lawns and rear bumpers, the names of political candidates are plastered about, letting other people know who they support.

For the past few months I've done my best to stay out of politics and talk and type about other things.  Things that I can actually affect.  I can't vote out people in July or September.  But come this November that can change.

The America that I believe in is one that believes in easy immigration, one that risks the outsider coming to this country because no matter where you were born, you are welcome here.  That you can live in peace here, no matter what religion you practice, if you practice at all. 

If a caravan of immigrants is coming to America in search of a better life, to seek asylum, to seek peace, we should be welcoming and doing all that we can to help those that are so desperate that they would risk death to come here and find peace.

If we hold true to the idea that all are created equal, and that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are true inalienable rights, then we must be a country that makes it easy to come to and become a citizen. 

Hostilities and fear directed at the outsider coming to America is not unusual, but that doesn't make it good.  The far better model is one of inclusion, that takes the incoming assets and makes use of them in a way that is better for everyone. 

I understand that taking care of others and helping them assimilate can be difficult, but those are the values of America.  To give people a sense of freedom and liberty as opposed to the places they are from.

We need not be a fearful country, that we may let people from all religions and origins congregate under one roof and not fear that one will act against the other, for the American belief should be that all are free, and all are welcome here. 

Sadly over the past few years we have seen that not to be the case.  Hate crimes and tension are clearly on the rise including the recent attacks in Pittsburgh, as well as the bomb attempts made against the President's self-declared "Enemies of the People."

Some talk about Jews, Blacks, the uneducated, Christians, Muslims, Whites as though they are all different species and outsiders rather than a kindred human spirit. 

It is this culture that I choose to vocalize against. 

There are others that will care more about the economy.  Perhaps you care about guns, or gay rights, or how we allocate our taxes, and those are all worthwhile discussions.

But at the very core of America, we need to decide if we will continue in the spirit of equality and freedom, or if we will be restricting and controlling this country, with the use of force, who is free and who is not.

There is a large group of people who want to come to America, that have heard stories about how it doesn't matter where you're from, who your parents were, or what you believe.  That America is a country that will welcome you if you are willing to help one another and not trespass against another person's rights. 

I for one do not care where people are from because to me, you are a human being first and as such, you deserve to be respected and treated as my equal, as a brother or sister. 

As Tuesday approaches, think about the world we live in today and think about what the right response is when a stranger approaches you for help.  Will you help that stranger, or will you turn your back out of fear or anger?

If America is truly a land of the brave then we will not fear the immigrants and outsiders that come to our doorstep.  We welcome them.