I WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6, 2010 THE DAILN Collegian Elizabeth Murphy Editor in Chief Kelsey Thompson Business Manager About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit cor poration with a board of directors composed of stu dent faculty and profes sionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. During the fall and spring semes ters as well as the second six-week summer session, The Daily Collegian publish es Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and subscribers. Complaints: News and edi torial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be pre sented to the business man ager. Who we are The Daily Collegian's edito rial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. 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Donation should boost attendance The Penn State vs. Indi ana football game on Nov. 20 at FedEx Field in Washington, D.O has also been named an opportu nity to benefit a good cause Though it will be an away game for the Nittany Lions, officials of FedEx Field have agreed to donate five percent of all ticket sales to the Inter fraternity Council/Panhel- AND I THOUGHT HE COULD WALK ON WATER! SO MUCH FOR HOPE AND CHANGE! POLITICS AS USUAL! 'BUMMER! Homecoming week fosters school spirit By Jessica Uzar God so loved Penn State, that he made the sky blue and white It's a stretch, but you can't deny the facts. And even if God didn't necessari ly love Penn State, we cer tainly do. MY OPINION That's what Homecoming week is all about; like its theme says, "Bonded by Blue and White." Not everyone here loves foot ball or THON, but everyone here goes to school here. That's what is special about Homecoming. Even the people who are not exactly obsessed with their school are at least proud of the university (or they wouldn't have chosen to go here, right?) If you don't love the blue and white, at the very least you must appreciate the school or you wouldn't be shelling thousands of dollars to get an education here. This week's events are an awesome way to bond together with your fellow classmates. Even after substantial sporting losses this year so far, students should still rally around the school. Actually, because of the upset ting losses in women's volleyball and a couple football games, it is even more important to show some Nittany Lion pride. lenic Dance Marathon There is a $150,000 cap on the donation, but if ticket sales reach that amount it would be roughly two per cent of THON's total from last year. This is certainly no chump change consid ering that every little bit helps beat last year's total. Kudos to Penn State, FedEx Field and Indiana for giving up a cut of the =IMMO These losses shouldn't silence our student sections or dampen our spirits this week It's a great time to show those teams that we are always behind them. They are a part of us, a part of the student body. After all, the football team is a group of student athletes who are allowed to make mistakes, not a group of NFL players who are paid millions of dollars and expected to be near perfect because that's their job (excuse me, Jeff Reed, please make a field goal because that's what you're expected to do in Pittsburgh). No, these students are doing amazing things on the fields and courts, and they deserve our continued support. As do all the Homecoming vol unteers who have worked their butts off to organize events from the talent show to the parade to both entertain us and help us celebrate our amazing school. We have one of the largest alumni networks in the country it becomes an instant bond when Penn Staters meet outside of State College. When alumni are hiring at their companies, whom do they want? Us. When they see that Penn State class ring around someone's finger, it's an instant advantage. Alumni flock back to the uni versity for Homecoming week because many miss being in an atmosphere that is filled with as much pride as this town is at the moment. I think it's important to cele brate our commonality of being students here because we will profit for a good cause. Hopefully, this also meets the goal of motivating more Penn State students into making the trip to the relatively nearby Lan dover, Md. It's not a common occurrence that profes sional football teams for feit any type of profit, so students should take advantage of this good opportunity. always carry that with us. Yes, of course those drunken nights are fun to laugh about the next morning. And yes, many stu dents could complain all day about how much they hate lowa. But when it comes down to it, when you graduate and move on, what will be important is the tie with the university. Our emo tions won't be about specific memories we have, but our time spent here as a whole. I think being proud of some thing we are a part of, whether it's a school, family or sports team, makes us better people. It makes us want to be better peo ple so that we represent our group well. Don't drink so much before a football game that you're harassing the opposing team's fans in a way that's disrespectful and looks bad on the school. Don't do something off the field that reflects badly on your team, school and fans. For life in general, behave in a way you can be proud of 10 years from now. Get out this week and cele brate the special bond that Penn Staters share. Be proud of the accomplishments of your fellow students. Be proud of this great institu tion and the amazing people that are really Nittany Lions at heart. For the glory. Jessica Uzar is a junior majoring in journalism and political science and is the Daily Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail is ilul2s@psu.edu. