Game Day Experience at Penn State
You can watch all of Penn State’s home games on television but until you visit Happy Valley for yourself, you have no idea how special of an event every Penn State home game truly is.
After visiting with clients in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon I decided to stick around town and take in the Hershey High School football season finale with my travel buddy the Sham man. I was starting to get real excited for my trip to the land of Happy and the Friday night lights Hershey game was the warm up. After Herhsey High thumped some team we got in the car and traveled to a hotel about 45 minutes away from Penn State’s campus with plans on going to the Penn State-Ohio State showdown at 3:30 on Saturday. Shammy’s mother, a Penn State alumni, started school there the first year Joe Paterno was head coach. She was going to meet us up there at the game with her husband Dave. We left our hotel or should I say motel at 8 am and headed toward campus. The highway drive to the game had cars decorated in Penn State colors with flags streaming and Nittany Lion pride showing. I already knew this was going to be scene like no other.
The town and campus transforms from an academic setting to a football frenzy on football Saturdays. These weren’t students, these were die-hard Penn State football fans. I didn’t see one student with a book bag the entire day. No joke. I assume for at least one day a week, the students put down their books in favor of a white Penn State t-shirt and a passion for Nittany Lion football. Judging by the partying going on these kids might never pick up their books. I sure miss college!
The town was incredible. We bought some white Penn State gear expecting a complete white-out but it turned out it was only a student white-out. John Cappelletti, former Penn State running back and 1973 Heisman Trophy winner, was sitting inside one of the stores signing autographs. The campus itself was a site to see. We waited on line for over 30 minutes at the creamery in the middle of campus which is known for the best ice cream in PA. It was worth the wait.
The tailgating scene outside of Beaver Stadium was unreal. I’ve never seen tailgating like that at any sporting event I’ve been to. It looked like a modern day Woodstock. Walking toward the stadium and looking down the hill at the parking lots,
there were cars and cars for miles. In all directions it was a sea of white and blue with tents and smoke along with the aroma of grilling. People were barbecuing, drinking and having a blast. Each individual tailgate party put their own Nittany Lion spin on tailgating. It was an unbelievable site. I love this country.
This one day of Penn State football made me once again second guess my choice of school. Boston University didn’t have anything like this. All we had was hockey. If I had visited Penn State on a game day when I was in high school I would be a Penn State alumni today. Well actually I probably wouldnt have got in considering my stellar grades back in high school.
For the game we had great seats on the 10-yard line, 30 rows up. The whited-out student section never sat down. The passion and energy out of the student section is indescribable. I loved it when during a timeout the 
student section broke out singing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. That brought me back to my college days.
Expecting a nightmarish traffic situation after the game with over 100,000 people pouring out of Beaver Stadium, I took off in the second half. Chris stayed until the end and spent two hours in the parking lot. I was able to make it back to New York City in just over three hours. No traffic at all, not even on the GW.
Penn State was a fascinating experience. The students, tailgating, and overall atmosphere of the University and Happy Valley itself on a fall football Saturday goes unmatched to anything I’ve experienced before. It’s an event I just might have to add to the 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live next year!
2 Comments on “Game Day Experience at Penn State”
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Awesome stuff, nothing like a D-1 football game to make you reconsider where you went to school
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There's not too many, if any, college football stadiums and teams that rival the experience at Penn State.
