SPORTS

Sports Sports Editor: Jeff Hart – J.R.Hart2@iup.edu Former Editor-in-Chief is paving his own path

JAKE TAYLOR

Staff Writer J.M.Taylor8@iup.edu @JakeTaylor8726

In-Between Media and ahead of the game, former Editor-in-Chief of The Penn and IUP alumnus, Seth Woolcock, is paving his own path.

June 10, marked the launch of Woolcock’s website and business, In-Between Media. It is a fantasy football, life advice and understanding different points of view for personal reflection.

To understand the meaning behind the idea, I got the chance to talk to Woolcock. His insight is something I value personally. He has given me opportunities at IUP that have prepared me for my career in ways many others do not have. His drive to take charge and do things he feels is best gives him an edge. His ability to recognize individuals’ passion and create an avenue for them to express that passion is admirable. “I believe that most of our lives are spent from getting to A and B,” Woolcock said when asked about the inspiration for the content. “I think that we should enjoy the in-between, even if it doesn’t go the way we exactly planned.

“I overcame a lot of adversity in my youth. I felt I gained a lot of life knowledge and self-perspective that I could share with others. I also, through reading Matthew Berry’s love/hate columns growing up, found a style of writing that I could combine it with my columns. I wanted to write meaningful content, the type that could change someone’s life and maybe inspire someone else to pick up a pen one day.”

Woolcock has always had this desire. In the words of the great American author Napolean Hill, “The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”

This mindset is rare, and only the shepherds of modern-day society understand. Desire will overcome adversity, and Woolcock personifies this idea. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many obstacles for the population. The men and women who have understood this setback and made an opportunity from it will thrive for a long time. This is exactly how In-Between Media was conceived.

The idea had been in Woolcock’s head months before the pandemic, but he did not have enough time to develop the idea. Getting furloughed was a blessing in disguise for him. Due to this newfound time, he began to put all his effort into making his brainchild a reality.

“I knew then that I would never have this amount of time again in my life,” he said. “So, I spent midApril to June 10 building In-Between Media.”

A saying that I repeat to myself on a daily basis is, “Let him who merits the palm bare it.” Meaning, he who works for it earns it. Woolcock understands this philosophy as he was hired by The Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology at Penn State.

Looking back on the rollercoaster that has been 2020, Woolcock reflected by saying, “Overall, 2020 has been so destructive to the world as we knew it. However, for me, I see it as just one more curveball life as thrown at us, and I’ve just done my best to make the most of it.”

He would not be where he is at today without his experience and time at IUP. When asked how his time here has helped him, Woolcock did not hold back the importance of this time in his life.

“My time at The Penn provided me with needed confidence in both myself as a leader and my creative vision,” he said.

Woolcock participated in many extra-curricular activities and made professional relationships with staff and faculty.

“I also worked closely with Dr. Erick Lauber throughout my time at IUP,” he said. “It gave me so much experience at building a business and platform from the ground up. It was an invaluable educational opportunity.”

IUP offers many great opportunities for the go-getters, and Woolcock is just that.

“I came to IUP knowing I wanted to be a writer,” he said, “but the journalism and public relations department taught me how to write professionally and apply it to all communication formats from writing a column to posting a story in a tweet. The communications media department also was huge in helping me with photography and design skills that are applied to In-Between Media.”

Looking at In-Between Media and Woolcock’s mindset, the possibilities seem endless.

“Right now, we have columns coming out Tuesday-Saturday, and a Podcast episode coming out every Wednesday and a Sunday Brunch video series every Sunday morning before kickoff,” he said.

“Next year, I hope to have more of the same, feel-good life advice, intertwined with fantasy sports,” he said in regard to the future of his business. “However, in the short term, I’d love to get someone writing specifically for super flex, or IDP leagues. Long term, the goal is eventually to turn a profit from it. But as long as we’re making a difference purely with the kind of content we’re creating, I’ll be happy.”

Lastly, I asked him to name everyone who has helped him and currently still is on his journey.

“There could be a whole book of everyone who has helped me along this journey,” Woolcock said humbly. “I definitely have to thank all of my friends, some of my oldest ones, and the ones I met at IUP, who have helped me in so many aspects of my life.