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN SMALL WORLD Meet the parents Even though my host family is fantas tic and the other Americans on my pro gram are nice, I occasionally feel like I'm alone in a country of 140 million people. So last week I was really excited for my par ents to visit me, and not just because they brought peanut butter (which is impossi ble to find here). I taught them how to use the metro and took them to see some of the sights. We attended a ballet performance at the famous Mariinsky Theatre, which was simply amazing. One of the highlights of their visit was introducing them to my host family. I spent the days immediately preceding this meeting worrying that I would have to translate everything my host mom and my parents said or that I would make some sort of faux pas that I wasn't even aware of, but luckily, my host brother's girlfriend, who speaks English very well, was there to help with the language issues, and the whole thing went very smoothly. Russian women are all about hospitali ty, and this meeting was no exception. My host mom brought out champagne and cooked borscht and blini (which are like crepes) filled with cabbage, because I told her that my parents are vegetari ans. I think it was a great experience for them because it's not every tourist that is invited inside a Russian home and given a home-cooked meal, and it also gave them the opportunity to see that I am comfortable and well taken care of here... MAKE PLAYS Who's left standing With four weeks completely in the books on the NFL season, let's take a look at where our competitors stand in the Collegian's Penn State NFL Pick `Em. Through the first four weeks, 62 games have been played in the young NFL sea son and the leader, sports chief Paul Casella, has correctly predicted 40 of those games. Jim Regan, Nittany Lion Eland president, sits just one game back in second place with a 39-23-record. Below are the results for week four and the up-to-date overall standings: Paul Casella, sports chief: 40-22 Jim Regan, Nittany Lion Rind presi dent: 39-23 Athletes: 38-24 Students: 37-25 Steve Hennessey, sports editor: 35-27 Alex Cohen, Paternoville president: 35- 27 Christian Ragland, UPUA president 32-30 Zack Kreiger, SPA executive director. 32-30 Bill Landis, sports night editor 29-33 Week Four Results Paul Casella: 11-3 Jim Regan: 10-4 Paul Daley (kers forward): 8-6 Kevin Anderson (student): 10-4 Steve Hennessey: 8-6 Alex Cohen: 8-6 Christian Ragland: 7-7 Zach Kreiger: 8-6 Bill Landis: 4-10 (Note: Landis didn't send in his picks until almost 3 p.m. Sunday, so he voluntarily took the losses for all of the early games. In games he actually picked, he was 4-2) FOOTBIOG Lion watch Lions Roar Justin Brown -Justin Brown called the game against Illinois a "must" and said the team under stands that its offense is inconsistent and needs to finish in the red zone: -Derrick Thomas and Sean Stanley did return to practice this week after not making the trip to lowa. -Tight end Andrew Szczerba has been practicing and doing more than he has done previously this season. With no definitive timetable set for Szczerba's return, Brown said freshman tight end Kevin Haplea will be relied on. Brown said the only way for Haplea to improve is to have game experience. -Brown didn't think there was necessar ily any confusion during the lowa game and the team's play before the end of the first half... Lions Roar: C Doug Klopacz -This' week in practice, red zone and short yardage have been a main focus, but Klopacz said the team has done all right with those situations in games, they've just been hit with some misfortune and come up just inches short. -Klopacz said he feels like no one has really physically outmanned the Lions, cit ing how well they moved the ball on lowa and Alabama. But he said the key has been fundamentals that has kept the Lions off the scoreboard and out of the end zone. -Evan Royster's rushing record hasn't been talked about amongst the linemen but it hasn't been a focal point. But if Royster does break the school's all-time mark, the offensive line would certainly take pride in it. -"We just gotta buckle up and go play," Klopacz said... Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psu colleglan.com/blogs. Erin Rowley Small world blogger Football reporters
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