My Mom Retires

I can only tell this story from my point of view, so you'll have to forgive me in that I can't exactly tell you how everyone else feels about Lori Baney, the now former Director of Donor services at Penn State.

I can tell you what it was like for me to watch my mom work at the University for my entire life, and how proud I am of her.

It's a simple, personal story, but one I'd like to share all the same.

One of my earliest memories in my life, one that I can now barely piece together at 37 years of age, was of me trying to keep up with my mom as she walked me across campus to Old Main.

My mom walked fast, and I remember struggling to keep up.

She had a specific agenda for work, and to get where she needed to go on time, she needed to hustle.  I was whiny and wanted her to slow down.

She insisted that I keep up.

I didn't know it or understand it then circa 1987, but later came to realize just how much the attitude she had then was a reflection of her father, James Smith, an economist who had polio, and taught her to understand the value and importance of independence.  

A reflection of her mother, Mary Smith, a valedictorian and activist who taught her daughters the importance of loving people different than yourselves.

This is who my mom was: walking quickly, authoritatively, and with determination since literally the day I was born. 

Someone whose entire culture and being was grounded in work.

That is how I see her as she walks away now.

But that's not exactly the only thing I've seen, and this why I'm excited to celebrate her retirement.

Work is to be valued.  Whether we hear it from politicians, religious figures, wealthy businesses, entrepreneurs, sports figures or rockstars, the conversation inevitably includes some circling clichés that lead back to work, hard work, time spent etc.  

From my perspective, work also created a rift between my grandparents and my mom and her two sisters.

Work, it seemed, could also create horrible divisions and keep a family unit from being all that it could.

For as much effort that my mom put into her job, for as much as she put into her career, she put just as much into loving her family.

I always felt loved like no other as she raised me, whether it be in the way she helped coach me in little league or by taking care of horses to help with my sisters horseback riding lessons.  The constant driving of both my sister and me to our friends' houses that were never within walking or biking distance.

All the while, she was rising through her ranks and divisions not out of pursuit, but because she was asked.

Time and time again, my father, sister and myself would wonder if maybe she'd like to stop, settle down and retire, yet every time it seemed that Penn State was looking to move her up.

She was happy at her job, and as her son, it filled me with immense pride to see her achieve so much professionally.  

She won.  She had successfully raised a family while satisfying personal goals not directly tied to the family.  

For 38 years, my mom has given everything she has to Penn State and her family.  

She didn't do it out of sacrifice or obligation to either, she did it out of love for both.

So as her son, the one that she was pregnant with on the day she took the job, I just want her know it was all worth it, and I couldn't imagine anyone else doing or accomplishing the things she has.

There isn't another Lori Baney out there.

Love, Ben.

Tom Brady is the NFL's Lance Armstrong. Why Won't The National Media Call It Out?

Some in the media act confused as to where the anger for Tom Brady is coming from. 

I can tell you where it comes from.

Tom Brady is a known cheater. 

Just like A-Rod, the Astros, and Lance Armstrong. 

We know Tom to be a cheat.  

We know that Tom Brady faithfully executed plans from 2001-2007 where the New England Patriots would illegally tape opponents to prepare specifically for the game plan that would be implemented against them.

The result looked like masterful play calling and execution, when in reality, New England simply cheated.

This resulted in at least 3 fraudulent Super Bowl wins that help cement the idea that Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick were simply smarter than everyone else.   The amount of praise for this team seems to exemplify teamwork and sacrifice as more important than physical talent.

When you look at those first three championships, the common denominator was not overwhelming talent or skill at any position, but simply executing a winning play versus a losing play.

The cheating led directly to winning.

Then of course there was the deflating of footballs to make it easier to throw and catch and the subsequent lying and denials of it.

He has a notorious history of being less than forthcoming with any honest answers and leverages his accessibility towards only the friendliest of voices.

And now, of course, his trainer is associated with PED's.

But none of this is EVER brought up in the national conversation anymore.  It seems the national media has decided that Tom Brady and his long history of cheating will not be further examined, and instead will be celebrated as the best to have ever played.

Why?

Well for one, the NFL is one of the biggest money making machines in the world, and Tom Brady is arguably it's biggest star.  Calling him a cheat and the NFL a fraudulent league is not going to endear you to making money with the NFL. 

So ESPN/ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC are effectively tied directly to the selling of this game to a consumer base eager to eat it up.  It does not serve their interests to bring up news that might dissuade you from caring or watching the games.

