Nittany Lion of the Week - Max Holt
by BSD on Jan 14, 2009 9:36 AM EST
in Other Sports
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You want a piece of this? I didn't think so.
Our Nittany Lion of the week is mens volleyball senior middle hitter Max Holt, who led Penn State to three thrilling victories in the Outrigger Invitational in Honoulu, Hawaii this past week.
In the first match Penn State outlasted the #7 ranked USC Trojans in five games. For the match Holt had five blocks to go with his five kills and 0.250 kill percentage. He also blasted a career high and rally-scoring school record seven service aces.
In the second match Holt recorded six kills (0.250 %) as Penn State quickly swept #10 ranked Ohio State in three games. Holt really stepped up in the third game with three services aces, two key blocks, and the final kill to end the match.
In the final against #13 Hawaii, Holt registered 11 kills on an errorless 12 swings for an amazing 0.917 hit percentage. Penn State defeated Hawaii in four games and claimed the tournament crown for the second straight year.
His performance earned Holt All-Tournament honors along with teammates Max Lipsitz, Edgardo Goas, and Del Valle.
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On a side note
How amazing is it to open your season against three teams ranked in the top 15? Could you imagine the football team opening their season with two top ten teams and the #13 team? And to beat all three of them. Talk about solidifying your #1 ranking and setting the tone for the season.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
To be fair....
There’s only some 40 or 50 or so teams in men’s volleyball. So, the top 15 make up a greater percentage of those teams than other sports. Still, it’s a big accomplishment and statement for PSU. Unfortunately, it’s tough for PSU to play good competition in men’s volleyball — East coast v-ball sucks, Midwest is mediocre at best (we play the standard tOSU, Ball St, Lewis, et al teams anyway) and West coast teams won’t every come east. So, basically, the teams plays this early tourney in Hawai’i and then a few games out west over spring break. Hopefully, that will prepare them well enough for the Final Four.
I'd be all for it!
The new stadium has got to help. But there’s only so much you can do about the cold weather. At least becoming a team that can regularly win the Big Ten would be a good start.
If Michigan can do it,
and so on.
There is no reason why the baseball team can’t become elite in the big ten, they have the resources.
BSD
exactly....
same thing with basketball. there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to recruit basketball players. if West Virginia can get basketball players to come to Morgantown, there’s no reason (with the better resources we have) they shouldn’t consider PSU.
"We are Penn State. We are not normal. We are Legends." - Deon Butler
by Stately NOVA Lion on Jan 14, 2009 12:19 PM EST up reply actions
hey...if they keep bringing home NC
i’m ok w/ it!
"From here on out, the Steelers are bird exterminators. It doesn't matter if it's the Ravens, Eagles, or Cardinals." ~random Steeler Fan!
Volleyball school
Nothin wrong with it and I’m thrilled. Would be aazing if we can sweep both v-ball titles for the academic year again.
No short shorts.
Good choice.
--
Mr. Bob Dobalina
by Run Up The Score on Jan 14, 2009 10:00 AM EST reply actions
At some point they began working gray into our logo’s and colors. They came up with a newer logo to try and modernize Penn State. It is an abomination:
I hate this logo and everything it stands for.
Great
Pretty soon we’ll be like the Whitesox, Mets, Eagles, Georgia and every other team that wears special black jerseys.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
I can't see the pic
You have a link?
"They haven't played us yet."
by ReadingRambler on Jan 14, 2009 10:20 AM EST up reply actions
I still like the old
“shrine” and graphic lion head logos.
I do not like (however my initial abhorrence has mellowed, a bit) the “panther” logo – it’s just so pittish – of course, the pitt has adopted the “rottweiler” logo since then.
I also think that we need to start a grassroots movement to redesign the lion costume – it’s sad when my 4 y/o goddaughter says “I like that one because it looks like Scooby Doo.”
Interesting note
The Nittany Lion mascot debuted at the Polo Grounds against Syracuse in 1922. It was the first meeting between the two schools. Penn State was riding a 29 game unbeaten streak that dated back to the 1918 season. The game was played in wet muddy conditions and ended in a 0-0 tie. Penn State had their unbeaten streak ended the following week and they lost four out of their last five games.
Hugo Bezdek, the head coach at the time, was convinced the Nittany Lion mascot was a bad luck jinx and banned it from appearing at the games the follow season. It was several years until the mascot came back again. I think the picture above was the original mascot. It was a costume from a play that was running on campus at the time.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
Whoops
The unbeaten streak started in the 1919 season. Not the 1918 season.
