This week I have a lot of random thoughts swirling around my head as we head toward the last part of October. Think of this as The News From Spring Creek — with apologies to The News from Lake Wobegon on A Prairie Home Companion.
I’ll start with a quick look back.
- Homecoming Weekend
Last weekend it looked as if all the festivities of Penn State’s Homecoming Weekend would be done in by a blindside hit of winter storms — the earliest snowfall in our history. Once again, the spirit of Penn State students, alumni and this community proved to be unbreakable.
So many people worked to see that the show would go on. People arranged and organized transportation to make up for the loss of 20,000 parking spots. I was impressed with how well our grounds crew took care of the field and got the tarp off the field in time for pre-game warm-ups and the game.
My weekend started with the parade—I met my family along College Avenue outside Kranich’s Jewelers — about the same place where I watched the parade when I was young.
As I stood along College Avenue, my two-year-old joyfully yelled “Daddy, Big Bird” as a Sesame Street-themed float went by. Just that small moment of happiness was all I ever really needed to see over the weekend. Don’t get me wrong — I’ll take the win too — but memories of my kids’ parade night excitement will last in my mind longer than the plays that made up that win.
I have my own childhood memories of watching the parade outside the Tavern on those cool, crisp fall evenings of my youth. Then, as now, the highlight was the Blue Band charging up College Avenue playing “Hail to the Lion.”
My hats off to all the people who helped make that parade possible and to all the fans who called their own audibles and changed their plans at the last minute. Seeing more than 100,000 people make it into the stadium either by foot, shuttle, bus or carpool was really inspiring.
- Borough Council’s “Nuisance Party Law”
On another note: I have been reading about a “Nuisance Party Law” that the Borough of State College is considering. Now I must disclose that I am not a resident of the Borough, but in reading about this possible law I cringed.
The law would make it possible to go after party hosts for things their guests do after they leave a party. They would be responsible for hosting a “Nuisance Party” that led to illegal activities by their guests.
I hope this law (or any variation of this law) never passes. It is clearly aimed at college students. I doubt that every 40 or 50-year-old pulled over for D.U.I. will be asked what party they were at and that the police will then go after that party host. I would bet that a 21-year-old college student will surely be asked where he or she was drinking before they got pulled over for D.U.I.
It seems to me that 18-year-olds who choose to urinate on someone’s lawn or do something else stupid are responsible for their own behavior. They and they alone are responsible for what they do. What is next, will we go after Yuengling Brewery because they sold the beer to the host of the party who gave the beer to the public urinator?
I would hope that the Borough Council has better things to do than to further consider this law. It smells like a tool to create witch hunts to go after students and to crush some of the things they do socially — things many of us did socially at their age.
There are much better ways to try to limit illegal activities than by going after people who did not commit crimes. Hold the perpetrators responsible for what they have done and let that be the end of it.
- Sports Illustrated profile of Joe Paterno
One last note as I close this column: Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski has written a phenomenal eight-page story on Joe Paterno that is running in this week’s issue . It is also available on its Web site. It is one of the best pieces ever written on Joe, and it evokes a lot of emotions for me as a family member and as a Penn State alumnus.
The piece serves as a letter to Joe’s father — Angelo Lafayette Paterno, who died about 50 years ago. Angelo’s example and his words have been driving Joe’s efforts as a member of the Penn State community for 60 years.
I never met my paternal grandfather, but knowing what I know about him, I am sure he would have loved this article, and I am sure he would have loved seeing what his son has accomplished as a husband, as a father, as a grandfather, as an educator, as a philanthropist and as a coach.
That’s the news from Spring Creek…