But maybe it's because we really wanted to believe that the 6th round pick from Michigan really beat the odds.  That his story was such a relatable story for so many unathletic white guys.  That you could be the best quarterback in the world while having almost zero athletic talent.

That is what the NFL wants to sell you.  That is what Tom wants to sell you.  That Tom's career was the result of hard work, and that his personal dedication and brilliant mind was what set him apart and not the cheating.

Tom Brady's statistics defy the odds and reality because the game was never fair.  Brady's benefitted from a rigged system that allowed him to succeed where otherwise he would have failed.

Tom can certainly throw some accurate passes.  He also certainly never seems rattled or confused.  However, when you take into account that he was likely being fed exact defensive calls, it's a lot easier to play the position of quarterback.

The best comparison for Tom Brady is Lance Armstrong.  

Both championed by the media and the public.  Sure they have some personal defects, but the public story would always be that it leads to great intense training.  It led them to be champions.

Obviously Lance lied.  He also steadfastly denied all wrongdoing and went after accusers.

He has a notorious history of being less than forthcoming with any honest answers and leverages his accessibility towards only the friendliest of voices.

Tom has been lying and less than honest his entire career.  It's why he destroyed his phone.  It's why he leverages his access against the cheating.  It's why he bought a boat with PPP loans.  It's why he's friends with Donald Trump and thinks he's great.  Because Tom is a cheat and has gotten away with it.  

He likes others willing to do the same.

Unlike Lance, the Patriots and Brady never were stripped of their titles.  Never really held accountable.  The NFL put pressure on teams to say that the biggest cheaters didn't really cheat and to try to make it all go away.  Sure, they were fined and stripped of picks, but in the end, they let the cheaters remain and let them cheat some more.

No one talks about this anymore, and the NFL couldn't be happier.  

But it should be brought up.  Because Tom Brady doesn't deserve praise for being a willing liar and cheat.

If you want to praise him like a Barry Bonds, a Roger Clemens, A-Rod or a Lance Armstrong be my guest.  He clearly understands the game and is a great player.

But he is a willing cheat.

When you are allowed to cheat the game and the system, especially the way he and his teammates did, it should never leave your legacy.

I know the sports' personalities will defend the cheating.  Saying, "It wasn't that bad," "All teams are doing SOMETHING," "It's just some air."

That is the exact same defense of Lance Armstrong.

They need the story to hold that Tom is one of the greatest of All-Time because it's what a lot of Brady fans want to hear, and it's been the story the NFL, the Patriots and the media have been selling for years.  

I write this because Tom Brady is a great player.  I have no doubt about it.  But he is also CLEARLY a cheater.  Both things are true.  

But only ONE is being brought up in the national conversation, and that is wrong.

To ignore this part is to lie to an audience, to purposefully hide the truth because a lie will sell better.

It is wrong, and it should be noted.

I know, I know.

Hater's gotta hate.

But a cheat is still a cheat.

Sources.

Pennlive.

GQ

ESPN

For My Birthday, All I Want Is The Truth

The countdown to my birthday has been intense.

I happened to be born on Jan 20th, 1984, so I'll be turning 37 next Wednesday. 

I've been thinking on it a lot since, you know, the other things in the world are happening. 

I was thinking on what to wish for.  Something impossible maybe, but something that I really wanted. 

For me, all I really want is honesty from our leaders. 

The U.S. democracy is nearly in complete tatters as a violent overthrow of the government was just attempted.

The assault directly led to the death of 5 people, including a Capitol Officer, potentially two suicides, and the stress, anxiety and tension the bulk of the country who voted to end the Trump reign via peaceful transition of power, now feel.  

It was the final step, an illegal one, where the President clearly invited to the Capitol those that believed in the lie that he created; one where he had won the vote instead of lost and the election was stolen from him. 

Despite being told repeatedly that he had lost the election (because all evidence suggests that he did), Trump made up a fictional reality (a lie) in his very faulty mind, where he  had won the election and that the other side had cheated him.  

He got others with a prominent public platform to peddle this lie to those that would be the most susceptible audience to believe it, those that already loved him.

This moment, this flashing point, is where people begin to believe what is called by scholars of Facism and political movements as a "Big Lie."  It is a moment where we can either continue the fostering of the Lie and likely increase the chances for violence and radicalization, or we can tell the truth.

The truth by all those that were involved in the counting and processing of the votes, that were there for every legal challenge to the voting system both before and after, was that the process was legal, free and fair, and the outcome was that Joe Biden was elected President.