The 1918 season was a disaster. It was only four games long due to the outbreak of WWI and half the team joining the army. Penn State went 1-2-1 that year.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
Excellent book
There’s a great book abou the Nittany Lion called…..“The Nittany Lion” by Jackie Esposito.
It gives a history of the mascot, the costumes, the shrine, etc. with lots of pics.
It’s a good book for a PSU book collection.
Hey jtothep
Didn’t you date one of those chicks back in the day? Or am I thinking about jesse?
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
True
And I’m fine with a kid asking about Scoobie Doo. I’d take that opportunity to school him or her on just how much more badass the Nittany Lion is and how he’d kick scoobie’s ass and make him beg for mercy and more scoobie snacks.
pax et amor
Zoinks
Do you seriously think that the lion (costume) is “badass” – really? Listen – I love that cat – but the current embodiment is just plain old bad.
And, while the lions in “A Lion’s Tale” could probably whoop Scooby – but I’m afraid that our Lion would be too busy practicing his “robot” moves – and that thing from “hello Nittany Lion” would just smile and wave.
BTW, the child in question is a “believer” – there’s no need for “schooling” – she’s been able to spot a chipmunk logo decal with ridiculous accuracy since, well, since she could speak.
Actually, I do
I do think the costume is badass. It’s strong in its simplicity and bold in its purity. In addition to fitting the tradition of ‘there is no name on my jersey,’ the black shoes and JoePa’s floods, it’s so much closer to accurate than other mascot unis. He easily crushes all other Big Ten mascot unis in Badass, and is in my top 5 in the country.
What suggestions for redesign would you make in your grass roots campaign? Here’s hoping one of them is not ‘give him an oversized head.’
pax et amor
how about we go back to the costume of the 80s-90s?
huh? how’s that for tradition? “they” changed the costume (imo) much much much to the worse – you want tradition? how about a costume that looks like a mountain lion – or at least like “our” mountain lion? They shifted the ears forward, made them larger and much “floppier” with no “crease” – The shape of the head has changed to be oddly oval – rather than, say, head shaped. The pile of the costume has changed – it’s much shaggier now – something Scooby would find quite comforting.
I love the Nittany Lion – I’m not a big fan of it’s current incarnation – if they had changed it to look more “authentic” or “tougher” – then, while it would have taken a while to get used to it, I would have – just like all the other changes that have been made in and around PSU during my lifetime – but this, and jay paterno on the coaching staff are two things that I will never be “happy” about.
Agree that it needs to look a little fiercer
My 5 year old twin daughters see him on tv and say “there’s the teddybear” even though they know Penn State is the lions. That’s how warm and cuddly he looks. And that’s fine if you like warm and cuddly, but this is football. Ain’t nothin’ warm and cuddly about kicking your opponents teeth in.
Thanks for the feedback
I think it’s a good idea too. I always feel guity about not giving the other PSU athletes the recognition they deserve. But my post last week on Tyra Grant didn’t generate any comments which made me think this wasn’t such a great idea.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
I typically don't comment
mainly because I don’t know anything worthwhile about the respective sports. But I do like the feature, it keeps me up-to-date on the other sports…which is substantially harder when not on campus without the Collegian lying around…oh, how I miss the place.
John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...
by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Jan 14, 2009 1:32 PM EST up reply actions
great post mike,
but “In the second match Holt recorded six kills (0.250 %)”
is .250% really, really small?
=P
Meadville, PA born and raised.
Forgive me
I’m not up on my volleyball lingo. I guess I should call it a .250 kill rate or something. Anyway, one out of every four hits he made resulted in a kill. So there.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
Technically speaking...
Hitting (or Attack) percentage: Determined by taking the number of kills, subtracting the number of hitting errors, and then dividing that by the total number of attacks.
The inclusion of the errors masks what really happened. Looking at his numbers from the game, Max had 6 kills, 3 errors, and 12 total attacks. So he actually got a kill one out of every two hits, but the percentage is hurt by the inclusion of the errors.
0.25 isn’t bad, but he actually swings at a much better rate (closer to 0.50%). Being able to consistently hit above 0.4 is pretty damn good. (And that .917 on twelve attacks is nuts!)
We are.............Volleyball U
What a great start!
I would love to see 4 VB NCs in a row. That’s gotta be unprecedented in any man & woman sport (ie basketball, gymnastics, etc)
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