409 Wins Are Great! Why Am I Not Jumping for Joy?

Today's announcement by Senator Jake Corman (R-PA) that the NCAA has repealed the sanctions against Penn State, including restoring the 112 wins the football team achieved during the years 1998-2001, was a pleasant surprise.

111 of those wins were achieved through the coaching of Joe Paterno. One of those wins was achieved through the coaching of interim head coach Tom Bradley after Coach Joe Paterno was summarily fired on November 9, 2011 by the Board of Trustees.

But let's not forget that these wins belonged primarily to the players, not the coaches.  And so especially for the players, I am happy.

Penn State Football: A Heartfelt Request in Memory of My Husband

On January 8, 2014 my husband Terry Todd passed away at the age of 78. 

Terry had attended 282 Penn State football games in a row between 1990 and the end of 2012, and 426 football games overall since 1970.  You can read his full obituary here. 

Football was Terry's passion and in 2013 cancer stripped Terry of that passion as well as his life.  

For that reason I have asked that memorial contributions in Terry's name be made to the Penn State chapter of Uplifting Athletes. It's an annual PSU football team effort to raise money for kidney cancer research, and it seems very fitting to support this charity.

Any donations in Terry's memory are most appreciated, or you can choose a favorite athlete and support their efforts in the upcoming 2014 Lift for Life.  

You can visit the Uplifting Athletes website here:
www.upliftingathletes.org

As for me, I will do my best to carry Terry's passion for Penn State football forward as we welcome Coach James Franklin and look forward to yet another new beginning for Penn State football this fall.   

Thank you for your patience this year, I promise you that this blog will see new life in the months ahead.

We Are...Penn State!

Carolyn Todd

 

Penn State Football: Orange Ex'Cused as the Penn State Football Nation Shows Some Love

It wasn't always pretty, and it came down to the final minute or so, but Penn State got the job done, beating Syracuse 23-17.  And so the second season under Coach Bill O'Brien gets off to a roaring start, under the shaky (at times) leadership of a true freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg who is still learning the game but obviously has great potential.  At the end of the game, O'Brien relied on the defense to secure the win, not daring to risk another offensive turnover in a game that had plenty of ups and downs for both teams.

This was a most unusual game for me and especially for my husband Terry.  We weren't actually there.  For the first time since September 1990 my husband Terry was not able to make a Penn State game in person, and the last game I missed was September 2001, a game in Iowa City that Terry went to but I stayed home due to a sick animal.