Just an FYI, I'm scheduled to appear on WYFM in Youngstown Ohio at 4:15 PM this afternoon (Friday). As always I'll be discussing We Are Penn State 2009 and Penn State football. I believe if you click on the link you can listen live.

For you unfortunate souls who live in Ohio, I will be on the Rob Mangino show on WKBN 570 AM in Youngstown, OH tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at 7:40 AM ET. There's a link at the website where you can listen live if you don't live in Ohio.

As always I'll be discussing We Are Penn State 2009 and we'll talk a little Penn State football. Since we're venturing into Ohio State country with this one the questions should be pretty interesting. It's also Daryll Clark's hometown so I anticipate there will be some discussion centered on him.

All of your airwaves are belong to BSD

For those of you in the Allentown area I'll be on the Bob Holden show on WKAP 1470 AM at 6:05 PM tonight. Just like last week I'll be talking a little bit about We Are Penn State 2009 and then we'll talk a little Penn State football. In fact at this point I think it looks like I'll be a regular on the show every Tuesday night, so check that out.

Then on Wednesday morning I'll be on WEAE-AM 1250 ESPN Radio in the Pittsburgh market with Stan Savran and Guy Junker. That will be at 10:40 AM.

I'll try not to insult the host this time, but if I hear the words "Terrelle Pryor" and "best offensive player in the Big Ten" mentioned in the same sentence I can't be held responsible for my actions.

The BSD mission of world media domination takes another step forward tonight when I make a radio appearance on WBGG-AM (970) at 6:25 PM in the Pittsburgh area. I'll mostly be promoting We Are Penn State 2009, but I'll also be talking a little Penn State football and the upcoming college football season. So those of you in the Pittsburgh area are expected to listen in. There will be a quiz afterwards.

So I've been trying to keep this under wraps to surprise you all ninja-style, but there have been a few leaks here and there. If it seems like I've been preoccupied and not posting as much the past few months, it's because I've been busy as the editor of We Are Penn State, a 2009 Penn State football preview magazine being published by Maple Street Press that is due to hit book shelves this July. I've handed in the last of the material for print, and I see Maple Street is offering pre-orders, so I figure this is as good a time as any to make the big announcement.

We Are Penn State is 128 pages of Penn State coverage with information, stories, stats, and pictures without a single advertisement. In putting this together I assembled an amazing list of authors to cover Penn State football from every angle. Here's a list of what you'll read after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Some things you may have missed in this week's Fanposts and Fanshots:

• Joe Paterno is talking Big Ten expansion, and says if he was 20 years younger, he'd be giving Jim Delany the whatfor.  (TheMightyErik)
• Former Penn State LB Derek/Cameron Wake is finally in position.  Good luck to him.  (psupride)
• After one year of fleeting football glory, Indiana may very well suck forever. (QBsneak12)
• Interestingly, CFN names Penn State #3 in its "Tailback U." rankings. (psume06)
• Les Miles, taking Twitter way too seriously.   (baconway9)
• Anthony Morrelli doesn't die.  He multiplies.  (millzners)
• Have to agree with this in a way, because I remember helplessly screaming "but, they suck!" at the Big XII teams when Penn State was 9-0 and getting bagged on in every conceivable way.  Then there was Iowa, and, yeah. (Sevay)
• Birmingham, Alabama Penn Staters, unite. (Paige2PSU)
• Our old friend Chris Dufresne pops up with highlights of USC's spring game, and tells us why L.A. is too good for spring football.  (PSUhomer)
• Finally, your management needs a little help.

And this wasn't addressed anywhere else in the Fanposts / Fanshots, but exactly what the hell is going on with the women's tennis team? 

This is sure to bring in more good publicity for Penn State.

Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian announced today that defensive tackle Ed Johnson was arrested for speeding and possession of marijuana early this morning in Hamilton County.

"Those charges have been filed, it is my understanding, and we are in the process right now of determining what course of action to take with respect to discipline," Polian said. "There will be discipline, the question is what is it."

Johnson is a starter but coach Tony Dungy said he would not play Sunday when the Colts face Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Dungy said he was uncertain who would replace the second-year player from Penn State in the lineup.

Johnson was unavailable for comment.

Update: Colts release him.

Colts president Bill Polian said the team would waive Johnson Thursday. He said the Colts consider every violation of a team rule or NFL policy on a case-by-case basis.

"In this particular case, Ed was well aware that his past history required him to be in complete compliance with club rules," Polian said.

Hard to believe, but it was two years ago today this little tube of the internet sparked to life and BSD was born. Perhaps this is a good time to go back and revisit the BSD mission statement.

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.

All-in-all not too shabby. I think we've done a pretty good job living up to that vision.

I look back on that blogger two years ago with amazement in how far he's come. Back then I set a goal to reach 200 hits per day. At the time 200 hits a day would have made BSD the biggest Penn State blog on the internet when your only other options were The Nittany Line and Run Up The Score who were also in their infancy. Today we average around 2500 hits per day and I suspect once we get into the season that number could top 3000. In two years we've seen over 840,000 hits and sometime in October I suspect we will top the one million mark.

I've logged two seasons and 1071 posts. But BSD is more than just Mike, RUTS, and Kevin. It's 408 members who have logged 511 fanposts and 16,223 comments. Without all of you BSD wouldn't be the great venue it is today, and for that I thank you all.