I understand, the feeling that things didn't go your way because of this reason or that reason.  My God do I know that feeling. 

There were reasons, obviously, that Trump won the election in 2016, that many found objectionable, including the participation of Russian contacts and criminals working within the Trump administration to get him elected to, at the very least, sew as much unrest within America as possible.

Still, after the 2016 election, Trump and his family were invited to the White House by the still sitting President to offer a peaceful transition of power.  Those stunned Clinton supporters, or simply progressives that couldn't yet fathom an openly racist and misogynistic fraud would be elected, did NOT storm the capitol to protest with weapons and handcuffs. 

Instead, the day after Trump was inaugurated, millions of people the WORLD over went to the streets in the Women's March, a protest that would end up being the largest in American history to reject the misogynists and bigots of the world and the importance of women's rights that they felt would be endangered by a man who proudly admits to his sexual assaults privately, while lying about it publicly.

Since then, there has been a rapid decline in trust and a rise in animosity, a clear recipe for disaster in the public square.

It has to stop.

I want to write the thing here that makes everyone calm, that makes us look back and say, "This is what happened, and this was why"

It starts with telling the truth.

The truth is Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

The truth is while Trump has a near zealotry following among some, the overwhelming majority of the Nation want him gone.

If this truth can overcome the loudest Big Lie since Hitler's Germany, then we may yet stand a chance to quickly reclaim our democracy and begin to govern ourselves in far better terms. 

But we must stay engaged to do it.

So if you took the time to read this little essay, I would ask one more small thing of you as a birthday present to me.  

Please keep telling the truth about the election.  Tell the story of how Joe Biden, flawed as he is, was still FAR, FAR more preferable to most people than another 4 years of Trump.

It would be the best present of all; the presence of truth.

How The Sports Media Should Have Covered College Football During The Pandemic

For the entirety of this pandemic, a large section of America has either marginalized or completely ignored the severity of Covid-19.  Whether it be through propaganda or political belief or whatever the cause, America was and remains incredibly flat footed in addressing the needs of society as we are dead last in the entire world in handling it.

I believe a big part of the recent spike comes from the culture of sports, and specifically college football.  College football is the holy grail of sport in the South and much of America.  As one of the biggest cultural institutions in the country, they were going to go about their seasons like the virus was a nuisance and not a deadly disease that could wreck our entire health care system and lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

I believe the sports media at large has dropped the ball on responsible reporting and holding the university presidents, athletic directors, and coaches accountable for the continued spread of the novel virus.

When the pandemic began, the sports world moved quickly to address safety concerns.  The NBA, NHL, as well as the NCAA shut down in March of 2020.  The MLB would have a delayed start and the NBA and NHL would return to play in "bubbles." 

Of all the sports, the NHL and NBA's "bubbles" worked best.  With almost a zero rate of infections once players were in the bubble, both hockey and basketball were rightly celebrated as models for the current environment.  Baseball however barely got their season started and was consistently mired by a bitter back and forth between labor and management, with multiple stars and players questioning whether or not to have a season without a bubble, and the virus repeatedly infected players.

Fittingly, at the end, third baseman Justin Turner, who would test positive the day of winning the World Championship with the LA Dodgers, would be told he needed to go into immediate quarantine so that he didn't spread the new highly infectious novel virus with no cure, and as of yet, no vaccine, to anyone else. 

He complied until he simply didn't care anymore. As he would later describe, he was overcome with emotion in winning.  He would later apologize days later, understanding he not only put his teammates at risk, but unintentionally, every teammates' family at the end of the season.

Sure, I guess they "tried" to do the right thing, but it was always going to be by their rules.  The professional leagues are run by billionaires who care more about money more than anything else.  The illusion that any of this is for the benefit of society writ-large and not for the indulgences of those in the owner class has been paramount to ignoring the dangers of the virus.  While certainly professional sports deserves its fair share of criticism, no one should be more ashamed of their actions than the NCAA, the schools who led the charge for a football season, and the media who let it happen.

College athletics are supposedly about amateurism and education, giving opportunity to those athletic geniuses to come to a school and potentially develop other talents and become working professionals if their opportunities to play in the NFL or NBA becomes sidelined.  That is what the public is generally sold by the NCAA and its institutions.  A win-win scenario that benefits both school and student-athlete.

That is a fantasy and everyone seems to admit as much.

