Penn State (BIG 10) 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007

College:  Penn State (BIG 10)

Games:   2002 Penn State 40 Nebraska 7

                2003 BC 27 Penn State 17

                2005 Penn State 17 Ohio State 10

                2006 Michigan 17 Penn State 10

                2007  Penn State 31 Notre Dame 10

Rating:   10 out of 10

Cost:  Moderate

Tickets:  Difficult

Stadium:  Beaver Stadium

Description:   Since we’ve been five times we have to go game by game (see below).  I can’t adequately describe the RV city that converges starting the Thursday before the game.  You roll your vehicle into the fields and park in a spot where all you can see are other RVs.  It’s more of a festival than a football game.  People get crazy but I’ve never seen any trouble there….well other than when a couple of our guys threatened to destroy pizza's. 

                Penn State 40 Nebraska 7:  This was our college football deflowering!  It all started on the way in with Dave.  Dave was about six months old then, riding in the back of a pickup truck with Polychronopolus.  A couple of coeds saw him and asked if they could walk him around.  He immediately bit one girl in the ass and started humping the other one's leg.  That was not Dave’s last adventure of the weekend.

At this point for all we knew EVERY big time college football game was like this.  We got in late on a Friday and the area was already raging.  It continued for three days until the game was over.  I’m sure it didn’t hurt that Penn State had a couple of down years and this was the first big game there in a long time.

At Penn State you don’t stay in hotels because there aren’t any.  You have to get an RV.  I can’t remember what we used that first year, it might have been a pop up we borrowed from Ignatius P. Reilly’s aunt.  On Saturday Dave got loose right in the middle of the drinking and we had to chase him around for what seemed like an hour.  Other than that the weekend was a blur, I didn’t even remember who actually won the game until I looked it up.

               Attendees:   Bones, Polychronopolis, Ignatius P. Reilly, Dave

               BC 27 Penn State 17: After we had such a great time at the Nebraska game we came home and told everyone how great of an experience we had at Penn State.  This, coupled with the fact that BC was playing at Penn State the next year made it the perfect storm for a large group heading down the following year.  This was both good and bad.  Good because this was a very eventful trip and we were able to rent a real RV, bad because we had people who probably shouldn’t have been there.   The night before the game we got WASTED.  This excessive drinking resulted in two members of the group (WALTER WHITE and FULL COURT PRESS) splitting from the group and getting into an altercation.  The entire group went to the Crow Bar and proceeded to order pictures of Long Island Ice Teas.  Not the best of ideas if you want to have a responsible evening.  After consuming out share of these the group descended into chaos  and splintered.  Walter and Full Court found themselves wandering around campus. Walter saw some kids carrying pizzas and suggested to Full Court Press that he knock over the pizzas.  Evidently the mere suggestion of this kind of impropriety results in a full blown attack as the group of students overheard this and set upon our two heros resulting in some rather serious injuries.  In fairness it could have been worse.  Full Court received the worst of it with a broken finger (dammit, where was that wrestling background when you need it?) and Walter White getting punched in the testicles.  Fortunately it was not a complete brawl and no one had to go to the hospital.  I can’t say these guys deserved it but it’s not smart to talk shit at night on a college campus. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU MESS WITH STATE COLLEGE! 

               I believe this was also the trip that, after a night of drinking, some FUCKING ASSHOLE started blaring music at 7AM.  Walter went to confront the situation and fell off the top bunk in the RV.  The FUCKING ASSHOLE was not confronted but the rest of us got a good laugh.

               Misc:  After this game we drove to Buffalo for the opener against the Bills.  Fucking free for all Rich Stadium was, shitty experience all around. Fuck Buffalo, I hope they NEVER win a Super Bowl.  They kicked the shit out of the Patriots that day (The Lawyer Milloy game).  However the Pats turned it around and started a 21 game winning streak en route to the Super Bowl. Also, I don't think the Bills beat the Patriots again until 2011.  So FUCK YOU Buffalo, the shittiest of American cities. 

               Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolis, Ignatious P. Reilly, Full Court Press, Walter White, Big Enos

               2005 Penn State 17 Ohio State 10:  One of the benefits of our shit show night before the BC game was the fact that we were conscious of it the next year when we went back to Penn State for the Ohio State game.   Because of this we were sober when we got to the stadium for what was definitely one of the best games of the 00s and one of the best BIG 10 regular season games of all time.   

                This game had everything:  Penn State came in undefeated and Ohio State was ranked sixth with one close loss to Texas earlier in the year.  Texas would go on to win the National Championship over USC that year.   This was Ohio State’s last loss as they would go on to finish 11-2.  Penn State would lose only once that year (to Michigan the next week) and ended up beating Florida State in a great Orange Bowl game.    The crowd was insane, best crowd I’ve ever been a part of.  Loud from the opening kick until the final gun. 

