OH, HELLO: Alex Robinson Joins Black Shoe Diaries

Black Shoe Diaries is happy to announce the addition of Alex Robinson as the newest member of the staff. Those of you familiar with the Penn State blogosphere may already know Alex, who spent several years with Onward State as an undergraduate. Here is more about Alex, in his own words:

I’ve been covering Penn State sports since 2012 — I joined Onward State after my brief cheerleading career ended. I was the sports editor, and eventually managing editor, of Onward State, where I covered mainly football, basketball, soccer, hockey and wrestling before I left in 2016. Now, I’m a registered mortgage processor... which is the reason I really wanted to join BSD. I missed writing, and can’t wait to join this great team of writers on the site I’ve been reading since high school (except for Pat Koerbler, I could do without him.)

About me:

• I’ve been a fan of Penn State since 2005 (I didn’t hop on the bandwagon, I just wanted to make friends in school), but I have two distinct memories of Penn State before that. In 2003, my Michigan-fan dad complained as we were watching the Wolverines in the Outback Bowl that Penn State was an embarrassment to football after it lost to Auburn in the Capital One Bowl, and in 2004 I distinctly remember listening to Steve Jones during the 6-4 game. I don’t know how I’m a fan now after those two events.
• My two favorite players are Sam Ficken and Marcus Allen.
• My favorite game I’ve ever attended was the 2016 Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis (2008 vs. Illinois and 2017 vs. Michigan are close behind.)
• My favorite game I didn’t attend was 2017 vs. Iowa, when there were about 20 of us watching in one tiny hotel room and everyone laughed at me because I cried when we won.
• My favorite Penn State non-football memory was the first game at Pegula in 2013. My ears are still ringing from how loud it was.
• A hot dog is not a sandwich, and both ketchup and mustard are gross (try barbecue sauce, it’ll change your life)
• Sheetz > Wawa
• Jif > gif
• Scrapple is trash
• Hoss’s is meh at best

Please welcome Alex to the BSD community!