As you all know, we've gone through changes on the staff side of this here blog recently. We're pleased to announce the first two new hires as a result of those changes: Chris Lucia, better known to many of you here as Lucius429, and Patrick Koerbler, formerly of Onward State and Lions247.
Chris, in his own words:
Greetings, Black Shoe Diaries! Most of you know me as Lucius429, but I’m here to tell you that my actual name is Chris Lucia, and I’ll be joining the illustrious masthead here at BSD! I lurked on BSD for some time, was finally drawn into the commenteriat a couple years ago, and now I’ve been promoted* to blog contributor!
I grew up a military brat, born in Alabama, with stops in PA and NY before my parents settled in Harrisburg when I was 8 – as luck would have it that was the summer of 1994. Just as I was beginning to form an interest in college football, Penn State decided it was going to go bananas en route to an undefeated, #1 overall season. I was hooked. Fast forward a decade and I was enrolled at Dear Old State, first in my family to attend. I met my wife there, as well as my closest friends. I graduated in 2009 with a degree in Civil Engineering, and got my masters from the University of Louisville. After a 4-year stint in the Air Force, I’m currently living in Durham, NC, working for a large engineering firm as a transportation engineer. Before anyone asks, no, I can’t fix that one street by your house with all of the traffic, or that other street by your office with all of the potholes.
Some other tidbits about me – I love sports, and my favorite teams are the New York Football Giants, LA Lakers, New York Mets, and New Jersey Devils. I’ve played soccer since I was 5, so I’m a big fan of the US national teams. In non-sports-related items, I’m a pretty big nerd: I’m not bad at chess, enjoy superhero movies more than I should (#teamironman), used to tear it up in video game land with Master Chief and Sonic the Hedgehog, and actually like to read books. Some of my favorite TV series include the Big Bang Theory, the Walking Dead, House of Cards, Better Call Saul, and Game of Thrones. Please feel free to ask me about any/all of the above; if not, I’ll offer my opinions anyway!
*Note – not an actual promotion.
Patrick, in his own words:
Hey, Black Shoe Diaries! As you can tell by the title above this, my name is Patrick Koerbler. I’m a recent 2016 graduate of Penn State, where I was a staff writer at Onward State and an intern with Lions247. I covered just about every sport at one time or another, but football, basketball, and hockey are my personal top three. I’m a major believer that Trace McSorley will become the first three-time Heisman Trophy winner, and that there are two types of people in life — those who are David Goodwin and those who want to be David Goodwin.
I’ve been a Penn State fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up with the plan of playing for Joe Paterno, but I stopped playing flag football at the age of seven so that dream didn’t last too long. Still, I ended up at Penn State as a student, which I can safely say were the best years of my life. Thanks to Pickle’s and the Gaff for that.
I’ve never been a commenter on BSD, but I’ve been reading the site since I was in high school, so for over five years now. Now that I’m no longer a student and will be going into a non-sports journalism profession, I still wanted an outlet for my mild takes on Penn State sports, so BSD seemed like a natural and obvious fit. I’m looking forward to officially getting started here and to never have to write about a John Donovan offense ever again.
Please join us in welcoming both Chris and Patrick to the staff!