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long road back

By Tyler KingThe Daily Collegian

July 1 — the day college coaches

can being con-tacting potential recruits — is an

important date to every rising high

school junior who hopes

to continue playing

sports at the collegiate

level.On that

summer day before Jan Johnson’s

junior year at Governor Mif-

flin High School, his phone was blowing

up with coaches calling him.

But none of them were from the school he

had always dreamed of at-tending, nor the sport he

wanted to play in college.Johnson was a multi-

sport athlete at his high school just outside of Reading, Pennsylvania.

He shined on the foot-ball field as a quarterback and a hybrid linebacker/safety — but it was talents

on the wrestling mat which had college coaches giving

him a call. Like a lot of kids from eastern Pennsylvania,

Johnson grew up in a family of wrestlers. His father, Jan Johnson Sr., and his uncle, Joel, both wrestled at Penn State in the early ‘80s. Johnson had plenty of offers to follow in the footsteps of his dad and uncle and wrestle collegiately, but he had his eyes set on living out his own dream.

“I deal with kids a lot and what their goals and plans for life are. Sometimes it’s different than what other people expect it to be,” Johnson Sr., who works as a school counselor, told The Daily Collegian. “A lot of people felt that was [wrestling in col-lege] a good way for him to go, but he didn’t think that.”

Although he would go on to become a two-time Pennsylvania state champion at 195 pounds, Johnson had a dream that he wanted to achieve. His dream lied on the football field — not on the wrestling mat. ***

Jan Johnson can still remember the mo-ment he was dead set on playing football at Penn State. He was in middle school and had made the two-hour or so trip to Happy

Valley from Mohnton, Pennsylvania. It was a white out game against

Michigan and it was everything Johnson could think about.

“I was sitting in like the top end of the bleachers and I could feel the stadium shaking. I was like, ‘Wow, I don’t know how you could top this,’” Johnson said last week. “Growing up a big Penn State fan, all I ever wanted to do was come here and play football.”

Despite putting up impressive num-bers playing on both sides of the ball for the Mustangs, Johnson received just two scholarship offers on the gridiron.

The lone FBS school to offer Johnson was Akron. The other was Fordham, an FCS school, and its head coach –– Joe Moorhead.

“During the process, [Moorhead] said that there was no doubt in his mind that Jan would be able to play at Penn State,” Johnson Sr. said. “As much as he wanted him at Fordham, he respected and under-stood why he chose to walk on at Penn State.”

That’s how badly Johnson wanted to be a part of the Penn State program.

He did whatever it took to put on that blue and white uniform.

He wanted to contribute in whatever way possible and that would shape the next few years of Johnson’s life at the school he al-ways dreamed of attending.

***In October of his first full semester on

campus, Johnson got a text from his coach, James Franklin. The text read, “Can you come into my office?”

While Johnson probably thought he was about to get yelled at for something he may have done the day before at practice, he was actually presented with the oppor-tunity that would change the direction of his athletic career.

Earlier in the week, the lone heavy-weight on the wrestling roster, redshirt freshman Nick Nevills, suffered an injury and coach Cael Sanderson and his staff were in search of a replacement.

So, Sanderson approached Franklin about recruiting Johnson to join the team. The coaching staff had been familiar with Johnson from his days as a AAA state champion at 195 pounds. Franklin and his staff gave it the okay, leaving the decision up to Johnson. Later that week, Johnson met with Sanderson on a Saturday after-noon and after a few minutes of talking, they headed down to the Lorenzo Wres-tling Complex.

After a few hours of practicing, Sanderson was on board.

“All right man, let’s do this,” Johnson re-called Sanderson saying. “I was like ‘Okay’ and right from there I joined the team.”

Two and a half weeks later, Johnson found himself in the starting lineup for Penn State’s season-opener against Lock Haven inside a crowded and excited Rec

Hall. Johnson had wrestled the final two years of his high school career at 195 pounds, but he found himself as the starter at 285 pounds and was the final match of the night. When he trotted out to the mat for his first collegiate wrestling match, the contest was well in hand.

The Nittany Lions led 47-0 and it was just about the time that majority of the fans usually headed for the exits.

But not on that Friday night. Everyone stayed to watch Johnson de-

feat Lock Haven’s Brad Emerick, who outweighed Johnson by almost 50 pounds. Johnson’s father, who had once put on a Penn State singlet himself, was in atten-dance. The only way he could describe it?

“It was overwhelming,” Johnson Sr. said.

Even though that would turn out to be his only win during his time with the team, Johnson got to be a part of a Penn State program in the midst of a dynasty the wrestling world has never seen before.

“Being around them, they know how to win. I watched what their habits were, what they did and clearly it’s working. My dad and my uncle wrestled here so that was exciting for them to have another Johnson come here and wrestle for Penn State even if it was only for a year,” John-son said.

***Moving up the depth chart as a walk-on

is hard enough. Then, after missing almost all of the fall because of his time with the wrestling team, Johnson found himself in a tough spot. Once he rejoined the football team for spring practices, reality set back in.

He was a walk-on still learning how to play at linebacker at the school best known for producing talented players at that posi-tion.

“It took some time [to feel comfortable],” Johnson said. “You know, when I first got here, I hadn’t played a lot of linebacker in high school. I mainly played safety. I played a little bit of linebacker my freshman year but that was years ago.”

But, due to several circumstances (inju-ries, players graduating and freshman not arriving yet), Johnson made the switch from outside to inside linebacker and had an opportunity to get a lot of reps and prove that he belonged on the football field, not on the wrestling mat. When the team’s first depth chart of the season came out, his name was nowhere to be found.

But before the Nittany Lions’ fourth game of the season, a showdown at the Big House against Michigan, Johnson’s name appeared. Due to injuries to both Ja-son Cabinda and Nyeem Wartman-White, Johnson began to get more reps in prac-tice and found himself in a position to play in a big-time environment.

See Johnson, Page 5.

By Maddie AikenThe Daily Collegian

Marcus Josey had a seemingly perfect high school life.

As the starting quarterback of his school’s football team, a basketball player and, in his words, a “pretty popular kid,” his life wasn’t much different from thousands of other high school students across America.