“My girlfriend is also a communications professional, so having similar passions and having her to bounce ideas around with and talk through stuff has always been a huge blessing. All my faculty from IUP, Erick Lauber, Randy Jesick, Laurie Miller, Michelle Papakie, Rachel Fox, and Laith Zurakait just to name a few. And all of my former colleagues too. I had amazing staff to work with at The Penn, a lot of who I still am great friends and colleagues with today, and an amazing advisor in Mo Zukic there.

“Now, I have the amazing staff of Nate Polvogt, Jen Polvogt, and former Penn Editors, Chris Hayes, Elliot Hicks, and Ally Mansfield and her husband, Tom Cuda.”

Another injury riddled season stifles Philadelphia

AUSTIN SMITH

Staff Writer A.S.Smith7@iup.edu @ThePennIUP

The Philadelphia Eagles might have had their wings clipped already for the 2020 season. The Eagles find themselves at a 1-4-1 record and still second in the NFC East. The good news for Eagles fans is, there is still a chance to make a playoff return.

The whole NFC East is a mess as a whole with the entire division combining for just five wins, which is how many wins the Tennessee Titans have themselves. So, what is the issue? For the birds, the list goes on for miles.

“Injuries,” Trevor Cratty (senior, communications media) said. “Injuries have riddled the Eagles lineup this season. The offensive starting lineup has been hurt severely and it has shown. Wentz has no help with his brand-new offensive line.”

Carson Wentz and his team have battled the whole season with a banged-up crew in the offensive and defensive categories. More injuries usually mean less success in any team being able to produce victories.

Sometimes you can get away with a few injuries but most of the players that are injured on the bird’s roster are key and vital players to having any kind of success. DeSean Jackson, Zach Ertz, Miles Sanders, Alshon Jefferey, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Avonte Maddox, Darius Slay, and still a few others.

As I mentioned, these are huge players for the Eagles and some of the players on this list might not see any game action for quite a while yet. When a few key players do return, is that enough?

Another dominate reason on why Philadelphia hasn’t had much to any success is turnovers. I get that Wentz is missing a few in his offensive lineup, but he has to make smarter and quicker decisions with the ball.

The Eagles are at the top of the list with the most interceptions (9) and overall, just not doing so well. The birds gave up three fumbles, which is not as bad compared to other teams around the league, but not good to really have in general.

The interceptions I feel hurt the most because it’s more of an explosive and energizing turnover for the other opponent to capitalize on. In the end, any turnover is very devastating to a team’s future success. The Eagles are surprisingly not the last team but just about. They sit at a (-7) differential right behind their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys.

Philadelphia is definitely going through a chain reaction. Some teams have injury problems. Some just turnovers, and others not being able to capitalize at all when given the opportunity. The way I look at it is the birds have weaker pass protection, which leads Wentz to turn over the ball more.

At times Wentz has the opportunity to get rid of the ball, but chooses to run with it instead. Could that be that he is also missing some of his big targets like Zach Ertz, DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jefferey? This whole chain reaction of having weaker pass protection is because of vital injuries and then it makes Wentz have to pick a target that he does not throw too as much.

So, the injuries, turnovers, weak pass protection and not to mention inconsistent play is the biggest plethora of problems on why the birds are not winning games at all. Even though the Eagles sit at a 1-4-1 record doesn’t mean that they got blown out in all of there games.

Wentz and his team played as hard as they could in there last two games. The last two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens were very close considering how good these two teams are.

The birds lost 38-29 to the Steelers and 30-28 to the Ravens. Even without all the weapons and tools that Carson Wentz did not have, he still pushed his team to almost a victory.

The start to the season has not been good for the birds but the ending can change and the birds still have a chance to get into the playoffs. “It’s our job to put our players in position to be successful or at least have an attempt to be successful,” said Doug Pederson.

With those strong words from Pederson, the Eagles have two divisional games coming up including a Thursday night football date with the New York Giants.

If they get these two wins, there could be a whole different look on the Eagles because of how many dilemmas they are dealing with right now in this chain reaction of unfortunate events.

Sports

Lopez becomes first undisputed lightweight champion

Teofimo Lopez (right) takes down Vasiliy Lomachenko (Left) and made history on the national stage.

Steven Langdon Jr.

Editor-in-Chief S.Langdon@iup.edu @ThePennIUP

Teofimo Lopez reigns supreme in the lightweight division after capturing all four belts Sunday morning.

He defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko by unanimous decision, winning the scorecards 116 to 112, 119 to 109 and 117 to 111 to improve to 16-0. The fight took place in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas inside Top Rank Boxing’s bubble.

Lopez became the first ever to capture all four belts in the division’s history. At 23 years old, he captured the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) belts to coincide with his International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt. "I'm a fighter," he said in an interview with ESPN. "I gotta dig in deep. I knew he was coming. I can't give him that."

The build-up was high and was no doubt the highest profile fight in boxing since the pandemic. There have been eight undisputed champions since the four belts were introduced in 2004. Lopez became the eighth person and the

fifth male to do so.

Round one started as many thought with Lomachenko standing relaxed and studying Lopez. There was not much action besides Lopez landing a couple body jabs.

In the second round, Lopez did a great job of backing Lomachenko to the ropes. Lomachenko landed a decent one-two combination halfway through, but Lopez was landing the jab with ease at times.

A technical round three followed with Lomachenko taking more shots, and at times, it seemed to test the boundaries of Lopez. A late combination shook Lomachenko but was not dangerous enough to do much damage.

Lopez dropped his hands more throughout the fourth round. He continued to back Lomachenko down. The speed and power were showcased as Lopez had a clear advantage after four rounds.

More of the same transpired in round five with Lopez in complete control of the fight. At one point, he had almost 50 more punches thrown. The game plan at that point was near perfect.

The halfway mark hit looked more of a boxing fight with both fighters dropping their hands to land punches. It was all about the uppercut by Lopez as the bell sounded off the end the round, wobbling Lomachenko.

In round seven, Lopez captured another round. Lomachenko tried to step forward but kept getting backed down. For every punch he took, Lopez threw three back at him. At this point, Lopez was dominating the fight.

In the eighth round, Lomachenko had glimpses of the skill that made him the No. 1 pound-forpound fighter in the world. He landed a fury of power punches to the head, and Lopez got a little uncomfortable backing down at times. This was the point that the fight changed a bit, and Lopez got a little uncomfortable

After Lopez banked the early rounds, Lomachenko had to back him down, and he did at points in the ninth round. Lopez woke up and realized he was in a war again. At this point, Lopez was still winning by at least two rounds.

Combinations were the name of the game in round 10. Lomachenko landed great left hooks to the head. There were a couple nice one-twos. He also had great fakes with the lead jab and then came with the left hook.

The fury of punches in the first (ESPN)

half of the fight caused Lopez to noticeably look tired in round 11. A great round for Lomachenko, but because of the slow start, he was still behind.

The final round of this great fight showed who wanted it more. With a cut on his left eye caused by an accidental headbutt, it was clear that it was Lopez who wanted to show the world what he was made of as the scorecards showed.

Although, the fight was closer than the scorecards showed. Lopez did dominate the first half of the fight with conviction. Lomachenko started too slow. He did not start fighting until the seventh round, and by that point, he dug himself a hole that was too deep.

The question now becomes, “What will each fighter do next?” Sure, fans will call for a rematch for all the belts, which is a possibility. It all comes down to what Lopez wants to do next.

Will he want to move up a weight class and fight at super lightweight? Another super fight is trying to be scheduled between Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez to decide the undisputed champion there. "I'll have Josh Taylor in the morning, and then I'll have Jose Ramirez at night," Lopez said.

There is no doubt Lopez is confident in his ability, but the best thing to do is to gain more experience. He has 16 professional fights to his name. Unfortunately, there is not another high-class lightweight fighter signed by Top Rank Boxing, which will make it harder to schedule a big fight.

A dream scenario may be fighting Ryan Garcia. Both are the future of the sport and have large fanbases.

For Lomachenko, the best thing to do is take a break and schedule a fight for early next year. He was off for over a year mainly due to COVID-19. It is his third lose in his entire life and his second in the pros with a 14-2 record.

He is not going away anytime soon. Lomachenko is still a twotime gold medal winner and one of the best in the world.

The managers he has should schedule a couple fights for next year, and then if Lopez does not move-up in weight, we could see a rematch. Then, this becomes the new great rivalry.

Time will tell as Lopez, who was once known as being the future, now becomes the present of the boxing world.