Why do you love Penn State the way you do?

[Psychedelic_MackDaddy]

I've asked myself that question everyday since 11/2011.

As I learn more about humans and human behavior, the more cynical I become. It's like a cancer: destroying my idealistic cells for a new matrix. A matrix that I fear will inevitably eat me from the inside out, btw. And, I am starting to seriously consider that the cancer will win.

 

[Woodpecker]

How does Noam know that?

 

[Nitt1300]

Good question. I know why I came to love it.

But so much of what that was has been destroyed, sometimes I'm not sure there is enough left.

 

[PSU-Knocker]

PRIDE!!!!! Penn State has handled athletics the correct and honorable way as long as I am aware of. Also, Paterno has done it honorable and produced one of the most competitive Teams in the Country!
The school is academically one of the best!

 

[Obliviax]

How does Noam know that?

Because Noam is smarter than us. And if you were smart, you'd know that. But then, you'd also know that you don't know.

I know, I know.

 

[Woodpecker]

Because Noam is smarter than us. And if you were smart, you'd know that. But then, you'd also know that you don't know.

I know, I know.

Yeah, I knew that ... or did I?

 

[N&B4PSU]

Joe Paterno

 

[mn78psu83]

Because Noam is smarter than us. And if you were smart, you'd know that. But then, you'd also know that you don't know.

I know, I know.

Damned language!

 

[marshall23]

I am not an alum. I was born and raised outside of Shamokin and attended Southern Columbia HS. I wanted to play college football and that was never going to happen at Penn State. Growing up in the mid to late 60s as a HS FB player and fan....there was a great deal of excitement about the program that Joe was putting together. At that time, all I saw were the win-loss results. My high school coach was Joe Sarra and later my college coach was Bernie Sabol, so there was some PSU FB flavor to my very undistinguished playing career. As time progressed and I became a high school coach, I bought in to JVP's philosophy. Football players did not have to be goons or gorillas. They would understand that being part of the program was a privilege and there would be academic and behavioral standards. As coaches we needed to understand that our responsibilities to teach went far beyond blocking and tackling. Winning without good citizenship and integrity was not victory. I modeled after Joe and spent a great deal of time equating for my teams the lessons on the field with challenges the players might face later in life.
As you see the in picture above, I was able to take my sons to practice and point to what went on there and say "that is how things are done the right way."
If PSU FB ever abandoned the "success with honor" I would no longer be a fan. After Joe was assassinated, I drifted for awhile under O'Brien. I never got a clear picture of his core values. When JF was hired I was intrigued, as a niece has been friends with him since elementary school.
I am very happy with how James Franklin controls the football program. JVP would be a very staunch supporter as well, IMO.

 

[Obliviax]

I am not an alum. I was born and raised outside of Shamokin and attended Southern Columbia HS. I wanted to play college football and that was never going to happen at Penn State. Growing up in the mid to late 60s as a HS FB player and fan....there was a great deal of excitement about the program that Joe was putting together. At that time, all I saw were the win-loss results. My high school coach was Joe Sarra and later my college coach was Bernie Sabol, so there was some PSU FB flavor to my very undistinguished playing career. As time progressed and I became a high school coach, I bought in to JVP's philosophy. Football players did not have to be goons or gorillas. They would understand that being part of the program was a privilege and there would be academic and behavioral standards. As coaches we needed to understand that our responsibilities to teach went far beyond blocking and tackling. Winning without good citizenship and integrity was not victory. I modeled after Joe and spent a great deal of time equating for my teams the lessons on the field with challenges the players might face later in life.
As you see the in picture above, I was able to take my sons to practice and point to what went on there and say "that is how things are done the right way."
If PSU FB ever abandoned the "success with honor" I would no longer be a fan. After Joe was assassinated, I drifted for awhile under O'Brien. I never got a clear picture of his core values. When JF was hired I was intrigued, as a niece has been friends with him since elementary school.
I am very happy with how James Franklin controls the football program. JVP would be a very staunch supporter as well, IMO.

Very well said. I couldn't go to PSU (wasn't a good enough athlete and didn't have the mullah to pay). But I was captured by the Grand Experiment. He won football games the right way. Many in my family were domers, being Roman Catholic by upbringing. My first big time college game was watching Otis Armstrong play against a ND D-lineman freshman phenom named Steve Niehaus (who tore his knee later and was never the same).

If it wasn't for Joe V P, I'd probably be a domer.