All that changed on April 10, 2015, when Josey, then a 17-year-old high school junior, was diag-nosed with leukemia.

Flash forward three years later, and Josey, now 20, finished his leukemia treatment just over a month ago. He credited his re-covery to Four Diamonds and the Penn State Children’s Hospital.

“Throughout this whole ex-perience, Four Diamonds has been a life saver,” Josey said. “I really don’t know what things would have been like without Four Diamonds and I really can’t even imagine going through this without having the support that we did from Four Diamonds and everyone connected to that orga-nization.”

Josey is one of over 4,000 chil-dren who have received assis-tance from Four Diamonds.

On Aug. 16, Josey rang the

ceremonial bell at Penn State Children’s Hospital, officially marking the end of his treatment. He described the moment as “bit-tersweet” — it marked the end of his treatment, yet it was also a reminder of the challenging years he spent battling cancer.

While his treatment is over,

cancer “never stops and doesn’t go away,” Josey said. “Of course ringing the bell was a good feeling and a relief, and it brought joy to me and my family, but it was also bittersweet in the fact that I still had to go through everything that I went through,” Josey said.

“I still do have long-lasting side

effects that will affect me for the rest of my life, and I lost a lot of people that I met throughout my journey.”

Josey’s journey with cancer started his junior year of high school, when he began experienc-ing several symptoms — things he thought were “strange.”

He had pains in his back and jaw, was always tired and experi-enced nosebleeds that would last three to four hours. Doctors mis-diagnosed Josey several times, and did not connect the symp-toms to each other.

Josey, who is from York, Penn-sylvania, did not suspect he had cancer until he attended a school assembly held by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

During the assembly, they dis-cussed the symptoms of leuke-mia, many of which Josey had.

Josey texted his parents and told them he thought he had leu-kemia, after which his nose began to bleed. His parents took him to the hospital, where he was diag-nosed. He was then referred to Hershey Medical Center. Before his diagnosis, Josey said he did not know much about Four Dia-monds.

While he knew what THON was, he only had a basic knowl-edge of the dance marathon. Jo-sey’s diagnosis flipped his life up-side down.

He completed his senior year of high school at home or in the hospital. He could no longer play sports, and missed out on the so-cial aspects of his senior year.

See Journey, Page 2.

Former Four Diamonds child shares his journey

Wrestling, injuries and scout team — Jan Johnson’s journey to becoming Penn State’s starting middle linebacker

I was sitting in

the top end of

the bleachers and

I could feel the

stadium shaking.

I was like, ‘Wow

I don’t know how

you could top this’

...all I ever wanted

to do was come

here and play

football.”

Jan JohnsonMiddle Linebacker

Collegian file photo

The Marcus Josey family speaks on stage during family hour at Penn State THON 2017 at the Bryce Jordan

Center on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2017.

Caitlin Lee/C

ollegian

Vol. 119, No. 10 Sept. 20-23, 2018

local The Daily CollegianPage 2 | SePT. 20-23, 2018

By Lauren FoxThe Daily Collegian

For those who have wondered how to properly dispose of cans, bottles and other materials while tailgating, Penn State’s Tailgate Ambassadors want to help solve confusion.

Originally called the “STATERS,” Tail-gate Ambassadors is a program for students to welcome tailgaters to Penn State while spreading the protocol of proper recycling.

Jillian Barskey, the student coordinator in charge of Tailgate Ambassadors, found her pas-sion as a Tailgate Ambassador through her involvement with Eco Reps.

“Through Eco Reps last year I learned about sustain-ability on campus and how recycling works, and that really got me interested,” Bar-skey (sophomore-environmental resource management) said.

Associate Director for Student Engagement at the Sustainability Institute, Douglas Goodstein, works as the program’s supervi-sor but said he takes a hands-off approach to his role.

“Even though I’m technically [the Tailgate Ambassadors’] su-pervisor, I consider myself much more of an advisor,” Goodstein said. “[The students] run the day to day operations.”

The Tailgate Ambas-sadors “come together on home football games to can-vas the tailgating lots to edu-cate fans on how the recycling system works,” Barskey said.

Goodstein said in the past two years, the program has gone by the name “Tailgate Ambassa-dors” rather than “STATERS” since the program’s objective has shifted exclusively from recycling education to also making tail-gaters feel welcome.

“Most of the folks [tailgating] are Penn State alumni or have family members that are Penn State alumni, and they love talk-ing to students,” Goodstein said.

Goodstein said the first aspect of a Tailgate Ambassador’s role is to say “Hello” to those tailgating, and introduce themselves. From there, members begin to discuss the ways tailgaters can properly recycle in the fields.

“It important that the alumni and fans… feel welcome here in Happy Valley,” Barskey said.

According to Barskey, one of Tailgate Ambassadors’ goals is to make sure people are properly separating their recycling and their garbage so recyclable items do not pile up in landfills.

Barskey said the provided blue bags are meant for recycling bot-tles and cans, while everything else must go into the clear or white trash bags provided.

Goodstein also mentioned the importance of putting dispos-ables into their corresponding bags, because while the blue bags get sorted, the clear or white trash bags do not. That said, any recyclable materials that are put into trash bags will be deposited to a landfill.

“On a white out game day we can generate 90 to 100 tons of trash,” Goodstein said. “That’s a huge landfill impact. How much of

that could have been recycled?”The ambassadors involved in

the program are students from various organizations and Penn State campuses, and they must have at least 10 willing volun-teers.

Estéban Mena is a student pro-gram coordinator for Eco Reps, and said Eco Reps’ main involve-ment with Tailgate Ambassadors is helping them find new mem-bers.

“When the Tailgate Ambas-sadors are low in numbers they look to us to support them,” Mena said. “Our main goal is to promote community around sustainability, [so] we give all the residents in our area access to the other orga-nizations.”

As well as helping other stu-

dents get involved with Tailgate Ambassadors, Mena (senior-psychology) said a large amount of students within Eco Reps also get involved with Tailgate Ambas-sadors.

Goodstein said Tailgate Am-bassadors are focused on inter-acting with tailgaters, and one of the program’s goals for the year is to interact with as many tail-gaters as possible.

