September 23 was circled on our calendar for a long time. Our 10-day trip north to Happy Valley would allow us to see our two oldest children in the D.C. area, many old friends in State College and family in Danville and Pittsburgh, and to attend our good friends’ (Wendy and Ken Bachman) son’s wedding. The trip will culminate with us bringing my parents back for a long visit in South Carolina.
But Sept. 23 was also circled in anticipation of once again participating in the “Greatest Show in Sports”, the annual Penn State Football White Out game. This year the 3-0 and 24th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes were in town to take on our undefeated and seventh-ranked Nittany Lions. Despite the cloudy, rainy weather, the White Out delivered in a big way with a 31-0 victory on the field and the second largest crowd (110,830) in Penn State football history. You see, the White Out is special even when it’s a Wet Out.
My friends back in Bluffton, South Carolina, were teasing me by text about the cold weather here and sarcastically commented on how it was also a bit on the breezy and cool side on Saturday in the Lowcountry, where it was 83 and sunny. The reality is that the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as forecasted in Happy Valley. It was a typical early autumn day in central Pennsylvania, and had it been sunny and void of the misty rainfall, it would have been a perfect atmosphere. In a few weeks, when the leaves start changing colors, it will be perfect. Having been in Happy Valley for 40 years, we experienced our share of the magnificent fall days and while disappointed with the rain, it didn’t dampen our spirits.
It’s good to see Guido D’Elia back and involved with the game day production for Penn State football. Guido, along with my former athletic department colleague and friend Greg Myford (who passed away from cancer in 2021), is the creator of the White Out game. The White Out has become one of the best-known events in sports entertainment and there aren’t many more talented people on the planet than Guido when it comes to sports marketing and in-game entertainment.
It was also my first game back since Rodney Martin and Joe Putnam took over as Beaver Stadium PA announcers. I like it. Of course, I’m biased because Rodney was the PA announcer at Icer games in the old Greenberg Ice Pavilion when I was the hockey coach. He also hosted the “Icers Report” that aired on local cable television channel C-Net. Rodney helped make the Ice Pavilion a fun place for our fans and a very tough place for the visiting team. While he is an engineer by trade and a very talented guy, Rodney’s voice is a natural for announcing, and he was an easy choice to become the PA announcer at Pegula Ice Arena. I’m glad to see him get this opportunity.
When I was the Nittany Lion Club (NLC) executive director from 2006-2009, one of the most significant changes we made was moving the student section completely to the south endzone. It helped create one of the toughest endzones for visiting teams anywhere in the country. It was my small contribution in creating what ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit calls “The Best Student Section, by far.” During that same time, we increased the NLC giving levels for the first time in a decade and introduced seat cushions and chair backs in the stadium. While these changes were initially viewed with some negativity, they generated much needed additional revenue, and equally important, with regard to the seat backs, it guaranteed your seat space! With all the television money these days, it doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but over the years it’s made a difference, especially for the Olympic sports.
The best part of returning to Penn State is seeing old friends. The problem is, you never have as much time as you think to see them all. We had mapped out a strategy to see as many people as we could by stopping at tailgates for brief periods of time. Well, that didn’t work. We ran into other people we hadn’t seen for a while and just had to stop at their tailgates, so we never made it through to some of the ones we meant to visit.
I’ve seen so many sporting events in my life that the actual games and matches themselves just don’t quite mean as much to me as they once did. There was a time when the outcome of Saturday’s PSU football games would overly influence our mood for the rest of the week. I’ve learned over time that the games are games, and I didn’t need to let them dictate my disposition. I’m not a gambler and I’m not into fantasy leagues, so I’m just not that invested in the outcome as I used to be. By the way, it’s far worse in SEC territory, where people put way too much emphasis on football, and it takes an entire week and sometimes years to assuage the hurt. Just ask Clemson and South Carolina fans what this season’s been like so far!
While I am less interested these days, I’m still a fan. Watching the end of the Notre Dame-Ohio State game was actually a head-shaker to me. Why Notre Dame decided to go into the “prevent victory” defense on the Buckeyes’ final drive defies logic, yet these coaches do it all the time. When the Fighting Irish pressured Ohio State’s quarterback, OSU’s offense struggled. They kept OSU in check all night right up until it mattered most, and then they seemingly handed OSU the game.
A big pet peeve of mine, as both a fan and former coach, is the strategy that these incredibly well-paid coaches choose when the game is on the line. They have more assistant coaches than ever and “quality control” staff and more data and analytics information than they know what to do with, and I wonder if information overload sets in while common sense and intuition go out the door. I also shake my head at the poor clock management that is pervasive in both pro and college football. Sometimes coaches choose not to exercise a timeout, allowing 25 precious seconds to burn off the clock. That is time you never get back; I mean, 25 seconds is 4-5 plays in a hurry up offense and they just give it away. I need those of you who are football aficionados to please explain the logic in giving that time away. If you need to stop the clock you can always spike the ball or throw it out of bounds.
We also watched Minnesota’s meltdown against a poor Northwestern team. Up 31-10 in the second half, the Gophers fell asleep and allowed the Wildcats to tie the game, then gave up a touchdown in overtime on a great play call by Northwestern’s interim head coach. You know, the guy making half of what P.J. Fleck makes in Minnesota.
Why do we watch and why do we let the outcomes of the game impact us so much? Perhaps it’s the live drama. Perhaps the escapism. Perhaps it’s been bred into us as sports-loving families. Non-sports fans can’t understand why we athletic supporters let mere games impact our lives the way we do. Because we live vicariously through our gridiron heroes.
“We” scored a touchdown. “Our” line really showed up today. It’s all kind of silly but we wouldn’t trade it for the world. So, Sunday as we snuggled in to watch “our” hometown Steelers play, I caught myself laughing at the absurdity of it all and how we generally place way too much emphasis on sports in our culture, too often at the detriment of things that really matter.
But every year from August through January we get caught up in the pageantry and pride that is part and parcel of football season, whether it’s high school, college or professional. It is the glue that binds alumni together, it’s live drama, and for the White Out games, we get to enjoy it with 110,000 of our closest friends and family.
So even when the weather doesn’t cooperate, remember that the White Out is special, even when it’s a Wet Out. See y’all next year!
