a pride of lions: Crazy Weather

Crazy! That describes the 2009 Penn State football season so far, not the actual games, but the weather! The die-hard Nittany Lion Fans have been subject to everything from blue skies and warm temperatures (Akron), to wet and cold conditions (Iowa), to this week’s frigid weather (Minnesota), which reigns as ‘king of the craziness’! Rain, ice and snow, broken tree limbs everywhere, and power outages were the main event of the weekend at least until game time. Other notables were no tailgating, no parking in the grass and no throwing snowballs in the stadium.

Who would have imagined snow on October 17th. Not since 1901 has there been snow in State College this early. Aren’t we supposed to be having Indian Summer, that period of time after the leaves have changed, but before the first snowfall? I’m not sure if this mixed- up weather is associated with ‘global warming’ or if Mother Nature was just playing with us to see if we are… die-hard Penn State fans.

Well according to the PR machine at Penn State there were over 107,000 people at the game. From my observations, there were many less than that in attendance. Ticket sales may have topped over 107,000, but the stadium was not at capacity. I can’t say I blame people for not coming to the game. If it were not for our ‘favorite player’, we might have decided to enjoy the game from the view of the recliner in our motor home.

We did go to the game and enjoyed seeing our ‘favorite’ make a fine, one-handed catch, and run for a nice gain after the reception. He also had a good game blocking and caught two other balls, although one was called back due to a penalty. This game was a good confidence builder for him and the team, especially as they prepare to take over hostile territory in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines of Michigan own Penn State at the Big House. We have lost there since 1996. During those years Lloyd Carr (who must have mentored Kirk Ferentz on how to consistently beat our Lions) was the coach. The upside is that Rich Rodriguez is now the coach and Carr doesn’t feel the same love for him, so as a second year coach, Rodriguez is on his own to figure out if he can beat us.

Our own Evan Royster has confidence in his team. He told the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette on Tuesday, “I think we feel like we’re the better team and we can go out there and still beat them.” Those words must have sounded like a challenge to Brandon Graham when told by AnnArbor.com of the comment. His response was, “Prove it.”

So ‘prove it’ we must. We know we can handle the weather forecast of: 30% chance of showers with highs in the 40’s. We know, their Big House is not Our White House, and their Maize-out is not a Whiteout. And for certain we know, our team is as good as they believe they are. So ‘prove it… we will’.

Beaver Stadium on snowy October 17, 2009.