In reality, in most power house programs, student athletes are treated like employees, their scholarships 1 year renewable contracts that can be taken away with the discretion of coaches and administrators.  They are expected to perform for the school, drive up revenue and publicity, and get donors to get out their wallets and STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.

The pressure being put on these 17-24 year-old young men, by coaching staff making millions of dollars and in control to a large degree of their futures, is completely different than the pressure being put on a kid that comes from a family with enough wealth to comfortably invest in sending a kid to school to study at his/her own pace.

As early August approached, many scientists stressed that this would be the time to really make sure we continue to do the right things, to not let our guard down, and to treat this pandemic seriously, even with the possibility of a vaccine coming sooner rather than later.  To continue to stress mask wearing as well as washing of hands.  They were recommending we not see our parents and friends and family for the holidays, and reducing human contact and shared air-space as much as possible.

Football, a sport requiring 22 people on the field at a time, often in close proximity to one another, was the worst possible sport to try and coordinate effectively.  Teams and coaches would have to choose between having great practices with little alteration and risk the consequences of the disease, or have incredibly altered practices that might affect the play on a given Saturday.  Would you choose a method carrying more risk to spread the virus such as an in-person skill technique demonstrations?  How long would you spend with players to ensure proper techniques and methods are used? 

The players would, essentially, be asked to save the school from a financial hardship and be the ambassadors of the University during a pandemic. Risking their health, as well as the health of people they know, with the trade-off being you get to play football this year, potentially giving you a chance to improve your draft-stock and/or accomplish goals such as a championship or a trophy. 

Policy changes were made to help make it possible for opt-outs and potential extra years of eligibility, but only a few of the elite prospective pro players and those that were alerted to high risk medical conditions would end up sitting out.  The bulk of the players, predictably, wanted to play the game that to them felt normal.  If they got sick, they promised to isolate.  They all promised they would keep doing as best they could to keep each other and their communities safe.

One could hardly fault them.  I certainly won't.

But the universities HAD to know, despite all the their best intentions, about the potential of local hospitals being potentially overrun, people within their communities, friends and loved ones might be dying to this grim disease, all while playing a game that fosters its very spread. 

And so too did the sports journalists.

As the numbers in August remained high, The Big Ten would be the first major football conference to end its season, stating quite clearly that the science and data that they looked at was not worth risking so much life for a momentary experience.  Yes, they would lose money.  No, it's not what anyone wanted.  They believed that this was the right decision.  The Pac-12 would do the same soon after, and many were waiting on the schools from the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 to follow suit.

Only they didn't.

The SEC, ACC, and Big 12 as well as a host of smaller schools in more conservative states looked at the same data and decided it would be worth playing, worth risking lives and exploiting the potential absence of two power conferences as they could dominate the airwaves, collect television money, and give the appearance that they did things better in their region than the Big Ten or Pac 12.

So, they went ahead and played, and while certainly fans from the south were overjoyed, the media that would be covering those games, and would have content to for it's audiences, were overjoyed as well.

ESPN's College Game Day crew, specifically SEC alumnus Rece Davis, David Pollack and Paul Finebaum excoriated the decision for the Big Ten not to play.  They made it seem as though the Big Ten must be impotent or uncaring if the SEC could pull this off and the Big Ten couldn't.  In the dark recesses of the web there became bizarre conspiracy theories that the Big Ten and Pac-12 were doing this to somehow hurt Donald Trump.  These theories even breached the mainstream on occasion finding its way into local radio shows and podcasts.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 were now on the defensive.  If they held on that they were not going to play, and the schools from the other conferences did, they would be at a decided disadvantage in terms of recruiting, donors, and fans in at least the short-term.

The sports media and fans crushed the Big Ten for erring on the side of safety, the schools like Clemson, Alabama and in LSU's case celebrated for having the virus infect their kids, and have them

come back and not being deterred.  There was open dissent within the conference, as football coaches, whose players and rabid fan bases absolutely preferred a season, spoke up about how they felt this decision might not be the right one.

This was at a time where we were at a bit of a crossroads.  The virus was seeming staying low, at roughly 30k new cases per day, and approaching the low 10k case mark per day average that was the goal of Coronavirus task force. 

But on our television, the sports media had decided for us that sports and our escapism to feel good, would be more important than lives lost to the continued spread.  When Notre Dame upset Clemson, and a sizable student crowd rushed the field, it set up conditions for an obvious spreading event, and promoted a message that the virus was not serious.

