"I remember the eagerness I had to see how someone wrote about a game I had seen the night before. That's how I got interested in journalism without even knowing it. What makes good writing is not the ability to turn a phrase. Being a great writer begins with being a good reporter. ... I couldn't imagine a better place than Penn State for someone who always wanted to be a writer. It was the perfect training ground."
-- Sports Illustrated senior writer and MLB Network analyst Tom Verducci, who earned his journalism degree at Penn State in 1982, addressing students, faculty, staff and community members Tuesday night in the HUB-Robeson Center Auditorium during "A Conversation with Tom Verducci," sponsored by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism and moderated by Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society.