Got back to the Bay Area late last night from my trip to State College and have to say that was quite an experience. A few posters here asked me to report back after the weekend so I thought I'd oblige them. My comments are somewhat random, and cover things other than the game. Hope people don't mind.
1. Thursday night. Spent much of Thursday night there, after flying into Baltimore and driving up. Stayed at the Days Inn on Pugh Street.. Amenities are not awesome, but decent, and the location can't be beat. Had dinner and drinks with the boys in Mad Mex. Love their margaritas, and their patio. It was 70 degrees at night, on October 19, in State College. Hard to believe.
Spent the rest of the night at the Skeller. What a great place. It just reeks of PSU and State College history and tradition. My kind of place. I know bars like Champs are popular with the students and younger alums, but you can go to a sports bar with multiple TV's and loud piped in music just about anywhere. There is only one Skeller. Got a tour from my son, who took me into the back portion where bands frequently play, and saw the caricatures of other Big Ten schools painted on the walls. Great stuff. Loved all of the memorabilia. Would hate to be down there if a fire broke out, but it was fantastic place
2. Friday in State College. The buzz on the day prior to a home football game is palpable. You can feel it walking down College Avenue and through campus. It was no doubt enhanced by the fact that Game Day was setting up, but still pretty incredible. Had to go to the Creamery. The line for ice cream was probably one hundred yards long, so we bought take out ice cream. Friday night, we went to a place called the Boalsburg Tavern (formerly Duffy's Tavern). Wonderful atmosphere and drinks. (Would not order the Jambalaya a second time, however.)
3. Saturday morning. Got to watch Game Day from an apartment which has a second floor balcony overhanging College Avenue, and is directly across from Old Main. About 70 yards from the Game Day stage. The crowd size and volume was amazing. I've never seen more people, or signs, at a Game Day.
4. Saturday afternoon. Attended a tailgater organized by the parents of my son's girlfriend, and there were roughly fifty people there. It was located about 80 yards east of the baseball stadium scoreboard, overlooking a very large Winnebago/RV parking area. Three tents, three BBQ grills, four banquet tables loaded with food, full bar (complete with two "shot skis"), corn hole, beer pong, life size cardboard cutout of Joe, the whole works. The scale of the tailgate scene was, along with the size of the crowd, perhaps the most memorable aspect of the weekend. I have never seen anything like it. At Cal, the football stadium is shoehorned into the campus and surrounding community. There are NO large expanses of grass or gravel parking areas in which to tailgate. My fraternity house was located one block (200 yards) from the stadium. That was convenient, but there is a lot to be said about having those large parking areas. They are obviously necessary for parking, but they have also fostered a PSU tailgate experience which I suspect few schools can match.
5. Saturday evening. We entered the Stadium on what I believe is the east side (the side that houses the luxury boxes). We sat in Section "EBU," about thirty rows down from where the year 2016 is written into the stadium wall. Pretty close to the student section. The crowd was enormous (apparently a PSU record at 110,000 plus), and bigger than any crowd I have ever seen. I think the size of the crowd was enhanced by the fact that everyone was wearing white (myself included). I have seen well over one hundred Lions' games on TV, but seeing a game in Beaver Stadium, it is apparent to me that you miss a lot by watching on TV. First, there are the pregame festivities (Blue Band performing, alma mater, drum major doing a flip and the splits, and the slick video production they showed on the scoreboards). They were great. They reminded me a lot of the pregame festivities at Bryant Denny Stadium. Really organized, and effective at pumping up the crowd.
Second, TV watchers miss a lot of the stuff that occurs during timeouts and other intermissions, when TV goes to commercials. The Blue Band plays during virtually every timeout or intermission, and the crowd really gets into it. There are quite a number of songs the lyrics of which the entire crowd has committed to memory. The Lionettes did a nice routine, and the crowd obviously appreciated their efforts. The lighted cell phones during "Sweet Caroline" was really a good touch. I was not all that enamored with the "Thriller" routine, but otherwise, the Lion was in great form. Looked like he went through some kind of hand off ceremony with the drum major just before the start of the game, but I could not tell exactly what it was. The white pom poms they give the students really work well for a White Out game.
In summary, I was really impressed, and look forward to going back for more games. I may get a chance pretty soon. My youngest son (a high school senior) was with us for the weekend, and PSU is in his top three schools for college.
