So you're stuck here for the summer and wondering what the hell you're going to do with yourself since all your friends are home until the end of August. Well you could just get drunk and throw up in Indigo, but that gets old really fast (I know). So, I'm going to try to give you a periodic list of things you can do for the next eight weeks to maintain your sanity and hopefully keep the puking to a minimum (I think you can come up with the puke list by yourself).

In 2006 the St. Louis Cardinals moved their class A short-season minor-league affiliate to State College in the brand new Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. They named the team the Spikes, with a deer as a mascot, which seemed odd at first but after the team moved their affiliation from St. Louis to the Pittsburgh Pirates last year it became a little more obvious (if it's not so obvious to you, the Pirates are nicknamed the "Bucs" and a male deer is often referred to as a buck, hence the team's slogan "The Bucs Start Here").

And even if you're not a Pirates fan (if you are, god help you) the Spikes play teams affiliated with the Astros (Tri-City ValleyCats), Blue Jays (Auburn Doubledays), Cardinals (Batavia Muckdogs), Indians (Mahoning Valley Scrappers), Marlins (Jamestown Jammers), Mets (Brooklyn Cyclones), Nationals (Vermont Lake Monsters), Orioles (Aberdeen IronBirds), Phillies (Williamsport Crosscutters), Rays (Hudson Valley Renegades), Red Sox (Lowell Spinners), Tigers (Oneonta Tigers) and Yankees (Staten Island Yankees), so you're bound to be interested in one of the teams.

Between tonight and the start of the Fall semester there are 25 home games for the Spikes including a fireworks show after Thursday night's game (the stadium will also be opened after Friday's game to watch the fireworks from 4th Fest). Although you missed out on the best promotion of the season when they gave out Slinky's to the first 2,000 fans (btw, the Slinky was invented by a Penn State graduate). And with tickets ranging from $6-$11 it's relatively cheap. Although once you're inside the park, eating can be expensive. I had a cheesesteak and soda last night which cost $9.50 (ouch!) and beer was over $5.

Chances are most of the players you see aren't going to make it to the major leagues, but you never know, and plus it's not really summer unless you take in a baseball game and have a hot dog. And since Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are three hours away ...