At a game where the originators of the "We Are...Penn State" chant were in attendance, We Were... not a good Penn State student section. I've never been embarrassed to be a Penn State student before this weekend, but the display put on by my fellow students infuriated me and the majority of students trying to watch the game and cheer for the Nittany Lions. It was ridiculous.
I have a couple of problems with what happened. First of all, safety. It was cute that you and your friends thought it'd fun to have a snowball fight, but come on! The snow some idiots were throwing wasn't just white and fluffy, it was heavy, wet, and icy snow. That can be very dangerous, and even though I personally don't know anyone who was injured, I would bet the barn that someone was hit in the eye or face. The last thing we should worry about while attending a game is our safety (unless we cheer so hard during "Zombie Nation" the steel Coliseum known as Beaver Stadium decides to give out!). But I'll trust the engineers on that one. Sitting with two of my good friends and the rest of our row, I counted nearly ten times one of us took an ice ball to the head in a 20 minute span. That's awesome, I love getting icy cold water down my neck in 30 degree weather. Not.
The entire Penn State sideline had to take their attention away from the game and make sure they weren't whacked with a snowball. All of the alumni (those who paved the way for us!) and cheerleaders on the sideline were the majority of victims being hit. Ki-Jana Carter looked like a flashback to the 1994 season, except instead of shaking defenders he was shaking off snowballs from some punk. Do you kids even know who he is!? He's the reason you love Penn State, he's one of the guys that has made us all fall in love with Penn State football and cheer like we do. I don't think he or any of the other alumni enjoyed the attack of the snowballs. Then, as Penn State was driving in the second quarter some geniuses though it a good idea to try and hit the Minnesota players and the refs. Great idea. One, we could get a penalty against our team. Two, the referees would most likely not be happy about that and forget to blow the whistle on some holding calls against Minnesota. And three, the Minnesota players don't need that crap. They're out there trying to take on our Nittany Lions and some jerk in the stands thinks it's funny to whip a snowball at them. Either way though, the snow probably doesn't even phase those Gophers! The weather on Saturday was like Hawaii to them.
It took two announcements over the PA system as well as our captains and starters to come to the student section and yell at you to stop. What are you, 5 years old? If you want to tell Jared Odrick it's fun to throw snowball and you don't care what he says. Go for it. And good luck...
The worst part about the snowball episode was after the snowballs stopped falling. During half-time the 1946-1947 Nittany Lion football team was honored. For those of you not at the game, the 46-47 Lions were the originators of the "We Are...Penn State" chant. They stood up to racism and segregation by declining to play (and lodge) without their black teammates and let the country know that Penn State doesn't stand for that. They let the country know that "those who came before us and those who will come after us have some respect for all and pride". So to those of you who wanted to impress your friends and throw snowballs, before you clapped for those elder Lions, you should have thought about what they stand for and if they would have approved your actions. And before you decide to do something stupid again remember the pride we carry as Penn Staters. Many of is don't want to be associated with students who disrespect others and shame our school. So next time you or a friend are about to do something that would give Penn State a bad name, think for a millisecond, and remember that We Are...All Penn State and what you do will reflect back on your school.
(Still) Love ya Lions!
Mike
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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1 comment:
I just wanted to say, I completely agree with what Mike said about this. As someone who came to Penn State so that I could be amongst the most pride-filled college students in the nation, I have never been more embarrassed to be associated with a group of people. I was more sad then mad even, because as a student body, one represents all, and that's what WE ARE means anyway isn't it? So when you do something to draw negative attention, you draw it towards all 40 some thousand of us.
P.S. The refs in this game were MORE than gracious for not throwing an unsportsmanlike flag. It shouldn't take 2 PA announcements for you to realize you're actin' a fool.
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