Last year at the white out game, Tailgate Ambassadors had 80,000 fan interactions. The pro-gram hopes to increase those in-teractions at this year’s white out game against Ohio State Univer-sity on Sept. 29.

“Penn State fans are amazing people,” Goodstein said. “I’ve never been offered more beers at

8 o’clock in the morning — ever.”Goodstein added that he has

never accepted an alcoholic bev-erage while canvassing, though, as he is not allowed to consume alcohol while working.

On of Goodstein’s hopes for the upcoming Ohio State game is that students involved in Tailgate Ambassadors will interact with as many fans as possible.

“There’s two guys… we met last season that were roommates in college back in the ‘70s,” Good-stein said.

“And they’ve come to a game together every year since they graduated. That’s what Penn State fans are.”

To email reporter: lef5224@psu.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @Laurennn_foxx.

Tailgate Ambassadors promote eco-friendly tailgating

JourneyFrom Page 1.

As he went through all of these changes, however, his community acted as a “huge support system.”

“Right after I got diagnosed, the whole community rallied around me,” Josey said. “Not just my school, but all the schools around me. My whole county was support-ing me.”

While his community acted as his first motivator, Josey found further motivation in watching the younger children in the hospital deal with their own cancer.

“I was watching them go through things and handle it super well,” Jo-sey said. “The younger kids in the hospital really inspired me to get through this and come out strong.”

Josey’s Four Diamonds social worker, Greg Baiocchi, described Josey as an “inspiration” because pediatric cancer can be more dif-ficult for a teen to deal with “physi-cally and emotionally.”

“[Josey] has shown other kids and families that you must still live life and have goals,” Baiocchi said via email. “Marcus had to readjust his goals, but he is moving forward one step at a time. Marcus has also been able to pay it forward by sup-porting fundraising efforts by Four Diamonds. He is also an inspiration to staff and the community he lives in by his words and actions.”

Baiocchi said Josey encompass-es the virtues Four Diamonds is built on — courage, wisdom, hon-esty and strength.

“[Josey’s] honesty about how his disease has affected him and changed his life is evident in his daily interactions,” Baiocchi said. “His wisdom is way beyond the years of most young adults. He is still a humble young adult and may not feel he is that courageous but, like all of our kids, he is. Marcus has had the strength needed to face his challenge with leukemia.”

Baiocchi added that he believes Josey will continue to grow from his cancer experience.

Currently, Josey is a junior at Gettysburg College studying biolo-gy. Technically, he is not cancer-free and will not be considered cancer-free until five years after his final treatment, as is customary with leukemia patients.

For the next year, he will visit the hospital once a month to do blood work and receive antibodies.

Josey initially decided to attend Gettysburg College because the college recruited him to play foot-ball. However, because of a bone disease he developed due to his chemotherapy, he could not play.

Going to college was initially a “tough” transition, as he was on his own and had to learn how to take care of himself. Josey pointed out that the transition to college itself is difficult, and his cancer only added to that difficulty.

During winter break of his fresh-man year, Josey became very ill, and doctors said he might not make it out of the hospital. However, he recovered and was back at school for his second semester.

“There have definitely been a lot of hardships through it, but I also learned a lot about how I could push myself and what my limits are,” Jo-sey said.

While Josey said he never felt down or alone in the beginning stages of his treatment due to the vast amount of support he received, he experienced depression and survivor’s guilt in the later stages of his recovery process. Through ev-erything he has experienced, Josey said he learned how his mindset could affect him both physically and mentally.

“Having a positive mindset makes all the difference in your re-covery and outlook on life,” he said. “Never underestimate the power of your mind.”

He added that his family, friends, girlfriend, Four Diamonds and the Penn State Hershey Medical Cen-ter have all helped him through his journey.

In addition, Josey said his THON org, Penn State Mont Alto, also pro-vided a lot of support to him and his family. The org spent time develop-ing relationships with Josey and his family, accompanying them to foot-ball tailgates at Gettysburg College.

Donna Rhodes, the Penn State Mont Alto THON org adviser, said Marcus’ story, and stories like it, amaze her.

“Marcus’ story is especially spe-cial because we saw someone go through a journey, someone our students could relate to because they are around the same age,” Rhodes said. “He’s like family and a friend to our students.”

Marcus Josey had a seemingly perfect high school life. As the start-ing quarterback of his school’s foot-ball team, a basketball player and, in his words, a “pretty popular kid,”

his life wasn’t much different from thousands of other high school stu-dents across America.

All that changed on April 10, 2015, when Josey, then a 17-year-old high school junior, was diagnosed with leukemia.

Flash forward three years later, and Josey, now 20, finished his leu-kemia treatment just over a month ago. He credited his recovery to Four Diamonds and the Penn State Children’s Hospital.

“Throughout this whole experi-ence, Four Diamonds has been a life saver,” Josey said. “I really don’t know what things would have been like without Four Diamonds and I really can’t even imagine go-ing through this without having the support that we did from Four Dia-monds and everyone connected to that organization.”

Josey is one of over 4,000 children who have received assistance from Four Diamonds.

On Aug. 16, Josey rang the cere-monial bell at Penn State Children’s Hospital, officially marking the end of his treatment. He described the moment as “bittersweet” — it marked the end of his treatment, yet it was also a reminder of the challenging years he spent battling cancer.

While his treatment is over, can-cer “never stops and doesn’t go away,” Josey said.

“Of course ringing the bell was a good feeling and a relief, and it brought joy to me and my family, but it was also bittersweet in the fact that I still had to go through ev-erything that I went through,” Jo-sey said. “I still do have long-lasting side effects that will affect me for the rest of my life, and I lost a lot of people that I met throughout my journey.”

Josey’s journey with cancer started his junior year of high school, when he began experienc-ing several symptoms — things he thought were “strange.” He had pains in his back and jaw, was al-ways tired and experienced nose-bleeds that would last three to four hours. Doctors misdiagnosed Josey several times, and did not connect the symptoms to each other.

Josey, who is from York, Penn-sylvania, did not suspect he had cancer until he attended a school assembly held by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. During the as-sembly, they discussed the symp-

toms of leukemia, many of which Josey had.

