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True Life: I'm The Most Hated Man On The Penn State Beat - The Ron Musselman Story

FORMER reporter for the Post-Gazette and FORMER managing editor of StateCollege.com Ron Musselman went full troll last night, if you can call it that.

By Dan Vecellio
Even Beilein can't believe it.
Even Beilein can't believe it.
USA TODAY Sports

Before I get started, I should give full disclosure: Ron Musselman was, somehow, in charge of my employment status at one time. Crazy, am I right? You might remember the Onward State April Fools story that caused reverberations around the Penn State universe. Well, as editor-in-chief, Ron decided since I was the managing editor of OS, I had to be let go. So he fired myself, as well as Devon who had no part in the making of the story, as a result. We can talk backstory in the comments if you're interested. This is meant purely as an opinion piece, and does not reflect the beliefs of the Black Shoe Diaries community.

You might recognize the tweet above from Ron Musselman, who is affectionately known as Uncle Ron around Penn State parts. He was once the Penn State football beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette until he left to become the first-ever managing editor of StateCollege.com where he was canned after only eight months on the job. He now writes a Sunday column for the Centre Daily Times and is a "contributor" to Bloomberg News where he has one published by-line.

Last night, after Penn State's gritty win over #4 Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center and the subsequent storming of the court, Uncle Ron decided someone needed to be the wet blanket of Twitter and sent out the above tweet.

From our on-site reporter Bill:

I totally understand where Ron Musselman is coming from.

If I was irrelevant (and I am), I’d do everything in my power to be a massive irritant, with the hope that maybe, just MAYBE, someone would recognize me.

So I’ll say stupid things, like wondering why, oh, I don’t know, students would be so excited that arguably the worst basketball team in any of the Power Six conferences beat one of the five best teams in college hoops.

I’ll tweet at students, saying things that are INCREDIBLY professional, like calling a student a loser (his next step, as you would expect, is saying his dad could beat up the student’s dad).

Hell, I’ll call myself a "freelance writer," which is a much-humbler writer’s way of saying "I’M UNEMPLOYED PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME A JOB."

But the one thing I won’t do, under any circumstances, is being reasonable. I’d be SHOCKED that college students would have the audacity to storm the court, which is like wondering why starving children are happy that they’re getting to eat a porterhouse steak.

I was at the game. I sat courtside. I cheered my ass off. I went wild. And when that clock ticked down to zero, you bet your ass I ran as fast as I could to celebrate with my fellow students, both the ones who just pulled the biggest upset in college basketball this season and the ones who cheered as loud as I did.

And if Ron Musselman can't understand that, that's his problem.

But hey, what else should I expect from a guy whose degree says "hater?"

And from me:

Are you f**king kidding me? When exactly is the correct time to storm the court? Let me count the reasons:

  1. Beat a top-five team at home.
  2. Have the game have some significance (i.e. Senior Night)
  3. Support an 0-14 team which played its biggest game of the year while busting their asses for their fans for the previous 26 games of the season.

Huh, all of those check out.

The reaction was swift. Most of it negative. He retweeted the two guys that actually agreed with him and called a college student a loser on Twitter.

I don't like the term "hack." Just because you don't agree with a journalist's opinion doesn't mean that he or she doesn't do a great job and put a lot of hard work into their profession. BUT.....

  • If you're essentially unemployed in your fifties because of your missteps at prior places of employment, you might be a hack.
  • If the Penn State head football coach gets so annoyed with you that he publicly mocks you by calling you by the wrong name at press conferences, you might be a hack.
  • If you're calling a 21-year-old a "loser" on Twitter while he's still working for the company that fired you for your tactics and attitudes, you might be a hack.
  • If you are such a misanthrope that you have to shit all over everyone's good time after the biggest win of the basketball season because, presumably, you're that unhappy with your own life, you're most definitely a hack.

This isn't the first time Musselman has decided to rain on a Penn State parade. After Penn State defeated Navy for its first win of the season the season and Allen Robinson had a monster, three-touchdown game, Uncle Ron decided to bring up the transfer question. To a player. After his team's first win. And the game of his life. I'd link to the story, but I can't seem to find any of his StateCollege.com stories since he got the ax.


I could go on, but there are things that have been said in private that I will keep in private. Musselman's public actions speak for themselves. You don't have to pander to readers, I would of course be the first one to say that. But, come on, man. There's no reason for half the shit that you pull.

So, from all the people who have been subjected to your drivel and most of those who have had the pleasure to work with you in the past, we have a word for you from your alter ego.


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