Game of a Lifetime

The story starts with Phil and his good friend from college Erik.  Phil is a Penn State football fan and Erik is a Nebraska fan.  They are now both in the Big Ten conference and were scheduled to play each other.  Phil's brother, Steve, is a PennState alumn and so we asked him to try to get us tickets for the game clear back before the season.  The game was sold out and we couldn't get tickets.  Fast forward to just 2 short weeks ago and you might have heard Penn State in the news...a lot over a big scandal.  Now I have thoughts and opinions on the scandal and have shared them with anyone who asks, but that isn't what this post is about, so I will only mention it briefly.  Anyway, Joe Paterno (as seen in a january post of this year) has been the coach at Penn State forever and it came out that this would be his last home game as the coach.  Steve was offered 4 tickets to the game and asked Phil and Erik to drive out.  With the scandal we weren't sure what to do.  Then it came out that Joe Pa was fired and riots broke out and we were a little concerned. BUT...it is a Penn State game that would go down in history so we decided that Phil simply couldn't miss it..So Friday evening about 7 pm Phil and Erik left from Erik's house and headed to Penn State which is over an 8 hour drive. After stopping to sleep in the car for awhile, they finally arrived at Penn State.  They pulled in to park, expecting the $40 fee to park when the man slid a pass in their window and told them the man in front of them had said to give it to the next car! Wow!  What a blessing! Here are Steve, Phil and Erik by the stadium (notice above them is the Nittany Lion mascot).

No visit to PennState is complete without a visit to the Joe Pa statue.  No matter what your views are of him...he is a legend there and it is a neat area to see.

Amidst the controversy this next picture of a mural on campus is very interesting.  This is a mural of famous/important people who have graduated from Penn State and gone out and made a difference in the world.  Two weeks ago the empty seat you see on the left bottom side of the picture had Jerry Sandusky in it. He is the former asst. coach that has been charged on numerous counts with some BAD stuff.  Well, they called in the artist during this week of turmoil at PennState and had him painted out of the picture.  In the seat if you look closely you can see a blue ribbon...that stands for Child Abuse Awareness.  I thought it was amazing that in such a quick time they had this "fixed".

Phil, Erik, Steve and Heidi were on campus plenty early and were able to watch the buses roll in with the players and see them go into the stadium.  Here's the lead bus bringing them in...

Here the fans clap and shout for the team buses all lined up and unloading the players.

Because of everything that had gone on that week, the security was pretty high. There was even a bomb threat at the stadium, which Phil so kindly texted me about to get me anxious! There were police on horses all over the place.

Steve and Heidi before the game.

Phil before the game.

The tunnel of band and alumni for the players to run through to get on the field.  The Nittany Lion and the flags all come through in front of the team.  They had awesome seats...on the corner of the endzone in the 11th row up!

The team came through the tunnel with arms linked to show their unity.

Because of all that was/is going on emotions were very high at the stadium.  After both teams made their way to the field, both teams, along with alumni, coaches, etc...kneeled down in the middle of the field all together and prayed for the victims in the child abuse scandal.  This was paired with a moment of silence for the victims.  As I watched on tv I had tears rolling down my cheeks and Phil said there weren't many dry eyes in the stands.  He said it was very powerful and an experience he won't forget.

Penn State ready to score! 

The game was a good one to see...They were down 14-0 and came back to almost get the win with a 14-17 loss.  It was very exciting and Phil said that it was simply crazy and unbelievable there.  I'm so glad and thankful that Heidi took all of these amazing pictures for me...I know there are a lot here, but there were 130 pictures to choose from...they are all so good.  Thanks Heidi!

Right after the game, Phil and Erik left to come home.  With a short stop to sleep for awhile, Phil finally came in the door about 4:30 am Sunday morning...what a whirlind of a trip, but for Phil it was totally worth it...it truly was the game of a lifetime!