Oh, Hello: Brian Bennett Commits to BSD as Writer

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A Division III basketball bench guy has joined BSD’s rotation

Why is Micah Shrewsberry pictured here?

I’d like to think it’s because I’m the only Black Shoes Diaries writer that Shrews has ever had listed on one of his scouting reports. We’ll get there.

Anyway, hey BSD Family, I’m happy to introduce myself, but more happy to get started writing more frequently for a community I’ve come to love for a long time.

How long? Well, it was way back in March 2010 when I turned lurker to poster and commented for the first time. That post was about Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s offense of choice (Swing) under Bo Ryan.

2010. That’s right.

The football team was a couple months removed from a Citrus Bowl win. Rob Bolden hadn’t even enrolled. And Ed DeChellis’s basketball team was bottoming out a year after an NIT title.

And yes, that’s also right: my first posts were about minutiae that hardly anyone would care about.

Now in 2022, I’m happy to bring whatever is it I’ll bring to BSD as a staff writer. At the very least, hopefully you’ll care about it.

I’ve been an infrequent poster over the course of that time period - a little less than 500 under a couple different names. Now, I’m ready to introduce myself and contribute a whole lot more.

Where to start? How about in 1990 when I was a kid growing up in rural Indiana watching Penn State upset Notre Dame. That was my first memory and 1994 was my indoctrination.

I attended Penn State my freshman year of college, sitting for the first time in Beaver Stadium the night that Adam Taliaferro led the team on the field against Miami. After dominating performing admirably in some pick-up games and intramural basketball games, I decided to return to Indiana to be a benchwarmer of a guard on a Division III basketball team and figure out what I really wanted to do with my life.

By the way and as I’ve alluded to, during that basketball career, I found myself playing against DePauw - a small liberal arts college with a guy named Micah Shrewsberry serving as an assistant coach. I probably didn’t really make their scouting report.

Over the past twenty years of life, the love of Penn State athletics never left. Also, the college where I graduated from had one of the worst college football teams of all time and has since dropped the program; therefore, I feel plenty justified saying “We Are” every fall.

Lastly, a few years later, I found myself as a football season-ticket holder. Life has happened. I’ve had a couple different jobs, a few moves, and a son who I’m gently bribing to watch Penn State football with the promise of varying amounts of gummy worms based on first downs, forced turnovers, touchdowns, and wins.

Through all that time, BSD was one of my favorite places to observe, to laugh, to vent, and, just a little bit, write. More than a decade after that, I can’t wait to get started writing more.

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By: Bennett765
Title: Oh, Hello: Brian Bennett Commits to BSD as Writer
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2022/5/23/23130449/oh-hello-brian-bennett-commits-to-bsd-as-writer-black-shoe-diaries-penn-state-nittany-lions-sports
Published Date: Mon, 23 May 2022 14:06:00 +0000

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