No Time to Rest, He Has to Sell a Football Team – New York Times:
“STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Nov. 4 – During breaks in Penn State football games this season, the speaker system at Beaver Stadium has played a rhythmic tune, ‘Kernkraft 400’ by a techno group called Zombie Nation, as the scoreboard displays the word ‘Bounce.’
This has prompted more than 100,000 fans to jump up and down, an energized scene that motivates the home team and causes the grandstands to vibrate. Perhaps it also intimidates the opposition. Certainly it worries the structural engineers.
” ‘A little bit on the edge,’ said Graham B. Spanier, the president of Penn State. ‘Now, we play the music but we don’t put the word ‘Bounce’ up on the scoreboard. The engineers and the physical-plant folks are just being careful. But, clearly, we’ve created a certain atmosphere.’
“That atmosphere will be displayed Saturday when 10th-ranked Penn State plays No. 14 Wisconsin in the Nittany Lions’ final home game of an implausible comeback season. At stake is the lead in the Big Ten Conference. Both teams are 5-1 in the league and 8-1 over all and have one game remaining after this one. In the previous two seasons, Penn State finished ninth in the conference.
“But the alchemist of the stadium atmosphere and of other changes around the football program is a man behind the curtain, Guido D’Elia, who is not even a permanent employee. D’Elia, a consultant from Pittsburgh brought in two years ago, has delighted some people and worried others with his aggressive innovations and his influence with Joe Paterno, the veteran coach in his 40th season.
” ‘I am the designated trouble-stirrer of change,’ D’Elia said in one of two recent interviews in his office in the Lasch football center. ‘I’m the lightning rod. I’m Darth Vader. I’m the angel of death.’ ”
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“Next to D’Elia’s desk were large cardboard illustrations of the stadium with lettering and numbers that he hoped to add next season to commemorate Penn State’s football history. He said he recently discussed Penn State’s conservative uniforms with apparel manufacturers. …”