The Bloggers
We welcome and encourage your input. Please feel free to send us suggestions or comments, as well as emails about specific posts, and topics you would like us to discuss here on LBU. Though we don't do a weekly mailbag, you can help change that by sending us emails! We look forward to hearing from you.
Email: Staff.LBU[at]gmail[dot]com
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Mike - Football, Women's Basketball
Publisher.LBU[at]gmail[dot]com
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A 2006 graduate of Penn State's College of Communications and the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, Mike first launched the blog Zombie Nation in 2007, opining on Penn State for more than two years before launching Linebacker-U.com. Since graduation, Mike's writing has been featured by, among others, Sports Illustrated OnCampus, Sporting News Today, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Mike has also been fortunate enough to work with college football prognosticator Phil Steele at PhilSteele.com, and contribute to We Are Penn State 2010, an annual football preview published by the Maple Street Press. Mike was a four-year member of the Penn State Blue Band, marching in every home pregame and halftime show from 2002 thru 2005. During Mike's time at Penn State, he's been able to attend games at Michigan ('02, '05), Purdue ('03), Ohio State ('04), Illinois ('05) and Michigan State ('05), and the 2003 Captial One Bowl and 2006 FedEx Orange Bowl.
Tim - Football, Men's Basketball
HappyHourValley[at]gmail[dot]com
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A native son of Happy Valley, Tim has been on a steady diet of Penn State football since the age of seven. In 1994, his dad made a decision that would impact his young life: He bought season tickets. Since then, Tim has seen his share of downright amazing and heartbreaking contests at the Beav. Always the bigger man, Tim still cries himself to sleep after a devastating loss, although the 2008 Iowa loss made him realize that drowning your sorrows over a couple pitchers of Black Moshannon Stout is far more effective. He is also one of those strange persons who follows the men's basketball team. Despite his Talor Battle man-crush, Pete Lisicky remains his all-time favorite basketball player. Since graduating from Penn State's College of Liberal Arts in 2007, Tim's long, strange, journey has included a failed stint in law school, going back to Penn State, and is now closing in on a graduate degree in Accounting and IT. Yet through all that, the one constant for Tim has been Penn State sports blogging, first on his own website, Happy Hour Valley, and now for Linebacker-U.com.
Galen - Football, Wrestling
TheNittanyLine[at]comcast[dot]net
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Growing up 30 miles from Penn State in a family that has two Penn State alums, Galen really had no chance; he was born with Blue blood. The elder statesman of the group (yeah right), Galen started watching Penn State football in the 80’s and has seen everything from a national championship to the heartbreak of an undefeated uncrowned season (again) in 94, to the dark years of the 2000’s. Although college football reigns supreme, Galen has a (sometimes unhealthy) infatuation with one of the oldest sports around: Wrestling. A Software Engineer by trade, Galen is still trying to figure out the English language and has been doing so for three years with teammate Nick over at The Nittany Line before joining Linebacker-U.com.
Nick - Football, BlogPoll
Doctorb1800[at]gmail[dot]com
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The latest in a family of Nittany Lions, Nick has an interest in all things Penn State. He has had the opportunity to personally witness many things in Beaver Stadium over the years, from an 81-0 victory over Cincinnati to a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Iowa. Full of worthless knowledge, he welcomes conversation on all sports or any number of other topics. Galen invited him to dig around in the sandbox over at The Nittany Line and somehow got him past the doorman to join Linebacker-U.com.
Ryan - Football, Men's Basketball
RyanStaloff[at]gmail[dot]com
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A senior at Penn State University, Ryan also comes from a family of Nittany Lions and always dreamed of finally being able to attend a game at Beaver Stadium. A New Jersey native, this finally became a reality as he witnessed the first career start of one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country in 2006. Little did he know what he was getting himself into and what was on the horizon in the Morelli Era.Ryan is also one of the few loyal supporters of the basketball team and managed to endure the 3 win conference season. You can also listen to Ryan online as he will be broadcasting the Youngstown State game and appearing on pre-game shows throughout the football season on Comradio.psu.edu.
William - Men's Basketball
WThomas0428[at]gmail[dot]com
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Bill is a senior at Penn State University graduating this May with a degree in broadcast journalism. Bill has immersed himself in sports with his time at Penn State as he is also Sports Director of the student run radio station The Lion 90.7. Not only does Bill enjoy covering sports, he also was on the Penn State rugby team for two years. Sports have always been a big part of Bill and now he gets to share his thoughts on Linebacker-U.com.
Eric - Men's Basketball
RaiseTheCurtains[at]gmail[dot]com
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Eric has been blogging Penn State men's basketball (a brave soul, indeed) for three years, which included his previous blogs, Crispin and Cream, and Battle Does It Again. Eric is currently a senior at Penn State, majoring in Kinesiology. He is a Harrisburg native and Central Dauphin grad, who also isn't afraid to admit Penn State basketball has had way too big of an impact on his life. And yes, his childhood idol was Joe Crispin. He still has his autographed Jan Jagla growth chart. And is probably best known as "that pale kid" who nearly killed Talor Battle after the big Illinois win a few years back.
Jeff - Football Recruiting, Volleyball
JeffJunstrom[at]yahoo[dot]com
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It is uncertain whether Jeff was actually born in Nittany Lion clothing, but he has been a Penn State fan since the day he was born. The son of a Penn Stater, a college choice was a no brainer. After graduating from PSU in '05, he attended Pitt Law, graduating in 2009. He is married to a University of Michigan woman, which causes some contention one weekend out of the year. He lives in Pittsburgh, where he is an attorney in the oil and gas business by day. Jeff has been writing about Penn State in one form or another for roughly three years. He is a staff writer at SBN Pittsburgh, and has also been seen on Black Shoe Diaries and in "We Are Penn State 2010", a Penn State preview magazine published by Maple Street Press. Jeff will be focusing on football recruiting and volleyball coverage at Linebacker-U; while he was never recruited to play football, he did letter in volleyball in high school, played recreationally in college, and was recently on the winning summer league team in the Pittsburgh Sports League.
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