 

[marshall23]

Very well said. I couldn't go to PSU (wasn't a good enough athlete and didn't have the mullah to pay). But I was captured by the Grand Experiment. He won football games the right way. Many in my family were domers, being Roman Catholic by upbringing. My first big time college game was watching Otis Armstrong play against a ND D-lineman freshman phenom named Steve Niehaus (who tore his knee later and was never the same).

If it wasn't for Joe V P, I'd probably be a domer.

My first PSU Game was 1966 when my high school football boosters treated us to a game against Syracuse. I do remember Floyd Little returned a punt and PSU lost. I didn't realize that it was JVP's first year until many years later. I recall sitting on HS like bleachers in the end zone at The Beav.

 

[N&B4PSU]

I am not an alum. I was born and raised outside of Shamokin and attended Southern Columbia HS. I wanted to play college football and that was never going to happen at Penn State. Growing up in the mid to late 60s as a HS FB player and fan....there was a great deal of excitement about the program that Joe was putting together. At that time, all I saw were the win-loss results. My high school coach was Joe Sarra and later my college coach was Bernie Sabol, so there was some PSU FB flavor to my very undistinguished playing career. As time progressed and I became a high school coach, I bought in to JVP's philosophy. Football players did not have to be goons or gorillas. They would understand that being part of the program was a privilege and there would be academic and behavioral standards. As coaches we needed to understand that our responsibilities to teach went far beyond blocking and tackling. Winning without good citizenship and integrity was not victory. I modeled after Joe and spent a great deal of time equating for my teams the lessons on the field with challenges the players might face later in life.
As you see the in picture above, I was able to take my sons to practice and point to what went on there and say "that is how things are done the right way."
If PSU FB ever abandoned the "success with honor" I would no longer be a fan. After Joe was assassinated, I drifted for awhile under O'Brien. I never got a clear picture of his core values. When JF was hired I was intrigued, as a niece has been friends with him since elementary school.
I am very happy with how James Franklin controls the football program. JVP would be a very staunch supporter as well, IMO.

Well said, Sir. My Pop was from Shamokin and I think there is a core group of hard nosed working class peeps who identified more easily with what Joe was doing (and trying to do). Miss him (and my Dad, too).

 

[GoPSU2012]

Easy...I went there, my parents went there, a grandparent went there, aunt and uncles, cousins went there and a great uncle was a captain that played there in the late 30's. Great up with my brother going up to games seeing his picture in rec hall. First game with pops and gpops was PSU first big ten game in 93. I was 4. Most importantly, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for PSU as my parents met there.

 

[NICNEM_PSU80]

Believe it or not, even though I was a HS football player (not good enough for the College game) I picked PSU because it had the number one AE program in the world.

As time went along I feel in love with the team and the school. As I listened to what JoePa had to say and his ethics I became an admirer of Joe not because he was great at football but because he did it the right way.

Success With Honor! That is why I love this school. Its is home away from home. I grew up there. Joe became a second father figure. The school was one big family. In time Joe helped bring the level of academics up at PSU. There is no reason why we should try to excel at everything the school does. Rodless didn't get it, doesn't get it and will never get it. We want to be the best at everything we do both academically as well as athletically. That's what Joe taught us and he did it the right way.

Success With Honor, the Joe Paterno way.

 

[kgilbert78]

I got a chance to get a first rate education when my dad was out of work for two years during my first two years in school.

 

[cvilleelkscoach]

As I tell my football players, I was born and raised in the shadow of Beaver Stadium on the foothills of Mount Nittany. There was no hospital in State College when I was born in 1959. I was born in the hospital in Spring Township outside Bellefonte. I refuse to say I was born in Bellefonte. LOL. My Dad was assistant director of ARL formerly ORL at Penn State. My Mom a PSU grad. My great grandmother was the house mother at Tau Phi Delta fraternity in the 50s. My Dad introduced me to to Joe Paterno in 1966 in the Elks club in downtown SC. We learned Penn States fight songs in music class in elementry school and junior high. Growing up in State College, I spent more time on campus than most PSU students including playing basketball in Rec Hall and lifting in the weight room. Attending PSU and wearing the blue and white means more to me than anything.

All the stuff that happened the last 5 years have been painful to me and my family. My wife and son also alums of PSU. Unlike so many on here I refuse to allow the idiots in charge sway my love for the school and what it stands for. Those people will pass with time. The school and those who love it will stand tall and survive. We continue to support the athletic department financially because the athletes need our support. I still have my JVP magnet on the back of my car. I love Penn State because of what it has meant to my life and what it stands for. Though we live out of state we bought a home in SC so we can always be close by.

For the glory!

