Welcome to Black Shoe Diaries (BSD).  I'm your host, Mike.  I attended Penn State University from 1992-1997.  I was on the five-year plan.  Chemical Engineering is tough.  Give me a break.  Going back further than that I have been a Penn State football fan my entire life.  It started out just going to games and watching them on television.  Then with the advent of the internet, I was able to discover message boards and stay connected with my favorite teams year round.  

One day last year I was talking to my uncle who is also an avid lifetime Penn State fan.  It was in the off season and I was telling him about these great recruits we got named Derrick Williams and Justin King.  To my surprise I found out he wasn't keeping up with the recruiting activity.  He explained to me he would like to, but he just didn't have time.  Of course he had time to volunteer for his local fire company, go to his daughters' softball and soccer games, and spend every weekend camping in the summer time, but he had no time to follow the football team in the off season.  I don't blame him for it.  We all have priorities and hobbies.  Mine is Penn State.  So I made it a point to tell him about how recruiting was going every time I talked to him and he told me how much he appreciated it.  

It got me thinking there are probably a lot of fans out there like him.  People who go to the games or watch them on television every chance they get, but probably don't have time to keep up with the team in the off season.  So I started a Penn State blog to help these fans keep up with the team and enjoy Penn State athletics all year round like I do.  I also did it to give other die hard Penn State fans like myself a place where they can go to talk about Penn State year round.

After running a Penn State blog for several months, I caught the eye of some people and I was asked to host a blog dedicated to Penn State athletics here on Sports Blogs Nation.  So BSD was born, and I could not be more excited to be part of SBN.

Before we go into what you can expect to see here, let's discuss what not to expect.  You will not see any exclusive interviews with players or coaches.  I don't have any access or affiliation with Penn State.  You will not get inside scoops.  In fact, you will not get any news here you cannot find yourself elsewhere on the internet.

So now you're asking yourself, "Why in the world should I bookmark this site?"  I will try to explain.  If you're like me, you might like to keep up with the football team and know what's going on with recruiting or who is moving up on the depth chart in spring practice.  You might be interested to know who tore their ACL and who is surprising the coaches in the weight room.  You are probably interested in knowing this kind of stuff, but you don't have time to hit fifty websites a day.  That's where I come in.

Black Shoe Diaries mission is to be your one source where you can keep up with Penn State 365 days a year.  I check all of these websites every day.  It's my hobby.  I would do it anyway even if this blog didn't exist.  I always have.  My service to my fellow Penn State fans is to combine the information I gather into one source so you too can keep up with Penn State all year round.  

If you're a die hard PSU fan like I am, you already know what's going on with the team so you don't need me for that.  This site will give you a forum to talk about Penn State with other Penn State fans.  Each post will offer my opinions and analysis which you can take or leave, but you are free to offer your own opinions and analysis as well.

What makes blogs interesting is the comments and interaction between the readers.  I promise you we will all have more fun here if you comment on my posts and each others comments.  I will try to steer the conversation by offering timely and entertaining topics.  I will also try to bring in some fans from other colleges to spice things up a bit.  If you don't like my topic du jour or you hear a juicy rumor from Anthony Morelli's roommate's girlfriend's sister's classmate, you can start your own conversations in the diary section.  But it's up to you the readers to make this fun.  So with that, let's start blogging.