Oh, Hello: Dan Smith Commits To Black Shoe Diaries

As you know, we're convinced that Black Shoe Diaries has the best Penn State hoops coverage on the planet. However, when you're the best, you can't just sit around and remain stagnant; you have to do everything in your power to get better.

Today, our hoops coverage got better, because we hired a new writer!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I'm glad to announce that Dan Smith -- formerly known on here as "Sharp Alright" -- is your newest basketbro! Here's his scouting report, by him for you, the reader:

"I'll tell you what, he must be really impressive with the guitar." - Howie Schwab, on Dan Smith

Dan Smith is your newest men's basketball contributor at Black Shoe Diaries. Formerly a commenter known as Sharp Alright, Dan joins Black Shoe Diaries as a 2013 graduate of Penn State with a degree in journalism.

While Dan was too short and untalented to play basketball beyond his high school's freshman team, he is a big fan and a study of both basketball strategy and analytics. He attended the majority of the home basketball games during his four years at Penn State, with his last attended home game being Penn State's 84-78 upset of No. 4 Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center in 2013. While storming the court (hi, Ron Musselman), Dan lost a shoe. Dan was also front row for Penn State football's 2012 senior day overtime victory over Wisconsin, and in the student section for most of the big games from 2009-2012. He has seen road football games at Indiana, Purdue, and Rutgers, and road basketball games at St. Joe's and Penn.

While at Penn State, Dan was a broadcaster for ComRadio, PSN-TV, and the Centre County Report. He did play-by-play for football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, baseball, softball, and women's volleyball, appearing on the Big Ten Network and ESPN Radio as well. Dan also was a beat writer covering a number of sports for two years before becoming ComRadio's executive editor for two years. He also worked on ComRadio's NFL Draft Show for four years. Since graduating, Dan spent a year as a columnist for the cover32 network covering the Philadelphia Eagles. He works at a consulting firm in the Philadelphia area and resides there as well.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Dan is a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and 76ers. His music taste has been described as "hipster" despite being the only under-25 defender of U2 on the Internet, mainly due to his friends' lack of familiarity with bands like The National. If he is being honest, Dan is really just biding his time with this whole sports blogging thing while working on his first album. Two of Dan's brothers currently attend Penn State, while the youngest is a high school junior looking at colleges (no pressure). Numerous members of his extended family have also attended or currently attend Penn State.

You can follow Dan on Twitter at @sharpalright.

Dan will mainly come on board as a member of our crackerjack basketball staff -- by my estimation, he is a worse basketball player than me but he's probably better than Chad and he's definitely better than Eric. Mr. Smiff will also contribute any other way possible (the dude knows his football, so he'll certainly contribute with our football coverage as well).

Welcome aboard, Dan!