Josey texted his parents and told them he thought he had leukemia, after which his nose began to bleed. His parents took him to the hospi-tal, where he was diagnosed.

He was then referred to Hershey Medical Center. Before his diag-nosis, Josey said he did not know much about Four Diamonds. While he knew what THON was, he only had a basic knowledge of the dance marathon.

Josey’s diagnosis flipped his life upside down. He completed his se-nior year of high school at home or in the hospital. He could no longer play sports, and missed out on the social aspects of his senior year.

As he went through all of these changes, however, his community acted as a “huge support system.”

“Right after I got diagnosed, the whole community rallied around me,” Josey said. “Not just my school, but all the schools around me. My whole county was support-ing me.”

While his community acted as his first motivator, Josey found further motivation in watching the younger children in the hospital deal with their own cancer.

“I was watching them go through things and handle it super well,” Jo-sey said. “The younger kids in the hospital really inspired me to get through this and come out strong.”

Josey’s Four Diamonds social worker, Greg Baiocchi, described Josey as an “inspiration” because pediatric cancer can be more dif-ficult for a teen to deal with “physi-cally and emotionally.”

“[Josey] has shown other kids and families that you must still live life and have goals,” Baiocchi said via email. “Marcus had to readjust his goals, but he is moving forward one step at a time. Marcus has also been able to pay it forward by sup-porting fundraising efforts by Four Diamonds. He is also an inspiration to staff and the community he lives in by his words and actions.”

Baiocchi said Josey encompass-es the virtues Four Diamonds is built on — courage, wisdom, hon-esty and strength.

“[Josey’s] honesty about how his disease has affected him and changed his life is evident in his daily interactions,” Baiocchi said. “His wisdom is way beyond the years of most young adults. He is

still a humble young adult and may not feel he is that courageous but, like all of our kids, he is. Marcus has had the strength needed to face his challenge with leukemia.”

Baiocchi added that he believes Josey will continue to grow from his cancer experience.

Currently, Josey is a junior at Gettysburg College studying biolo-gy. Technically, he is not cancer-free and will not be considered cancer-free until five years after his final treatment, as is customary with leukemia patients.

For the next year, he will visit the hospital once a month to do blood work and receive antibodies.

Josey initially decided to attend Gettysburg College because the college recruited him to play foot-ball. However, because of a bone disease he developed due to his chemotherapy, he could not play.

Going to college was initially a “tough” transition, as he was on his own and had to learn how to take care of himself. Josey pointed out that the transition to college itself is difficult, and his cancer only added to that difficulty.

During winter break of his fresh-man year, Josey became very ill, and doctors said he might not make it out of the hospital. However, he recovered and was back at school for his second semester.

“There have definitely been a lot of hardships through it, but I also learned a lot about how I could push myself and what my limits are,” Jo-sey said.

While Josey said he never felt down or alone in the beginning stages of his treatment due to the vast amount of support he received, he experienced depression and survivor’s guilt in the later stages of his recovery process. Through ev-erything he has experienced, Josey said he learned how his mindset could affect him both physically and mentally.

“Having a positive mindset makes all the difference in your re-covery and outlook on life,” he said. “Never underestimate the power of your mind.”

He added that his family, friends, girlfriend, Four Diamonds and the Penn State Hershey Medical Cen-ter have all helped him through his journey.

In addition, Josey said his THON org, Penn State Mont Alto, also pro-vided a lot of support to him and his family. The org spent time develop-ing relationships with Josey and his family, accompanying them to foot-ball tailgates at Gettysburg College.

Donna Rhodes, the Penn State Mont Alto THON org adviser, said Marcus’ story, and stories like it, amaze her.

“Marcus’ story is especially spe-cial because we saw someone go through a journey, someone our students could relate to because they are around the same age,” Rhodes said. “He’s like family and a friend to our students.”

To email reporter: mea5457@psu.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @madsaiken.

Collegian file photo

The Marcus Josey family watches Marcus Josey speak during family hour

at Penn State THON 2017 on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017.

Collegian file photo

Marcus Josey speaks during family hour at Penn State THON 2017 at the

Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017.

Eric Firestine/Collegian

Penn State tailgaters set up before the Penn State game against Kent State on Saturday, Sept. 15.

CorrectionLast issue incorrectly stat-

ed a cafe’s name was “Saxbys Coffee.” The correct name of the cafe is just “Saxbys.” The Daily Collegian apolo-gizes for this error.

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Kelly PowersEditor in Chief

The European Union is waging a war on memes

Pewdiepie’s meme *clap* review *clap* may be on its way to becoming illegal.

The Euro-pean Union approved a copy-right directive 438 - 226 that the internet is up in arms over. Our beloved cap-tioned pictures of doges, per-fectly-edited

movie clips, videos of people caught mid-hilarious-position shooting into the stars and the trolling “Rickroll” are in dan-ger of becoming censored in the EU.

The directive is intended to give credit to original creators, but it comes at a cost to every-one who wants to share the content those creators make. Articles 11 and 13 of the direc-tive are where the controversy lies. Respectively dubbed the “link tax” and “meme killer,” the hyperlink tax and upload filter are reasons for dispute.

The controversial copyright directive is essentially the EU’s version of the United States’ effort to repeal net neu-trality protections.

Article 11 would require plat-forms, such as social media and news outlets, to pay pub-lishers of links or works they implement or reference. A few exceptions are laid out to omit insubstantial contributions and noncommercial uses of content from the rule but the

exceptions are too vague to be effective.

Article 13, though, is where the real battle is. It’s denoted to protect original creators by striking down re-uploads of their content or by requiring platforms to pay to license the content for use.

Memes commonly build off of copyrighted images, pictures and songs.

The copyright directive is not currently enforced; it still has to go through months of steps and negotiations before another vote is tallied on it in January 2019. If it does pass, the internet is sure to have issues with it.

Platforms would have to develop artificial intelligence smart enough to detect copy-righted material and to differ-entiate memes (if they are defined as an exception) from the rest. This will give large tech companies an immediate advantage over startup web-sites because they have the funds to invest in developing and implementing an accept-able AI.