Of course the kids could be forgiven, but what about the administrations and the journalists that covered it?  They went about it all with kid gloves. 

Notre Dame was "disappointed" by the rushing of the field by the student body, but it was certainly rang as one of the most hallow rebuke's in history, bearing in mind that the whole school saw its President flagrantly flout the rules at the swearing in of Amy Coney Barrett just a month earlier.  The media was largely quiet on the issue.  A tweet here or there, and an article briefly mentioning the potential spread, but mostly, it was what it was, and there was nothing that could be done.

By and large, the disease and the season is simply treated like a relatively glum idea by the sports media rather than a serious threat to life.  The announcers regularly comment about missing the fans and how bummed out they are, begrudgingly admitting that limiting seat capacity or not admitting fans is something they "have to do".

This allows the audience to not think of the disease anymore as the killer that it is, but a temporary setback for most that will only affect those that are weak.  In fact, the more it seemed football players kept playing, kept getting sick, and kept staying alive (for the most part) the more it seemed that the virus and the daily death toll must not be that big a deal. 

This escapism is different from reading a book, video chatting, texting, watching movies or television, playing video games, exercising alone or being socially distanced outdoors.

This escapism involves watching an activity of 18-22 young people play a game that actively spreads the disease, that actively will put people into hospitals and under the care of medical professionals at a time when they need everyone to be on their best behavior.

This escapism allows us to tolerate the system, it allows us to normalize something that is not normal.  It allows us to feel like, if 4,000 or 5,000 people die to the pandemic on the day my team wins a National Championship, in fact, even if it becomes clear our actions and ideas fostered its spread, it will still be worth it. 

Dabo Swinney ranked Ohio State 11th in his rankings, strictly on the penalty of not playing games due to Covid.  The message couldn't be clearer.  Dabo pushed his team to play through the pandemic as often as possible to get wins and games that would put them in the best possible position to win the Championship.  He couldn't care less about the disease and it couldn't be more obvious.  He cares about winning and nothing else.

Rather than calling out the heinous level of disrespect towards the virus and those trying to protect society from it, the media largely viewed Dabo's comments as a slight against Ohio State or the Big Ten.  They are missing the bigger and more important picture.

Covid-19 hasn't gone away.  Even though a vaccine is coming, even if your political candidate won or lost, Covid-19 is still here.  We need to be at our most vigilant right now.  We need to be at our most honest with each other right now.  And the best people to deliver that message right now need to be the people who are paid to speak truth to power.  

 

Even if they cover an escapist sport like college football.

I Was Wrong. Stop Playing Football

I wrote earlier this year in support of playing a college football season if they could adequately keep the player, coaches and families safe.  If they could contain the novel virus and limit the exposure to the kids and staff, then it would be worth it.  

I believed that even if it took no fans, if it took extreme precautions, if it took doing everything differently, if just for this year, and they believed the virus could be controlled, then I was for it.

That was before the Big Ten and Pac-12 decided against playing this season and before the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 said that they would. 

I didn't even bother with addressing the NFL, which I assumed would put on its show come hell or highwater.

The resulting seasons have been a disaster and a referendum on the decisions to have a season.

The actual play from all over the country has been terrible, with only a few teams actually having enough continuity to play consistently well on both sides of the ball.  Positive, as well as false-positive tests, are decimating rosters and practice schedules.

All while infections continue to rise to the highest point in the pandemic's history.

Football has been an abject failure in containing the disease.

More egregious, at this point, they are complicit in actively participating in its spread if they continue to travel to various sites throughout the country.  Each time a team travels they will contact hotel workers, bus drivers, medical personnel, then participate with another team that has been doing the same thing and then going home.

It seemed inevitable to me that this was going to happen as the virus continued to spread throughout the country, especially in places like Florida, Texas and a whole host of other areas in the South where the general public and leadership from the top did not take the virus seriously.

We are averaging roughly 1,000 deaths a day to Covid-19, with that number expected to sky rocket as it's a lagging indicator.  The case numbers will almost assuredly spike post Thanksgiving weekend where despite warnings, travel for the holiday remained high.

I think at this point, with a month left to go, the people truly in charge, the presidents of the Universities, the ownership in the league; they need to make decisions that benefit all of us and not just their pocket books.

Cases are exploding across the football landscape at this point.  Every single pro-team has had positive cases.  Nearly every college team can say the same.  The risk is not just to the players, coaches and staff who are relatively low risk, but that they could then easily foster spread within their communities either unknowingly or unwittingly. 

