The Roller Coaster

Two weeks ago in Beaver Stadium we said goodbye to our seniors including our favorite player and last weekend we watched him help his team win the last regular season game against Michigan State. These kinds of events always cause a bit of sadness, but they also give rise to a new hope for the future (one I’m sure the “82 Crew” will be looking forward to.)

On Friday before the Lions game with Indiana, I had lunch with my favorite player at the “Green Bowl” restaurant in State College. It was really nice for me to have this time with him to reflect on the past five years. He told me how he felt about his time at Penn State, which I will not discuss for this blog, and he helped me start to put my own feelings into perspective. For weeks, I had been anticipating how I would feel about my son’s last game in Beaver Stadium. Some of the other player’s moms had already been getting weepy thinking about it, but I was having a hard time “getting my head around” how I really felt. After lunch with my son, I have finally put together some of my thoughts.

This season, like the past four years, has been like riding a roller coaster up and then down, sometimes enjoying the ride but other times thinking it can’t end soon enough. In response to riding this roller coaster, I think I have developed a case of dissociative identity disorder (DID). The WebMD defines this as “a mental illness that involves the sufferer experiencing at least two clear identities or personality states, each of which has a fairly consistent way of viewing and relating to the world.”

I am pretty sure this describes me. One of my personalities writes this blog. She is the “logical one” who doesn’t say things her “alter ego” says. So even though “alter ego” already “got her head around” her true feelings and wrote about the end of her favorite players career at Penn State, she can’t publish it. However, if you would like a copy, she will mail you one. But probably, if you are an “82 Crew” member, you already know what “alter ego” had to say.

So you ask “How does the “logical one” feel?” She cried at the Indiana game. Not when the senior football players ran out onto the field, but when P.J. Maierhoffer twirled her baton for last time in Beaver Stadium. Maierhoffer has been wonderful to watch and someone both egos will miss seeing. Not that we won’t miss seeing our favorite player, but we hope to be seeing him at another venue.

The “logical one” thinks the roller coaster ride over the past five years provides many lessons for her favorite player. He has experienced highs like winning two Big Ten Titles and lows like the losses to Iowa, Ohio State and USC. He has learned what it is like to compete head to head with people sometimes winning the battle and other times not but never giving up. During the high points of the ride, the ‘fav’ gained valuable playing experience at ‘game speed’. The low points of the ride were mostly mental challenges. The ‘fav’ learned how to be patient and ready to go full speed when his number finally got called. He learned to be self- motivated and push himself to stay focused on the goals he set even when circumstances around him didn’t play out the way he had hoped. Yes, he probably learned more valuable lessons from the lows than the highs, but the time at the top of the rollercoaster was more fun.

So while my ‘alter ego’ has her own thoughts on this ride, the one that writes this blog thinks overall the Penn State experience for her ‘fav’ was a valuable one because the ride wasn’t easy and everything gained was earned not a gift. Hopefully, ‘the fav’ gets the opportunity to play at the next level (no roller coaster rides allowed) and in the mean time I’ll get the twins some therapy!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I will be in Germany next week, but when I return I will post more pictures from the season including all the things to see and do around State College. I will continue to write this blog about Penn State and my ‘fav player’ until after the bowl game then I will change its focus. See you after December 6th.

Use What You've Got

So here I sit on Wednesday night and I still don’t know what to say about the loss to Ohio State. I really thought we were going to win given the way the Lions were starting to pull things together in the past few games. Heck, I even wished we could play Iowa again because I thought the next time around we would be victorious. Unfortunately, a win was not in the forecast for us. Even though it looked like we made positive strides recently, this week we took a big step backwards. And on November 7, 2009, the better team won.
Not because they have better athletes, but because they use their talent more effectively than we use ours. They also controlled the ball offensively by getting 15 first downs to our 9 and getting the ball into the end zone for 24 points to our lone touchdown.

Every part of Ohio State’s game was carefully planned and executed. They were patient and played to their own strengths while exposing our weaknesses. One of those weaknesses was really revealed at Northwestern. Even though we won there, I remember not feeling all that great about our performance. We won, but offensively we scored points on a few big plays and never seemed to get a balanced attack going. Ohio State was able to take away our big plays and put us in a position to have to play with a more balanced approach that obviously we didn’t have. And as the score reflected, we didn’t total enough points to win the game.

Hopefully, this week against Indiana we will play a much more balanced game utilizing the two tight -ends that are a strength on our offense, so that we can get first downs when we need them instead of forcing the ball down field in an effort to make a big play every down. By definition the tight- end’s job in blocking is to help his fellow linemen develop a stronger pocket during passing plays. It seems like a no- brainer to me to keep one tight- end on the line to help protect the QB, and let the other one run a pass pattern to create a miss match with the secondary, or keep them both on the line to help the sometimes- struggling offensive line. That keeps the defense on their toes and certainly opens up the possibilities of pounding out a few yards at a time on the ground for a first down, or allowing the QB time to find the most open receiver to pass the ball to. First downs are what we need, not big plays all the time.