Select uploaders would be prone to their internet contri-butions being pulled down pre-emptively due to people sub-mitting false reports of copy-right abuse on them. Pewdiepie, who lives in the U.K. and has 66 million sub-scribers on YouTube, for instance, has had to re-upload videos taken down due to peo-ple who dislike him spamming

the report for copy strike fea-ture.

YouTube, which has billions of active daily users and hun-dreds of hours of videos uploaded to it every minute, lobbied against article 13. This alone is a telltale sign the directive should be a no-go. YouTube already has a strict copyright algorithm in place that has given its community grief.

Let’s Plays and vlogs are vulnerable to getting demone-tized or claimed for copyright infringement. YouTubers have had to find workarounds to dodge what they called the “Adpocalypse” by inverting vid-eos and overlaying sound bites to avoid detection by the AI. A thumbnail of a video game character can be enough to warrant action.

YouTube is probably one of the most knowledgeable plat-forms when it comes to how copyright restrictions affect internet users, so its opposi-tion to the EU’s directive should be taken seriously.

So, YouTube, I just wanted to let you know — before writing this constitutes copyright infringement in parts of the world — “Hey now, you’re an all-star.”

Along with the platforms that have taken to fisticuffs with the EU, internet users are the real MVPs. One of the more commendable and funny ways they are fighting back is to ironically turn the EU

against itself by making the EU flag a meme.

I have to give the Europeans praise for their rebuttal. It’s almost as comical as when the good people of the World Wide Web took advantage of a Brit-ish agency and voted to ele-gantly name a $287 million boat “Boaty McBoatface” in 2016.

No matter how proficient AI gets to be at discerning copy-right abuse versus memes, negative effects are guaran-teed. People will be targeted and falsely reported, big tech will surge even further ahead of small companies than it already has, news outlets will have to push through inconve-nient processes to legally include hyperlinks in their arti-cles and there will be unneces-sary censorship of European internet users.

While I am all for giving credit where credit is due, I also think creative interpreta-tions have their place. Putting the proposed measures into effect would protect creators’ content, but it would also bar people from sharing or re-illus-trating it for the public to enjoy.

I don’t always make memes, but when I do, I use copyright-ed material.

Madeline Messa is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email her at mgm5413@psu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @madeline_messa.

MY VIEW | Madeline Messa

Messa

On Sept. 29, Penn State foot-ball is poised to take on Ohio State in Beaver Stadium for our annual white out game. Kick-off will be in primetime, and being a top-ten match-up, anticipation is high.

This game is in high demand among Penn State fans. Natu-rally, with increased demand comes increased prices and more scammers.

Prices for tickets are listed on Ticketmaster for — at the lowest — $200 and reach all the way up to $800. This isn’t surprising seeing as Penn State reported $31.6 million in football ticket sales to the NCAA for the 2017 fiscal year.

The steep prices may make people wanting to attend the game look to other outlets to purchase their tickets. But, Penn State Intercollegiate Ath-letics warns other outlets may subject buyers to scams.

Websites selling tickets like StubHub and Vivid Seats are not authorized by the university, and their tickets may be subject to counterfeit or invalid barcodes.

Because of this, Intercollegiate Athletics suggests only purchasing tickets from Penn State verified outlets — the Penn State Athletic Ticket Office or Ticketmaster.

Football isn’t the only Penn State event that uses Ticketmaster. Tickets for musicians, comedians and

other special guests performing at the Bryce Jordan Center are found on Ticketmaster.

They can get pricey. On all sites selling tickets,

there are going to be fees tacked on — but they can get excessive. And even though Ticketmaster is verified, prices can be gouged on the website and hiked up as the event nears.

Some websites like StubHub and Vivid Seats also have processing fees like Ticketmaster. But buying from resale sites like those open the

door to be scammed. Companies often have a

refund guarantee policy if a fake ticket is sold. But many people have reported to the Better Business Bureau they have not received their proper refund even though the ticket they purchased was invalid.

Buying tickets online is the norm. It would make life easier if everyone was trustworthy and pricing tickets fairly on their websites, but that is unfortunately not the case.

As consumers, we must be conscious with online purchases

and keep an eye out for possible scams when purchasing tickets from resale sites.

Organizations like the Better Business Bureau can help differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources.

But even beyond scams, it often seems like we’re stuck in a vice.

All of these websites are essentially offering the same product — resold event tickets.

The sites can charge high prices and fees knowing the competition is only a few dollars in difference.

So prices remain high on resale sites and there’s still a chance the ticket could be a fake.

Hopefully, one day there will be a better system in place for securing ticket sales and prices.

But until then, be smart making ticket purchases online.

Be conscious consumersWhenever we’re purchasing tickets online,

we must beware of scams.

OUR VIEW

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SPoRTSPage 4 SePT. 20-23, 2018

Castro-Fields becoming primary optionBy Matt Lingerman

The Daily Collegian

Coming into this season, it was expected that the strength of Penn State’s defense would be its

secondary. It was the

group returning John Reid, who,

prior to missing all of 2017 with an injury, was poised to be one of the better corners in the conference, and included three other experi-enced pieces who had played in big moments last season.

The defensive backfield also boasted more depth than any-where else on the defense.

That depth was called into question earlier than many ex-pected, when Reid missed Weeks 2 and 3 with unknown injury.

And that depth has withstood that test in the form of true soph-omore Tariq Castro-Fields.

“Tariq, he’s a real positive guy off the field,” senior safety Nick Scott said. “He’s a guy that you can count on to do the right things day in, day out. He’s very mature in that aspect. And you know he’s played very well these last couple of games.”

Castro-Fields played in 12 games as a true freshman, and toward the tail end of the season showed his true potential when he racked up eight tackles over the final three games of the sea-son.

But after starting 2018 as Re-id’s backup and subsequently moving into the starting role for the past two weeks, Castro-Fields has been one of the defense’s best players.

He’s been so good, in fact, that Pro Football Focus graded him as one of the best two corners in the Big Ten after Week 3’s slate of games.

“He’s very patient,” wide re-ceiver DeAndre Thompkins said. “He’s a lot more patient than he was last year. He’s a fast guy, so a lot of fast corners want to turn and run quick to get out, but it’s more about patience than it is who can outrun who.