I have faithfully watched every Penn State game this year and while it is a fun distraction for me, a fan, I know deep down that every game is another opportunity for a super spreader where one team who might have been asymptomatic passes it to another.  Anther chance for someone to get sick, not know it, and spread it to someone else who might be much more vulnerable.

And for what at this point?  What will this college football season even add up to with all the missed games and lack of uniformity? 

Should the conferences that decided to play first while ignoring the deaths and infections get credit for playing with a sick team that they can't adequately test for?  Should the conferences that actually tried to stop the spread be penalized?

How on earth would you ever make a fair and equitable decision about a playoff?

I watched another team I follow win a championship this year.  I'm a big Lakers fan, and I enjoyed seeing them win.  It felt nice.  It felt good.  But it didn't feel like the others.

And that's how I felt about watching Penn State beat Michigan.

Sure I loved it.  It was great to see the running attack hit hard.  It was great to watch Sean Clifford throw darts to Parker Washington and Johan Dotson.  I loved watching the guys battle back from adversity and show that they absolutely capable in a competitive setting.  I'm sure every player and coach loved it too.

But at this point in time, in this particular year, you see the death toll and the stress it is putting on the poorest communities and you know that the model to emulate is not one where you pretend that the virus doesn't exist and that you can simply 'play through it'.

What we will have in America over the next month if football continues, will be essentially roaming bioweapons, traveling from college town to college town, and city to city infecting other players at first, and then spreading to coaches, training staff, and so on.  

The latest projections has the United States passing 300,000 deaths by the middle of December, and potentially 400,000 just 15 days later.

Imagine that the Championship game goes on, and a hideous broken leg injury or a spinal or head injury occurs.  Now what hospital does that student-athlete go to?  What will the care be?  Will the care for someone else suffer because now resources must be used for the athlete? 

This is a crisis of the highest magnitude, and it is time for leadership at the highest levels to take charge.

Stop the season, and concentrate on helping each other through what will likely be the worst winter of our lives.




 

Building a Basement. Building Hope.

I hated shop class as a kid.

First, I hated the fractions.  The class always seemed to start with the ruler and measurements.  So before even using something like a circular saw or hammer and nails, it would always start with some math.

I was never a math guy.

Then came the fact that there were all the saws and power tools.  While the idea of operating some fun power tools was exciting, it was outweighed by the idea of mangling my hands and fingers in a shop class accident.

So when it finally came time for me to start to tackle our first major house project, a basement remodel, I wasn't exactly sure where to start.

The quarantine had given me time to do the project. Of that, I had little doubt.  The only question would be if I possessed enough patience and skill to actually follow through with the project.  After attempting to prime and sand on my own, I saw the fear in my wife's face, and decided to go with a hired hand.

I got a few quotes, some from word of mouth recommendations, others from the internet.  In the end we ended up going with LNG Remodeling after considering all of our options.

While the economic reasons were solid (they ended up being competitively priced somewhere in the middle of most of the quotes I received), the reason we ended up going with Liam and his team was a feeling of trust.  Trust that they would treat our job, small as it might be, with just as much care and personal attention as anything in their own homes.

The first morning of the job, Liam arrived with his team of Chris and Bill.  Being that I had some extra time to pop in from time to time, I asked if I could chip in.  They laughed and agreed to let me handle some of the sanding and later offered to let me help out with the floor assembly.

Now...while I didn't take them up on the latter part, more on that in a moment, I want to share what it meant for me to have two complete strangers work in your home.

I wanted to make an effort to bond, to get to know what the people working on my home were all about.

First I opened up to Liam a little bit about myself.  About growing up in State College, getting my degree in communication, and a little bit about being currently furloughed.

I wanted to know if he would be willing to help me out with a project by being willing to just talk a bit about himself and his current work and situation.

He was refreshingly open.  Growing up in western Pennsylvania, his father worked in the FBI and how he, too, had graduated from Penn State with a degree in engineering.  He had always had a knack for numbers and this steered him towards a career based in financial success.

However, he felt that that while he was doing the things society may have expected of him, he didn't find the experience as rewarding as he had hoped.

So Liam decided to go back to school, get his own MBA and control the projects and direction of his life, beginning with a community first approach.  

"I wanted to do projects with the people around me.  I wanted to build up areas locally."

To me, this backed my own values.  I really believe, at this point in time in America, we desperately needed to talk to our neighbors, and work hard within our communities to rebuild trust and empathy.  To hear that the team I had hired had deeply similar values was very reassuring.

