Lion Land

What else am I going to do? Cut grass? ~Joe Paterno

Three years ago, if someone had told me that I would devour a book about football, I would have snorted in disbelief. Four or five years ago, if someone had told me that the book would be about Joe Paterno, I would have responded with not only a snort, but also a blank stare. Joe who? Funny how things can change. (Maybe this is also a sign that nonfiction and I are on-again.)

Before I arrived at Penn State, I could name where most NFL teams played, but that was the extent of my football vocabulary. It must be near impossible to remain that ignorant about football once one becomes a Penn Stater, though. By the end of my first week, I had plans to tailgate with my FastStart alumni mentor, two tickets to the first game of the season, thanks to another FastStart mentor I met by chance, and a real sense of school spirit, thanks to all the pep-rallying that went on. Be A Part from the Start? Football Eve? Whatever they were, I think Tamara and I were thoroughly awed and sold on the idea of Penn State football before the first game even started.

That first football Saturday is now a blur to me, but I recall that I learned at least the basics of the sport from Ed - and that we won! All of a sudden, it became clear to me why football was so important to Penn State and perhaps the collegiate experience in general. Is there any other middle-of-nowhere town where nearly 110,000 rabid fans can gather on fall weekends to share in a few hours of revelry? (Okay, maybe Ann Arbor...) Those highlight-reel videos they play might have saccharine and cliched captions, but in Beaver Stadium, there really are moments where it feels like you've come to watch the game with a hundred thousand of your closest friends.

Of course, I suppose the camaraderie only truly comes out when your team is winning. After finishing The Lion in Autumn by Frank Fitzpatrick, which chronicles the 2004 losing season, I consider myself pretty lucky to have started at Penn State the year after. I honestly don't think I'd be nearly as invested in Penn State or football in general if 2005 hadn't been a markedly different comeback year, with the team going 10-1 and winning the Orange Bowl against FSU (in a game we thought would never end!). It's not as if I camp out at Paternoville or have even attended more than a handful of games, but when Penn State's playing, you can bet I'll be tuning in.

Not knowing anything about the 2004 season, I found it fascinating to read about, though it was slightly distressing to get through what were almost play-by-plays of the games with a surprising urgency to find out the result... only to discover that Penn State had lost. (It was a 4-7 season; you can imagine that this happened over and over.) The book also covers a lot of JoePa's background and highlights previous banner seasons. The author paints a pretty favorable picture of the coach, and I respect JoePa even more now, after reading about his commitment to Penn State as well as his overall classiness.

I'm more excited than ever, then, to return to Penn State this fall (or, should I say, in less than two weeks). Looking back, though football wasn't a factor at all when I made my decision, thank goodness I took a spring co-op! What would I have done if I had ended up away from school for my final football season (er, nearly everyone else's final football season)? I mean, as I signed on to buy season tickets earlier this summer, hours after they became available (because I'd completely forgotten about the sale...), I thought I was going to hyperventilate! Who would've ever thought I would be so interested in Penn State football? Thankfully, the senior day (holy crap, we're seniors?!?) was the only day on which tickets did not sell out in a matter of minutes. Little miracles.

Football is certainly not the only reason I love Penn State, but it's played a rather large role in cultivating my school pride. Clearly, I greatly underestimated the power of the sport. Maybe years down the road, I'll be back at Beaver Stadium, parking my RV, firing up the grill (okay, who am I kidding? I'm not a very good feminist; my husband will be doing those things), reliving college memories with old friends. Considering that just a few years ago, I didn't even know what tailgating meant (following the driver in front of you too closely aside), it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. Oh, how far I've come.