               The only part I remember about the game itself is that it was the best defensive battle I’ve ever witnessed.  Both defenses hit hard all game.  You would think a 17-10 game would be boring but it wasn’t because both offenses were very good and the defenses had to play at a high level all game to keep them in check.    The middle linebackers in this game were AJ Hawk and Paul Posluszney.  The game wasn’t decided until the last minute when Tamba Hall sacked Troy Smith and PSU recovered the fumble. 

               After the game the students stormed the field.  Ignatius P. Reilly, who had great seats, went out their with them.  Polychronopolus and I were seated higher up and made our way down and got on the field as well.  We hung out there for a few minutes until the cops all got together and started clearing the field.  They were in riot gear so we got the hell out of there.  You don’t ever need to mess with cops in riot gear, it’s just not a good idea.  Here are some pics Ignatious took:

               This will always be the game all others are matched against.

               Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolus, Ignatius P. Reilly, Park League

               2006 Michigan 17 Penn State 10:  Word of this trip:  Blumpkin!  Brought to us by Park League.   All weekend we referenced a Blumpkin. This is what men do at times when “bonding”.  Here is the definition of the term

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blumpkin'

This game was not as good as the previous year, how could it be?  But it was still decent.  I remember thinking Chad Henne was going to be a good NFL QB.  I still think he could have been in the right situation.   This was a good trip, just had a tough act to follow with Ohio State.

               Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolus, Park League

               2007  Penn State 31 Notre Dame 10: Word of the trip: Smash.  A synonym for defecation brought to us by “Smash”.  I think at this point we had Penn State fatigue.  It had been five games in six years and we were ready to explore some different places.  Penn State will always be our first love, but at some point you have to move on.

               Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolus, Park League, Smash

Don’t Miss:  Photographing a bunch of mounted police from the back

Avoid:   Staying on the field too long after the Ohio State Game, staying in an RV with a bunch of dudes for 4 days straight

For the Record: The Sandusky scandal bears mentioning.  It was clearly a horrible situation and the football program should have been punished.  I personally think Paterno shares some of the blame and his legacy is tarnished.  The culture of hero worship at the University also shares some of the blame (as does our culture at large because this hero worship is not limited to Penn State).  However the University should not be punished forever and this does nothing to change the fact that Penn State has the most complete experience of anywhere the group has been.  It’s number one by a long shot, the only other spots that are in the same league are Auburn and LSU.

Game Recaps: 

Nebraska         http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=222570213

BC:                   http://www.frontiernet.net/~bchaffee/psu2003/02boston_college.shtml

Ohio State:       http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=252810213

            Michigan:         http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=262870213

            Notre Dame:    http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=272510213

When I made Smash aware of this blog here were his comments on the two Penn State trips that he attended:

- Park League and I saw Oil Can Boyd at Providence airport prior to taking off for one of them - We knew it was gonna be a great trip. I gave Oil the Jack Rush power sign and he reciprocated - he was donned in several gold chains, basically what's left of his MLB earnings. He'd tell you be could win 20 games today

- Park League and I able to tour PNC Bank park while waiting for the welcome wagon. We had half dozen beers in a Fridays built up into the right field bleachers that looked into the field ...  really cool ballpark and that team is playin well, mccutchen is the real deal. I think there's a pic of me jumping a statue of Willie Stargell or Roberto Clemente 

- saw Park League in very rare form after we ordered several PITCHERS of rum&coke from that Penn St bar on the strip that would literally make you a pitcher of anything. That walk home was wild, I was wasted but had a lot of energy

- Polychronopolous picking up a strange, half empty beer from the sidewalk just outside the stadium as we were entering and drinking it .... His buzz was in the 8th inning and he needed it to complete game. That was legend

- you & I had a steady session party goin' for one of the trips, made even boring walks to the shit house that much more interesting

- one of maybe 20 people in a stadium full of 110k not wearing white during a white out. Also, you and I fired up a cigarette in the stands. Nearby fans were not impressed

- consecutive pilgrimages to Pittsburgh for NFL. Both times we went to that same bar by Heinz field to catch action - cool place. PLEASE tell me someone remembers the rotund black woman who told us she would see Rothleisberger partying with Screetch (kid from saved by the bell) ? She literally asked "y'all know Screetch? That muthf'r..  "  i think she had a few drunken run ins with him, he being the drunk  Yes, I do remember this woman.  She also told us that Heinz Ward would bang anything with legs.  

- the local Pittsburgh ballet where we stayed for what felt like 4 hrs I heard two life stories (cost was 50 dollars apiece to listen)

- partying at the other camper lot where Ross had a connection....freshman girls wasted telling us their folks will be greeted with sub par report cards .... Everyone went into the game and we stayed... Polychronopolous did something funny, can't recall - called someone from a 3rd party's cell phone If memory serves?  Both Tim and I did this.  We were in a prank phone calling phase at that time. 

- the image of 1000 RV's pulling into fields a day and a half before the game ....