We talked about expectations with mask wearing and social distancing, making sure everyone involved understood our mutual risk in this pandemic era.  I'm happy to report that so far everyone on the team, as well as everyone in my family, have remained healthy, and I'd like to think part of that was due to the precautions we have all taken.

Being a relatively new homeowner, I had never had a team work on my house before and to be quite honest had no idea how I was supposed to act.  Should I be completely hands off?  Should I try to become an apprentice?  Should I try to make small talk?  What if they don't like me?  Do they want water?  Is it offensive to bring them things?  Is it offensive to play Vampyre on a playstation upstairs while two guys paint?  What if you write an article while they're doing hard labor?

I had small experiences in my past in terms of home improvement and repair. They weren't insignificant and I wanted to be of some help if able.  I also wanted to learn a little bit about the process so I didn't feel so useless.

I was also aware of a certain commercial making light of the people that hire others and then try to help out, and I distinctly remember feeling like I didn't want to be that guy.

As the project got underway, I was introduced to Liam's partners, Chris and Bill; two brothers from neighboring Philipsburg who shared in Liam's vision of doing things on a more local and personal level.  

I let them know to essentially make any adjustments they needed to make, and if they needed anything from me to just ask.  

I think giving the team space helped allow them to adjust to their new work environment, but it kind of drove me nuts.  I wanted to help, and in some very real way, wanted to know more about the people now working to improve my home.

After the first day, and mostly hanging back, I offered to the team that if they want to use me for any kind of simple labor that wouldn't get in their way, I would be on board.

Chris seemed pretty appreciative with the offer and suggested that the next day would be a good day for that since it would be mostly sanding the walls in preparation for painting later.

It ended up being pretty perfect for me.  It gave me a chance to talk to both guys about their background.  

They talked about how their family was a family of hard working entrepreneurs of various trades, including home contracting and a tow truck company.

I came under the impression that Chris and Bill may have been where Liam is now, at a younger age, but now enjoy doing the nuts and bolts of the job more than the oversight.  Having gone from employee, to manager, to employee myself, I felt like I could empathize a bit with that thought process.

We shared stories of where we grew up and what we liked to do.  They enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and hunting, while I was more into football and television.  I talked about what it was like for me choosing between signing up for the military vs going to college after 9/11 and why I chose to study journalism.  Our shared stories helping lead to a stronger relationship and what I hoped would be a positive experience for everyone.

The next two days of the job included more technical expertise and my assistance was not needed.  I appreciated this to a large degree, because while I was eager to help, I was not eager to make any mistakes and potentially create more work and make the job more expensive.  

I encouraged them to play music if they liked, and let them know if things came up in their personal lives that they needed to be taken care of, that would be fine by me.  The quality of the job and their happiness was more important to me than the timing.

They did say that during the floor installation phase I might be useful again to help relay pieces and I thought that would be fine.

Now, when that phase happened, something else also happened, where I got inspired to write.

Like I said, I had studied journalism in college, and now being furloughed from my traditional job, I felt like if a worthwhile topic and thought provoking idea comes across my brain I need to put it to paper and try to develop it.

Regrettably, I didn't let Chris and Bill know I was writing with my headphones in, and they started that part of the job without me.

To be sure, I felt an odd sense of guilt where I felt like I had let the people I was paying to do the work, down.  

Thankfully, as they finished for the day, and while they gave me a good natured hard time about it, there was only understanding and respect for each other.

Near the end of the job, there was a few changes we had made to our original contract that changed the end price that we were curious about.

After emailing Liam, he got back right away saying that he had recently lost his Grandmother to Covid-19.  Devastating news to anyone and given that we were in the process of exchanging our stories, felt personal to me too.

I let him know to not worry about my question at the moment and that my thoughts were with him.

Chris and Bill were able to finish the job shortly after and Liam came by for a final review of the work and to debrief.  The work they had done was beautiful and exactly what my wife and I had asked for.  We couldn't have been more satisfied.

In a time where human contact and personal connections seem to be becoming increasingly rare, our experience with Liam, Chris and Bill was overwhelmingly positive and helped reaffirm my wife and I's faith in our neighbors and our community.

Why Penn State's Football Culture Returning Matters More Than Ever

I must confess I have yet to care about college football.  That will change for the first time this Saturday.

I know the SEC has been on.  I know that Notre Dame is playing.  I know Clemson is out there.  To me, it just hasn't mattered.  

