• THON is such a unique experience. A lot of people who aren’t familiar with it usually think it’s people just dancing/standing for a long time. But it’s so much more. It’s hard to explain and you need to be there and experience it to really understand. From the entertainment, to the dancers and much more, THON is something that you can’t find anywhere else. A lot of other schools have their own THONs as well.
• The Blue Band Drumline played a few times throughout the weekend. The drum line is my favorite part of the Blue Band (sorry Matt) and they were awesome at THON. How fast and in-sync they play always impresses me. And shout out to the other members of the Blue Band that played at the pep rally on Saturday night. They were great as always.
• Speaking of the pep rally, this year’s was just as entertaining as every year. A lot of Penn State sports teams performed dance routines and were impressive in combining their athletic abilities with sensational dance moves. The football team is obviously the fan favorite every year, but for the second year in a row they didn’t win. In 2012 it was men’s gymnastics (who weren’t able to be at THON this year) and this year men’s swimming won. Nonetheless, every team did a great job.
• Springfield, which is a special interest THON organization (and also my hometown, FYI), had big letter cutouts that spelled “Springfield.” Some time on Sunday, they rearranged the letters to make it spell “Inspire”. I thought that was pretty cool.
• On Saturday, something really special happened. Two guys proposed to their girlfriends on the dance floor. Lots of people crowded around the proposals and everyone in the BJC applauded. The two proposals happened within three hours of each other. I guess all the girls at Penn State have some pretty high expectations now for their boyfriends.
• The organization that I’m with for THON is Nittany Nation, the student section organization for the basketball team. We also unofficially combine with Nittanyville since a lot of people and most of my friends that are involved with one are also involved with the other (just like myself). We had two dancers, Dan Arnoldi and Devin O’Connor, who were both phenomenal. Dan is in my Nittanyville group and is the game chair for Nittany Nation. Devin is the special events chair for Nittany Nation.
• I was fortunate enough to go onto the floor for an hour on Saturday morning. I saw Dan, Devin and all my other friends who were dancing. Being on the floor is such a cool experience because everything is just so much more up-close and personal as opposed to being in the stands. While on the floor I was wearing my Victor Cruz jersey (I had to show everyone at THON how to salsa) and I just so happened to run into a random guy who was wearing a Hakeem Nicks jersey. What are the odds?
• The speeches that Jay Paterno and Bill O’Brien gave were so inspiring and sensational. Say what you want about the Paterno family, but Jay really knows how to speak. O’Brien is already the biggest celebrity on campus and is someone who speaks with a conviction like no other. They both stressed that what THON does is incredible and O’Brien even called Penn State “the greatest university in the world.”

As a student, being at THON and seeing the total amount being revealed makes me realize how fortunate I am to go to such a great school. The Penn State student body is simply unbelievable and it’s amazing to see what a bunch of kids are capable of doing. Here’s to hoping for $14 million in 2014. FTK!

THE LAST TIME OUT
The first time Penn State played Nebraska they choked at the end, missing key free throws down the stretch. Last time out, again against Nebraska, Penn State choked throughout the game shooting from the field instead. The turnover bug, which has haunted the team since its near flawless game against Ohio State (four turnovers total), crippled the Lions already struggling offense (13 vs Nebraska).

Early leads followed by double digit scoring droughts have plagued Penn State in B1G play. Worst yet injuries (beyond Tim Frazier), and more, are starting to catch up to the team and its lack of depth. Jermaine Marshall is clearly not himself and Brandon Taylor is either hurt, tired, struggling with his confidence, or all three. That being said, the team has had a few days off and hopefully will show up for what they realize is a winnable game.

ABOUT THE IOWA HAWKEYES
Iowa has played well this season even while losing four of their last six games; two of which were in overtime, the last being a double overtime loss at Wisconson. They are top 15 in the country in rebounds and top 20 in assists and team-leading scorer and rebounder Aaron White torched the Lions last time they played for 27 points. White’s season average is only 13.5, junior Roy Devyn Marble is second with 13.2 points per game.

THE MATCH UP
Iowa struggles at time shooting from the field, but their physical play makes up for their lack of touch; against Penn State, Iowa drew 26 personal fouls, forced 18 turnovers, and shot 39 free throws. That type of aforementioned physical play made up for the fact they were outshot by the Lions from three point range, the free throw line, and were held below their season average from field goal range.

If the Lions are going to win at all in 2013, this is their best chance to do so. Penn State needs Jermaine Marshall and D.J. Newbill to show up and shoot consistently throughout the game. A third scorer (Brandon Taylor, Ross Travis, Sasa?) needs to get at least 15 points to support them. They need to limit the turnovers and personal fouls, and crash the boards.. Finally, if they are to be victorious, they need a loud and supportive Nittany Nation to pack the BJC, FTK, FTW.