I’m sure I am a bit prejudice wanting my ‘favorite player’ on the field, but when you have two experienced, senior tight-ends, that have proven their abilities, they both should be on the field contributing to this offense. Last week, like our losses to Iowa and USC last year, we didn’t utilize our player personal effectively and therefore… WE LOST!

Let’s play with ‘our strengths’ this week against Indiana, and send our seniors out with a great win at Beaver Stadium and then kick some Spartan butts next week! There is still hope for a decent bowl game as long as we take care of business the next two weeks. If we win out and a few other teams help us, we could still get an at- large BCS Bowl bid, possibly the Orange or Fiesta Bowl.

Let’s Go State, use all your weapons, get those first downs and… WIN!


Pictures from Penn State-Ohio State game

The '82 crew'' 82 crew women'


'82 crew' with Beaver Stadium in the background

'82 crew' sisters and cousin

'82 crew' pregame tradition

The Buckeye mascot

Miss Majorette of America, P.J. Maierhofer twirls fire PSU students

Good Year Blimp

Our favorite player

Beautiful sunset behind Beaver Stadium

Brains and Brawn

On all of our trips to the Big Ten cities, we dress in what I call our ‘uniforms’. Basically we are dressed from head to toe in Penn State attire from hats, tee shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets to our proudly displayed Penn State buttons. So most locals know why we have invaded their city.

Usually while we are having a drink or waiting for a table for dinner, someone will approach us to talk about the upcoming game. It is always interesting to hear what a fan from the opposing team thinks about Penn State and what they predict for the outcome of the game. In the past we have heard the range of comments from “you guys are good, don’t beat us too bad”, and “good luck, but not too much”, to “may the best team win”. From my observations, what the opposing fans say to us correlates to the outcome of the game.

For example, Iowa fans didn’t wish us too much luck, and we didn’t have much this year playing them. Last year, Ohio State wanted the best team to win, and we did. Illinois didn’t want us to beat them too badly, so we only defeated them 35 to 17. For me, what was said before the game was definitely connected to the final out-come.

This week we talked with a couple of women at a bar one night about the upcoming game. They didn’t wish us luck or offer any words of encouragement. They just told us that Northwestern doesn’t have football players; they have “smart kids trying to play football”. I’m not sure what they were implying. Hopefully not that Penn State has football players that are all brawn and no brain. Because, even though Northwestern is ranked 30th in academic rankings of over 500 colleges and universities, Penn State is ranked only slightly behind them in 45th place. I think what they said meant that being smart doesn’t equate to winning football games and to win you have to be a “dumb jock”. I disagree and think to win players have to not only be brawny, but they need brains too.

There was truth in what they said about Northwestern players being smart, especially their quarterback Mike Kafka. He played a smart game the quarter and a half he played before leaving the game with an injury. He kept his no huddle, tempo -changing offense on the field by completing 14 of 18 passes and running for 42 yards and a touchdown. Their second possession alone was a 17- play drive that ate up over 7minutes of the clock. In the second quarter, Kafka orchestrated an 8- play drive that spanned 80 yards and a Kafka run for a touchdown! Kafka showed his mental and physical abilities in this quarter.

On the opposite side, Penn State didn’t utilize their brawn or brains in the first quarter. Offensively we hardly had the ball so we couldn’t score any points. Then we made an error by having 12 men on the field for a punt that gave Northwestern a 1st down and the momentum to capitalize on the mistake by scoring a field goal.

During the second quarter it looked as though Penn State was getting their heads on straight when our favorite player caught a pass that looked like a first down with additional yards gained on a great second effort. The officials reviewed the play and ruled that ‘our favorite’s’ elbow touched the ground, negating the extra yards and no first down. Penn State went into the locker room at half- time with a deficit for the first time this season.

The good news is that after half- time the Lions came out and played with a different mental and physical attitude. In the fourth quarter, in a span of five minutes, Penn State scored three touchdowns. The last two scores were one play each and led to our 34-13 victory over the Wildcats.

I guess my theory about what fans say before the game does have some correlation with the final out come. Those women implied “smart kids playing football” can’t win and they didn’t. But maybe they did, it just wasn’t the smart kids from Northwestern, it was the smart kids from Penn State who combined those brains with some brawn to come from behind and defeat the Wildcats.

Pictures from the Penn State- Northwestern game at Evanston, Illinois



The Northwestern Wildcat's equipment truck parked at the stadium.



Blue skies covered Ryan Field.

This Big Ten referee came to our game straight from the earlier Iowa-Indiana game.

The coaches arrive at Ryan Field for the game.

Our favorite player arrives with his teammates.

The Lions preparing to kickoff.

Northwestern Band performed for a very scanty home crowd.

Inside view of Northwestern's stadium

Northwesteren's student section got a bit larger after the game started.

Penn State had a great crowd and we got LOUD when we needed to.

The view from my seat in row two.

Three generations of smiles after our win!

Next up The Ohio State University

Go State! Beat the Buckeyes!

Things To Do After Beating Michigan!