This year has obviously been wildly different than any in mine, and most everyone else's, lifetime.  A worldwide pandemic has struck; one in which the United States has been losing nearly one thousand lives a day and continues spread at alarming rates.

There has been both violent and civil unrest as more and more Americans are becoming outraged at the conduct of officers and a system of justice that severely needs addressing.

In a very real way, my appetite for sports in this time frame has waned.  Even my favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers, winning a championship didn't particularly excite me.  The bizarreness of it all had slightly stripped the joy.

Penn State, like it or not, will also be in the news for this week for the Pat Chambers resigning/dismissal story.  The speculative stories seem to center around the case of Rasir Bolten and Josh Reaves, which may have been smoking guns towards a larger issue that the general public wasn't aware of with Chambers.

While some fans have decided to pass judgment, I don't pretend to know all the information that was found during Penn State's internal investigation, but one would have to think that the evidence found was substantial and serious enough that neither side wanted it public.

I will always say that being a coach or a manager and how you treat subordinates is a very big deal, and how you are perceived by those that work under you matters.  Pat Chambers has had numerous reports about temper issues that have resulted in conduct that would be inconsistent with the values of Penn State.

I don't believe Penn State would or should tolerate coaches who may use fear and anger as tools to teach.  If that's what was happening, as reports have indicated, then I have no issue with the two sides separating and moving on.

All that said, finding something positive to write about this week before the start of the game proved a little bit more difficult, but all the same, I am ready to get started.


There are many different kinds of fans that watch and support Penn State football.  Some support out of their own family tradition.  Some just like the brand of football.  Some have an appreciation for the specific culture.  Some because they are alumni.  Some just like the simple blue and white color scheme.

I fall into the category of rooting for this program because of it's espoused culture.  One where academics and the process of education will be put before athletic results.  

That is not to say athletic results do not impact the student-athlete business, but that the athletic aspect remains secondary.

One of the biggest points of pride I had held for my alma mater was that focus so many of our young athletes had towards other pursuits.  Penn State football graduates were not athletes.  They were renaissance men. They were the best of every world.

And the best part is, you can see it on the field.

You see it in the physical effort and grit of the linemen.

You see it in second and third efforts from running backs.

You see it when coaches pull kids aside to teach rather than scream and yell.

You see it when sportsmanship is shown by helping up an opponent.

You see it when a mistake is made and it brings a team closer together.

You see it when an individual triumphs, it is a team that celebrates.

You see it when they leave football and remain successful.

When I watch this Saturday, I will be excited to watch a team go out there and attempt to be both physically and mentally superior in everyway.  I want to watch the team make highlight play after highlight play.

I also understand that isn't realistic.  Indiana, while not as reputable a program as Penn State, has players who have been training and working hard for their own goals.  

I expect there to be adversity for this Penn State team, perhaps lots of it.  In those moments, I look forward to seeing the character of the team reveal itself and grow.  What happens if an injury occurs?  A penalty?  A turnover?  Just like in the past, I expect to see our young people at their best.

For the past 6 years, James Franklin has been an exemplary leader for the program and for young people.  He has not waivered in his commitment to a positive mindset getting positive results.  In my estimation, he along with Sandy Barbour and Bill O'Brien deserve the lion's share of credit for keeping a unified football front during the height of the sanctions imposed by the NCAA.

Despite asking his players to be so much more than athletes; despite working for an institution that still needs to do more to ingratiate itself with minority communities; despite dealing with a past as divisive as any, James Franklin is getting some of the very best kids in America to believe in him and Penn State.  I believe in time, it will lead to multiple championships.

In an HBO special, the little goal that Franklin had kind of kept to himself, that he wanted be the first African American head coach to win a National Championship, got amplified.  I believe that message will resonate in a way we haven't seen before.  If the the start of the 2022 recruiting cycle is any indicator, certainly it seems more top players may want to be part of that vision.

I don't know what tomorrow holds.  I have my doubts about wins and losses.  I don't know if  Penn State will finish the season, or if they get to a championship game, should they even play a team like Alabama who hasn't taken the disease seriously and may infect them in the middle of a pandemic?  

What I do know, and what I take solace in, is that so far, the leaders at Penn State, while not perfect, have done a great job of keeping Penn State's athlete's reputation of being more than an athlete. They have kept moving forward and while there have been setbacks, they continue to embody a spirit of perseverance and positivity.

I look forward to more of the same come Saturday afternoon.