Success With Hyperlinking Is Ready For A Long Winter's Nap

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the blog...

As the New Year approaches, we are reminded of the possibilities of the future. Along those lines, John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State, wrote about Nittany Lion baseball's recent trip to Cuba, a visit that had implications beyond the results on the field. You get the sense this could be an entire series of articles, but it's a truly fascinating look at a neighbor that's become largely a mystery to us.

Father Doesn't Always Know Best: The original Star Wars trilogy is *Spoiler Alert* ultimately a story about not following your father's advice. It's great that J.J. Abrams was such a fan of those movies, because his father, Penn State graduate, Gerald Abrams advised him not to take on Episode VII. That's not the only Nittany Lion connection to The Force Awakens as former Penn State basketball player, Joonas Suotamo took on the role of Chewbacca in the action scenes of the film. Given the age of Peter Mayhem, it's not unreasonable to believe Joonas may be Wookiee-in-training to take on the roll full-time at some point in the future.

Another All-Time Great Volleyball Coach in Happy Valley: Men's coach, Mark Pavlik, will join Russ Rose as a recipient of the Donald S. Shondell All-Time Great Coach Award in the Contemporary division. Coach Pavlik has won over 500 matches and a national title in his 21 years at the helm. Former men's coach Dr. G. Thomas Tait and Penn State alumni Larry Bock have also previously won the award.

Quick Hits: Penn State has had a fruitful relationship with Navy the past 70 years at the Applied Research Laboratory on campus. Her dad is considered one of the dirtiest players in NHL history, but Victoria Samuelsson is striking her own path on the ice at Penn State. Todd Blackledge is under the impression Christian Hackenberg needs some more coaching.