He’s really came into being pa-tient and trusting his feet, and not just always relying on speed.”

Fellow starting corner Amani Oruwariye has two picks already and is known for his ball skills. But the truth of the matter is

that those outside the program aren’t yet sure of Castro-Fields’ ball skills because it seems quar-terbacks are hesitant to throw at him. In fact, that might be more valuable.

So while it’s true Castro-Fields has yet to record an interception, it may be due to the fact that he’s so effective in coverage.

He’s second on the team with three pass breakups, and when the receiver he’s covering does catch the ball, Castro-Fields is a sure tackler as a sophomore.

The Maryland native is show-ing experience beyond his years.

“With Tariq, when he’s playing in those big games his freshman year, just the poise that he’s able

to play with and the confidence he showed no matter what,” Reid said. “I really liked watching that last year.”

Now that he’s being asked to contribute on a more consistent basis this year, Castro-Fields continues to play with poise.

He said that he’s increased his film study with the help of Reid and safety Garrett Taylor, and is now able to balance his supreme athleticism with technique.

He’s rarely caught out of posi-tion, and on the rare occasion he is, recollection is selective.

“[Cornerbacks coach Terry M. Smith] preaches to us when we come back to the sideline to have a short term memory,” Castro-

Fields said. “I think I lean on the older guys… You really can’t change it, you just have to move onto the next play.”

Through three games, the sec-ondary has been, for the most part, passable.

It struggled mightily in the fourth quarter against Appa-lachian State, but was terrific against Pitt and solid in the blow-out over Kent State in Week 3.

While averaging 175 passing yards against is an adequate number, the eye test would suggest there’s still room for improvement in the aerial de-fense — especially when one considers the quality of opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers is only going to get better.

If Reid is able to return to the lineup soon and reach the poten-tial he showed two years ago, the Nittany Lion secondary will have regained its depth.

But if Reid is out for an extend-ed amount of time, Castro-Fields has shown he is more than capa-ble of starting on the outside and keeping opposition wide outs at bay. Quite frankly, Reid may have some competition for reps at that spot when he comes back.

But regardless of his role, Castro-Fields is going to be a positive for this defense. As a true sophomore, that’s a good sign moving forward.

“I think I’ve been doing pretty well,” Castro-Fields said. “I just want to do anything for this team, whatever they ask from me. I think I’ve been doing that.”

To email reporter: mcl5374@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @linger_man.

FOOTBALL

John Stinely/Collegian

Penn State cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields (5) hypes up the crowd during the Penn State versus Kent State

football game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Kim Dubs: The Nittany Lions’ emerging Swiss superstar

By Matt KnaubThe Daily Collegian

In the spring of 2018, Kim Dubs was on a Skype call — but it wasn’t a normal with one of her

friends or family members.

The Zurich, Switzerland na-tive was instead

talking with people located half-way around the globe in a place she had never been before, discussing a life-changing deci-sion.

Those “people” happened to be the Penn State women’s soccer coaches, and that “place” was University Park, Pennsylva-nia.

Assistant coach Tim Was-sell first discovered Dubs at an international tournament in La Manga, Spain, in March 2018.

Wassell, along with head coach Erica Dambach and associate head coach Ann Cook, began to recruit Dubs after watching her via video in various other interna-tional matches.

“We really, really liked watch-ing her play,” Cook said. “We felt that she was a piece that we were missing.”

Following a series of Skype calls and a visit by Cook with her family in Switzerland, Dubs decided to commit to Penn State, without ever stepping foot on campus.

“It was always going to be a big leap [for her] to come to the [United] States,” Cook said. “In

the end, she felt like she connect-ed with us, and what the program stands for.”

Before arriving in Happy Val-ley, Dubs played for the Switzer-land Women’s National Team at the U-23, U-19, U-17 and U-16 levels, as well as competed on her club team, BSC Young Boys Swit-zerland.

She ultimately decided to join the Nittany Lions over her second choice, Florida State. The Penn State coaching staff typically has at least one international player on the roster every season.

Dubs is one of two international players on this year’s roster, the other being senior Alina Ortega-Jurado of Germany.

“Typically, they have just a little bit more flare and flash,” Cook said on international players.

Dubs has brought a “flash” to the Nittany Lions’ attack, lead-ing freshmen in scoring with two goals and five points so far this season. The 5-foot-4 forward has played in all eight games, and has the second-highest shooting per-centage on the team.

“I think she’s doing great in whatever role she is put in, whether she is starting or she’s coming off the bench,” forward Frankie Tagliaferri said of Dubs. “She is really working hard in whatever she is given.”

Dubs was the spark Penn State needed in its Big Ten opener last Friday against Ohio State. The game was scoreless in the 31st minute when Dubs entered the contest for Kristin Schnurr.

As it would turn out, the 31st minute of the match would be the last in which there was no score.

Dubs found the back of the net just 59 seconds after enter-ing the field of play, putting the Nittany Lions up 1-0.

Her goal set the Penn State attack on fire, as the blue and white would score two more times in the next 10 minutes on its way to a 4-0 demolishing of the Buckeyes.

“She’s just a beast,” Taglia-ferri said on Dubs. “She has this energy where you can always count on her to have a good first touch, to get her head up to find you, and she always works hard.”

Dubs’ performance earned her two awards, the first of her young collegiate soccer career.

She was selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week and was named to the TopDraw-erSoccer Team of the Week on Tuesday.

“Kim Dubs is a very good player,” Dambach said. “You’re just going to see her getting bet-ter and better as time goes on.”

But off the soccer field, living in a new country can pose its own unique challenges. Despite this, Dubs has positive first im-pressions of America.

“I love it, it’s great,” Dubs said. “Everyone is super wel-coming and everyone is nice.”

To email reporter: mjk6111@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @matt_Knaub.

By Ben FerreeThe Daily Collegian

Penn State has a number of question marks heading into this season, and while the talent

of its center group is well known, it’s a matter of whose talent will propel them into the start-

ing lineup.While the play of its centers

was not always pretty last sea-son, the Nittany Lions return all four starting centers, giving Penn State plenty of experience at the position.