As I opened ESPN’s website, as I often do to catch up on the daily changes and developments in sports, I noticed their top link was to an article titled, “Penn St.: Donations 2nd highest in history.” I thought that was odd. I had never seen ESPN create an article about school funding before, unless it was directly related to a single, large donation going towards a stadium renovation or something similar. It even had a video associated with it. I decided to check it out. “Video:  Examining Paterno’s Legacy.” Weird, I thought this was an article about Penn State’s funding. As I read on, there was a lot of information about the $208 million in donations for the fiscal year, and there was even a blurb about the “annual student-organized dance marathon to raise money for pediatric cancer patients and research.” Then what has been so typical in every Penn State article, even those not related to athletics:  a Sandusky mention. ESPN seamlessly transitioned from Pegula committing $102 million to upgrade PSU Hockey, to Sandusky awaiting sentencing, to mentioning private donations will not be used to pay legal fees. Ah, I understand now. Take something unrelated, like Penn State’s typical general funding, add in a video about Paterno, some commentary about Sandusky, and you have an article brimming with 5000+ comments. I totally get it now, ESPN.

This is where it has been increasingly difficult as a Penn State supporter, as someone who is associated with such a great University and had nothing to do with the victims, Sandusky, or the inactions of some administrators. A mix of lazy journalism, incomplete leaks, and a need to create the biggest story, has fueled the generalized hate for anything Penn State. Social media, from message boards to blogs to twitter, have given a voice to those who are seemingly the most outraged at this situation. But reading through various mediums, a common theme has surfaced:  Generalize everything.

Everyone at Penn State worships JoePa like a God. Everyone at Penn State is a huge football fan. Everyone at Penn State knew Sandusky was a pedophile for many years. Everyone at Penn State believes the school’s image is more important than a child’s well-being. Everyone at Penn State thinks giving money will make everything go away.

And what is the consensus among those who are so passionately against the entire University? Give the football program the death penalty! Shut it down for as many years as children were violated! Make Penn State pay $200+ million (the amount collected in general donations this fiscal year) to the victims! The ironic thing about the people so fervently demanding these responses is they never once mention the victims,but instead put the focus of heinous crimes on the football program and money. People are so quick to point out how Penn State doesn’t care about the victims because about 2% of the student population of main campus took to the streets when Joe Paterno was fired—at the time, in a cowardly way, without clear facts to back up the decision. Roughly 98% of the school didn’t participate in the “riot,” but grouping the entire community together is a better narrative. Same with the candlelight vigil held a few days later. It dwarfed the size of the “riot,” but that was “simply a PR move.” Because, you know, 18-22 year olds apparently didn’t have the foresight to think of how the national media would react to their public outrage at Paterno’s firing, but instantly multiplied, morphed into PR savants and held a vigil merely as a stunt, right? I guess in 1977, THON was created strictly for PR purposes and the $88 million raised for children with cancer doesn’t mean a thing. Right…

Let that sink in for a minute.

$10, 686,924.83

Students at one of the finest universities in the country managed to collect $10,686,924.83 in support of children battling cancer. We’re talking about young adults, with more going on in their lives I can think about without making my head hurt.
As if that isn’t impressive enough, the Penn State students who participated weren’t exactly given the best scenario for collecting donations. In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the Penn State brand was unfairly tainted. People across the country were questioning exactly what Penn State was about.

Sunday afternoon, the message was sent loud and clear. THON is who We Are.

Several Penn Staters took the stage for brief speeches, including Bill O’Brien who was blown away and led the crowd in a “We Are Penn State” chant.
Jay Paterno made an appearance on stage and told the students

“If you live to be 100 years old, what you’ve done here for the past two days, weeks, months, all this time you’ve put into this, what you’ve done here will echo in eternity. You represent the best of our alma mater.”

The students, who are part of the largest student-run philanthropic organization in the country, pounded pavement this year, collecting donations from across the country, motivated like never before. It’s not like the $9.5 million raised last year wasn’t impactful, but this year there was a new drive. The students know what people were saying. They know what the media said about them following the “riots” in November. They knew that Penn State is not those things and seemingly used this as a platform to remind the world of exactly what Penn State is.
Oh, and they raised $10, 686,924.83 to help battle children’s cancer.
Back in November there was a quote that I wish I could appropriately credit…someone wrote “I saw a girl crying tonight. When I asked her why, she said, ‘Because everybody lost.’”

This weekend, everybody won.

Special shout out to some of the dancers who helped make this weekend possible:
@KarisaMaxwell
@JohnTCpsu
@MissRipep
@allygreer
@TroyS_PSU
@AdamB_PSU

And a special thanks to @KhloeKardashian, whose efforts on twitter helped to spread the word nation-wide.

Follow me on twitter @PSUTimm

LIKE us on Facebook!

THON more than anything else encompasses what being a Penn Stater is all about, and so every group on campus gets involved. Before leaving for Wisconsin on Saturday, the entire men’s basketball team stopped by the Jordan Center on Friday night. Coach Pat Chambers talked about what an honor it was to be there.

Later, around midnight, Bill O’Brien made his first ever appearance at THON and led an invigorating “We Are” chant. He also noted that Tom Brady (who played quarterback at Michigan) once told him that Beaver Stadium was the “loudest place that he’s ever played.”

Mike Wallace and some of the other football players will be participating in the Saturday night pep rally, so hit up the live streaming webcast to check that out.