Victory was sweet and so was our next few days in Michigan. We stayed in Ypsilanti until Wednesday and had a wonderful time visiting botanical gardens, a winery, and a museum that housed the first automobile called the quadricycle built by Henry Ford. After Ford built it in this tiny shed, he realized he couldn't get it out without breaking through the brick wall, so he did!

Before our visit to the museum, we did some other interesting things. On Sunday, the day after our exciting victory over Michigan, we visited the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical gardens. In this conservatory there were over 1200 plant species from around the world. The collection was divided into three houses that reflected three climatic conditions. There was a tropical, temperate, and desert house that hosted plants from many warmer regions in the world.

This was a lobster claw plant located in the tropical house.

Another interesting species in the tropical house was the sausage tree.

A beautiful century plant grew in the desert house.

The desert house hosted many different species that were specialists in surviving droughts by storing water.

This was the MiSo House, a solar home, designed by students from the College of Architecture, Engineering, and the Schools of Art and Design.

This was the Shadow Pavilion, a structure and a space made entirely of holes. It was constructed from 100 aluminum laser cut cones that varied in size. The cones funneled light and sound for visitors to take in the views and sounds of the surrounding area. It was located along a road near the botanical gardens.

The sign in front of the structure said, "Research- Through- Making".

On Monday and Tuesday we visited 'The Henry Ford' that was made up of the Greenfield Villages, the Henry Ford Museum, and the Rouge Ford Factory. The brochure dubbed it as "America's greatest history attraction". There were over 90 buildings and 26 million artifacts on 200 acres that comprised this collection of American history.


This was a steam engine train stopped at the Firestone Station located in an area called 'Working Farms" in the Greenfield Village.

The Farris Windmill is the oldest windmill in America. It was located in the section of the Greenfield Village called Porches and Parlors. In this area was a collection of houses and out buildings that once belonged to the likes of Robert Frost, Noah Webster, and the Henry Ford family.

This collection of the Heinz 57 varities was in the Heinz House located on Main Street in the Village.

The Dymaxion House, R. Buckminster Fuller's all-aluminum house, designed in the 1920's. It was round, portable and environmentally efficient.

This was a Model T pulled apart for easy viewing of it's components.

A bicycle built for ten.

This was a collection of early RV's. I am glad they have come along way since those early days.

We were checking out the stainless steel storage tanks at the Spotted Dog Winery for future reference.

After a long day of enjoying American History we sampled some good Michigan made wines at the Spotted Dog Winery in Saline. Most of the wines were made from juice brought in from all over the world. Some of the wine was aged in stainless and some in oak.


On Wednesday we left Michigan and headed to the Chicago area for the Northwestern game. We have spent the past few days visiting Chicago. I will post on this next week but for now I have to get ready to go watch the Nittany Lions beat the Wildcats!

Go State!

The 'Cubs' visit Michigan

The Lion and I left Pa. on Wednesday and arrived at our campground in Ypsilanti (outside of Ann Arbor) on Thursday afternoon. We will be here until Wednesday and then we will go onto the Chicago area for the Northwestern game. We have planned a few sightseeing trips here in Michigan so I plan to post a few extra blogs this week on our excursions.

Two of the cubs joined us for the game on Saturday and I think they had a good time especially since we won the game! I know it makes for a long trip home if we don't win. One cub who couldn't travel to the game was a bit jealous of her siblings so we bought a Halloween Witch to 'stand in' for her in all the pictures.

This picture was taken during our visit to campus on Friday. We usually visit campus the day before the game to check out game day parking and take a campus tour. However, it was raining again so most of our tour was a drive-by and we didn't see much. No one was that anxious to walk around soaked on Friday, especially since the forecast was for more rain on Saturday.

The Big Ten Network was getting ready for their game day broadcast.




We attended a Friday night alumni pep rally held at the University of Eastern Michigan. This was a nice function put on by the Penn State Alumni chapter of Michigan.

The Penn State Pep Band performed for us at the pep rally. Beyond the glass window was a great view of the football stadium.

The Blue Band practiced on the University of Eastern Michigan's Football field on Friday night. They are allowed to attend one away game a year.

On Saturday we were part of a large turnout for The Penn State Alumni pep rally at the University of Michigan.

After the pep rally we walked to the stadium for the game and we saw this monument that had a bit of prophecy for the Penn State Football Team.

This was the first time the 'cubs' were in The Big House.

They came to see their favorite player.

Good thing that was a practice pass.


We all agreed that The Big House was nice, it was loud, but it didn't compare to Beaver Stadium.

Even though the stadium didn't resemble ours, the sky looked familar. The clouds dumped rain on us as soon as the game started. Hopefully, soon we can retire our rain gear before it wears out!

In addition to rain, there was a fair amount of wind that could be seen as the flag was raised.

A little rain and wind didn't spoil the two F-18's 'fly over' after the National Anthem.


These guys entertained the Penn State fans before and during the game.


Everyone was all smiles after Penn State defeated Michigan for the first time since 1996 at The Big House.