The centers had no problem putting the puck in the net last year, but they had some trouble gaining possession from the fa-ceoff circle.

Last season, Penn State ranked 44th out of the 60 Divi-sion I teams in faceoff percent-age as the Nittany Lions only won .482 percent of their at-tempts from the dot. The only team with a worse percentage in the Big Ten was Wisconsin.

Andrew Sturtz, a winger who left for the NHL this summer, had the highest faceoff percent-age on the team last season, winning .519 off the draw — but that was only good for 16th in the Big Ten.

Penn State needs to be bet-ter from the faceoff circle this season and a big part of that could be graduate transfer Lud-vig Larsson. Larsson, the pro-gram’s first ever Swede, will be entering “Hockey Valley” with one season of NCAA eligibility left after transferring from Mer-rimack using the NCAA’s gradu-ate transfer rule.

The then-junior was instru-mental in Merrimack’s season last year, leading the team in goals scored with 13. More im-

portantly for Penn State, Larsson held the highest faceoff percent-age on the team with a .583, which ranked 14th in the country. That percentage would have placed him second in the Big Ten only behind Ohio State’s Dakota Josh-ua.

The highlight of the returning centers is Chase Berger, who will be serving as Penn State’s cap-tain this season.

Berger tallied 27 points, which was tied for fifth on the team last season. The St. Louis native will look to improve on his .491 per-centage from the dot last season.

Evan Barratt can be a differ-ence maker on the ice this sea-son, and if he can build on an impressive freshman season and become the dominant player he is expected to be, it could push this position group from good to elite.

The Chicago Blackhawks pros-pect played his best hockey to-ward the end of last season and he brings a fiery personality to the ice that Penn State is missing this season after the departure of Sturtz.

Barratt finished last season with 18 points, 11 of which were goals and was second on the team from the dot, winning 51.6 percent of his faceoffs, which was good enough for 19th in the Big Ten.

Nikita Pavlychev is also back for his junior and stands out on the ice purely because of his size.

The 6-foot-7 center has em-braced his role as an enforcer on the team and is a crucial part of the Nittany Lions penalty kill and power play unit.

The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect will need to improve in the faceoff circle this season but when Pavlychev is healthy he brings a level of physicality that is often unmatched on the ice.

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

Penn State position preview: centers

WOMEN’S SOCCER

MEN’S HOCKEY

Caitlin Lee/Collegian

Forward Chase Berger (8) prepares for a face-off during the game

against Michigan at Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017.

Christopher Sanders/Collegian

Penn State’s Kim Dubs (24) fights off a defender during an early season matchup against No. 2 UCLA at

Jeffrey Field on Saturday, Aug. 25.

The Daily Collegian SPoRTS SePT. 20-23, 2018 | Page 5

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C r o s s w o r d

JohnsonFrom Page 1.

On the first play of the sec-ond quarter, Brandon Smith was ejected after being called for a targeting penalty and Johnson found himself in the game.

“It was definitely eye opening,” Johnson said, reflecting on his first collegiate game action. ”It just taught me how to command the defense. I was a redshirt freshman and there were seniors out there who had been playing for a long time. It was definitely a good experience even if it only lasted four game minutes total or 20 snaps.”

The reason it only lasted a lit-tle more than 12 minutes on the game clock is because on his 20th snap of the day, Johnson went down with a non-contact injury. And just like that, his season was over.

“We had an idea that he was going to play. It was so exciting to see him out there and do well even for that short period of time. The low part of ‘wow he’s hurt.’ It’s a challenge and it’s something you have to overcome,” Johnson Sr. said. “Right away, he dealt with it so well then and there. He’d been injured before, he knew he was going to have a tough road back.”

Johnson had worked his way from a walk-on to commanding the defense against a top-5 team

in the country. But just 20 plays later, he was back to square one.

Johnson had dealt with injuries in the past throughout his athletic career. But that didn’t make the next year of his life any easier.

Every day, Johnson was in the training room inside the Lasch Building rehabbing his injured knee. For the first week or so af-ter the injury occurred, he could barely walk. He’d sit in and look out at his teammates on the prac-tice field every day, knowing it would be a while before he could join them.

“It was hard for him. When you’re going to the facilities [dur-ing the injury] and you’re working out, you’re kind of isolated a little bit,” his father said. “You’re in the meetings everyday but you’re not a part of what’s going to happen.

Johnson worked for the re-mainder of the fall and through-out the winter to regain his mobil-ity. Then during the spring he was doing his own individual drills to get back to the point where he could practice with the team again, which didn’t happen until the summer.

When he did finally get back to feeling 100 percent again, which he admitted didn’t come until the fall, there wasn’t a spot waiting for him. Smith and Jason Cabi-nda were both in their senior sea-sons and ahead of Johnson on the depth chart. If he wanted to make his way back on the field, John-

son had to go to work every day, on the practice field, in the weight room and in team meetings.

It was like his freshman year all over again. He was a walk-on trying to help out in any way possible, just like he did with the wrestling team. For much of last season, that meant being a scout team player and playing at posi-tions unfamiliar to him.

“[Johnson]’s a smart football player,” Franklin said during the spring. “In our scout teams last year, he was a service guy. He played tight end, he played full-back. He’s just a headsy guy.”

While his coaches were im-pressed with his work ethic, Johnson wasn’t satisfied.

“My sophomore year, I got re-ally comfortable saying, ‘I can play here,’” Johnson said. “I didn’t come here to just be a scout team player. That wasn’t the goal. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to play and participate and help be a factor for the defense.”

***For the fourth straight week,

Johnson is going to start at mid-dle linebacker. After years of inju-ries, setbacks and stints with oth-er teams on campus, Johnson is finally living his childhood dream.

“It was my childhood dream to come here and play here,” John-son said. “It’s awesome to be ful-filling that right now.”

Through the team’s first three games, Johnson is the leading

tackler of the defense and has gotten in on a tackle for loss and a sack.

Outside of the fourth quarter against Appalachian State, the Penn State defense has been on top of its game to start the sea-son. This is a defense that lost nine starters and is filled with youth and inexperience. But Johnson’s calm presence as the quarterback of the defense has made an impact.