 

[cvilleelkscoach]

My story is almost identical to cvilleekscoach. It's in my blood and in the blood of every family member; brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents and great grandparents. If you added up the cumulative years that my family has worked for the University and attended school at the University it would be in the hundreds of years....Hundreds....It goes back 4 generations. Not an exaggeration.

FWIW, My dad worked at ORL/ARL for 40 years.

My Dad was a little under 40 year. Retired professor emeritus in 83 and passed away in 85. He moved down from Harvard with Eric Walker after the war when the then under water research lab moved to PSU. The dumb CDT in an article on the move called it the underwear research lab. LOL.

 

[Mr. Potter]

Joe Paterno

I second this

 

[psuro]

For the same reason a fat kid loves cake.

 

[Nittany18]

The 1997 PSU v OSU game. Watched that game and fell in love with Penn State and college football. I've never wavered since nor will I.

 

[marshall23]

cville,

I got a chuckle out of the Rec Hall reference. I...we must know every nook and cranny of that old building. I spent my entire youth running away from campus cops in that building. Sneaking into locked gyms, playing racquetball & squash.

Here's a good townie story, as a student, I spent the night with a girl friend in her dorm. I got up early the next morning before anyone on the floor would notice and snuck out a side door/alcove. Bam! I ran smack dab into my aunt on her way to work. She clearly knew it was a female dorm and all she said was "well, good morning sunshine!" I was totally busted.

The only thing that would make that story better would be if your aunt said "good morning lucky."

 

[Psychedelic_MackDaddy]

I guess, I should have been more clear. I meant the University as a whole.

I like to think WE ARE special. But, I have my doubts. And, those doubts are growing.

Not too long ago, I watched "The Big Short". Prior to the movie, I owned "Inside Job". So, what's "really" changed since? People still love America. Still believe. Not sure why?

I work with a PLETHORA of Philippines. I think many of you would be appalled at their response to their (ahem) Nazi President and his (ahem) final solution.

I know why I FELL in love with Penn State. I just don't know why I REMAIN in love with Penn State. Or, why I REMAIN allegiance to USA.

All the evidence points to a direction that I choose not to go, but am ending there against my wishes, anyway. Is that not the true meaning of cynicism?

 

[artsandletters]

I am not an alum. I was born and raised outside of Shamokin and attended Southern Columbia HS. I wanted to play college football and that was never going to happen at Penn State. Growing up in the mid to late 60s as a HS FB player and fan....there was a great deal of excitement about the program that Joe was putting together. At that time, all I saw were the win-loss results. My high school coach was Joe Sarra and later my college coach was Bernie Sabol, so there was some PSU FB flavor to my very undistinguished playing career. As time progressed and I became a high school coach, I bought in to JVP's philosophy. Football players did not have to be goons or gorillas. They would understand that being part of the program was a privilege and there would be academic and behavioral standards. As coaches we needed to understand that our responsibilities to teach went far beyond blocking and tackling. Winning without good citizenship and integrity was not victory. I modeled after Joe and spent a great deal of time equating for my teams the lessons on the field with challenges the players might face later in life.
As you see the in picture above, I was able to take my sons to practice and point to what went on there and say "that is how things are done the right way."
If PSU FB ever abandoned the "success with honor" I would no longer be a fan. After Joe was assassinated, I drifted for awhile under O'Brien. I never got a clear picture of his core values. When JF was hired I was intrigued, as a niece has been friends with him since elementary school.
I am very happy with how James Franklin controls the football program. JVP would be a very staunch supporter as well, IMO.

Nice post chrome dome.

 

[Nitwit]

My father died while I was in high school and my mom never worked outside the home. While we were "middle class", there wasn't much income and my scholarship and summer jobs enabled me to make PSU's fairly modest tuition 50 years ago, and other costs. What I learned about living during those four years set me up for the rest of my life. Happy Valley will always feel like a second home to me. And now I know the secret hand shake.

 

[cvilleelkscoach]

cville,

I got a chuckle out of the Rec Hall reference. I...we must know every nook and cranny of that old building. I spent my entire youth running away from campus cops in that building. Sneaking into locked gyms, playing racquetball & squash.

Here's a good townie story, as a student, I spent the night with a girl friend in her dorm. I got up early the next morning before anyone on the floor would notice and snuck out a side door/alcove. Bam! I ran smack dab into my aunt on her way to work. She clearly knew it was a womens dorm and all she said was "well, good morning sunshine!" I was totally busted.

Great story. I never got use to bumping into my Dad on campus between classes. Though once and a while I hit him up to take me to lunch.

 

[psu1969a]

Why do I love Pennsylvania State University? Success with Honor. The Grand Experiment. WE DON'T CHEAT!

BTW, we have never had a NCAA major infraction!