“He’s probably one of the more intelligent players we have. He asks great questions of the coach-es and has been very productive

in the classroom as well and has earned everybody’s respect: his teammates’ respect, the coach-es’ respect and he’s earned that starting position,” Franklin said.

Every week, Johnson’s family is in the stands watching No. 36 patrol the middle of the field and it still hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“It’s thrilling,” Johnson Sr. said. “It’s a great accomplishment on his part so far. He hasn’t reached all of his goals yet, but he’s contin-ued to move forward.”

To email reporter: tbk5155@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @King_TylerB.

Ken Kalback/Collegian

Linebacker Jan Johnson talks to the media ahead of their game against

Kent State on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

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Joke's Gone too far? By Varshini Chellapilla

The Daily Collegian

With the surprisingly large number of lesbian jokes in the latest Netflix original rom-com “Sierra Burgess is a Loser,” it is easy to wonder whether the era of homophobic jokes in entertain-ment media will ever truly come to an end.

Cameron Yenc-sik said any joke or one-liner that wouldn’t be inter-preted well by the LGBTQ commu-nity or belittles people’s identities and struggles, should be consid-ered homophobic humor.

“I think this kind of humor is a bit more subvert now,” Yencsik (se-nior-psychology) said. “Before there used to be this flamboyant stereotypical charac-ter in shows but now [representa-tion] is hidden like in a little one-liner that they sneak in that is still not representing the LGBTQ community well, but they’re not more in-your-face about it.”

“Sierra Burgess,” a movie that starred an unconventional rom-com protagonist and is critically

acclaimed for its body positiv-ity image, contained several dia-logues that were jabs against the LGBTQ community. Jokes were made about a woman’s appear-ance looking “trans,” the act of kissing other girls as a party trick, and the protagonist’s “ugly” fash-ion style resembling a lesbian.

Joe Cruz, a third-year Ph.D student who is a teaching assis-

tant for COMM 150 (The Art of Cinema), believes this type of humor has become much more coded over the years, par-ticularly as it ap-pears in “Sierra Burgess.”

“[Sierra] is not what you would consider a traditional pro-tagonist,” Cruz said. “She is not presented as dan-

gerously thin, as an airhead or over-sexualized. All these char-acteristics that make her unlike a stereotypical female protagonist make her threatening.”

“And there’s this stereotype that if you’re threatening as a single female, you’re either a man-hater, mentally unstable or a lesbian. So, the homophobic jokes are just a way to deal with her be-

ing perceived as a threatening character,” Cruz added.

“Sierra Burgess” is only one example from a long line of films and shows that portray a stereo-typically bad image of the LGBTQ community and treat it as a joke to further the storyline of hetero-sexual characters.

Until recently, most LGBTQ representation in media had served one purpose only – hilar-ity.

The idea of people of the same sex falling in love or someone ap-pearing as the opposite sex was often treated as an insult to the point that anything associated with stereotypical traits of the LGBTQ community was consid-ered a comedic incident at best and a disgrace at worst. Exam-ples of this can be seen in shows like “Friends” where Ross’s les-bian ex-wife Carol becomes the constant butt of jokes. On “How I Met Your Mother,” Marshall takes offense to his Halloween costume appearing as a “gay pirate” be-cause of his use of eyeliner.

Eli Calkins, the Outreach in-tern at the LGBTQA Student Resource Center, believes that homophobic humor has changed over the years to appear in a more disguised form. While it is harder for straightforward jokes like those to be seen on screen, strong homophobic jokes are still present.

“For me, homophobic and transphobic humor that I see is much more visual. No one will ever state something directly [anymore] but there’s that coding of making high camp characters,” Calkins (senior-visual art and game design) said. “It’s a sort of coded, whistleblowing language where it’s much more about how certain signifiers, like the colored hair or over-promiscuous nature, are used to portray a character so that people in-the-know know that it is a targeted joke.”

Calkins, an avid consumer of animated products of entertain-ment, believes that even cartoons and comics have not been spared.

“With cartoons, it’s a little slower because they’re working

for bigger networks. Sometimes, the writers have clear intent. But, when you’re working on something so big [like a movie or a show], you need to keep your funding safe and the less you put in subtext, the more you run the risk of losing people and money, sadly. I think it’s a combined fear of the [traditional] foundation fall-ing apart and putting your face to it,” Calkins said, using the exam-ple of the contro-versial episodes of South Park.

He was quick to note, however, that the comic book versions of several of these shows often do portray a healthy image of the LG-BTQ community.

“I think productions, in both TV and film, are always trying to have it both ways. They’re trying to afford a larger sense of agency through their [characters] and also, on the other hand, make them a humoristic prop,” Cruz said.

The LGBTQA Student Re-source Center at Penn State often becomes a hub for discussions regarding representation of the community on screen.

Kari Jo Freudigmann, the pro-gramming coordinator at the LG-BTQA Student Resource Center, runs the discussion group for stu-dents who identify or are ques-tioning their identities within the community.

“I’ve heard discussions of stu-dents talking about misrepresen-tation. Not seeing good repre-sentation of a particular identity

in the media can be difficult. One of the things that comes up in the discussions very often is the stu-dents’ icons with-in the community and how hard it is to think of more than a handful of people,” Freudig-mann said.

GLAAD, a non-governmental media monitoring organization founded in 1985, re-vealed in the annual “Where Are We on TV” report that “for all the advancement made, many LG-BTQ characters fall into outdated stereotypes or harmful tropes.”

“It feels like we’re moving one step forward and two steps back,”

Cruz said.

To email reporter: sxc5773@psu.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @varshinii98.

Collegian Creative

Ken Kalbach/Collegian

A rainbow flag at Old Main celebrates 2017 “Pride Week” at Penn State.

“They’re trying

to afford a larger

sense of agency

through their

[characters] and

also, on the other

hand, make them a

humoristic prop.”

Joe Cruz

COMM 150 Teaching Assistant

“Not seeing good

representation of a

particular identity

in the media can be

difficult.”

Kari Jo Freudigmann

LGBTQA Student Resource Center

Respect for the LGBTQ community in TV and film is still seemingly far behind