awag777
Second Row of Williams Arena
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2009
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My friends and I made the lengthy trek to Penn State this past weekend, and here's a few thoughts on Penn State Fans.
Penn State Fans are by far the classiest in the nation. By far. Every fan we talked to, bar none, gave us a "good luck!" and commended us for coming out that far. They didn't even want to give us light-hearted prodding. Nice nice people. Tailgaters gave us drinks, invited us to play tailgate games, talked Big 10 football with us. We parked in a residential area about 2 miles from the stadium, and a woman came outside and offered to give us a ride to the stadium upon realizing we'd come from Minnesota. After the game, everyone wished us well the rest of the way, talked about how classy the Gopher program is and how they think we're a team heading in the right direction.
That being said...
"Best Student Section in the Nation" status (per ESPN, others) is only a valid label if they show up in all weather. I'm not sure how large their student section is, but I'd be hard pressed to say that their section was half full at any point during the game. And plus, making it even more unacceptable, it's homecoming. I was enormously disappointed by the crowd (I really don't give a rip about what the weather was like). We came to Penn State hoping to see, feel, and hear what a 110,000 seat sold out stadium was like, thinking it'd be the loudest sporting event we'd ever attended. The two decks above the student section were sparsely filled at BEST. Extremely disappointing. Gorgeous stadium though.
Not a ton of enthusiasm by the non-student section fans. Was there a standing ovation at any point in the game? Again, not sure if it was the weather, but not a single time where I was remotely concerned about crowd noise. TCF has been louder on a number of occasions than Beaver Stadium was at any point during the game.
The only grumpy fans we came across were the ones pissed at our mini-Gopher student section for standing. Ho-hum.
Thought their indoor concert inside the basketball arena by the Blue Band was nice. Not sure if that was just for homecoming, or if it's a weekly thing, but it was nice.
Disappointed the band wasn't able to march on the field for pregame or halftime. I understand why, with the natural grass/weather, but ugh. 2,000 mile round trip and I feel like I didn't really even experience a Penn State gameday.
I will also add to the chorus calling for Grey. I understand partially the "not in a hostile environment" argument, but this was HARDLY a "hostile" environment. This was not typical Penn State. The guy has to get experience eventually, and us being down 20-0 with 7 minutes left feels like as good an opportunity as any.
A sweep to the left on fourth and one? Not a great play call. Wish we could've at least scored a touchdown.
Penn State Fans are by far the classiest in the nation. By far. Every fan we talked to, bar none, gave us a "good luck!" and commended us for coming out that far. They didn't even want to give us light-hearted prodding. Nice nice people. Tailgaters gave us drinks, invited us to play tailgate games, talked Big 10 football with us. We parked in a residential area about 2 miles from the stadium, and a woman came outside and offered to give us a ride to the stadium upon realizing we'd come from Minnesota. After the game, everyone wished us well the rest of the way, talked about how classy the Gopher program is and how they think we're a team heading in the right direction.
That being said...
"Best Student Section in the Nation" status (per ESPN, others) is only a valid label if they show up in all weather. I'm not sure how large their student section is, but I'd be hard pressed to say that their section was half full at any point during the game. And plus, making it even more unacceptable, it's homecoming. I was enormously disappointed by the crowd (I really don't give a rip about what the weather was like). We came to Penn State hoping to see, feel, and hear what a 110,000 seat sold out stadium was like, thinking it'd be the loudest sporting event we'd ever attended. The two decks above the student section were sparsely filled at BEST. Extremely disappointing. Gorgeous stadium though.
Not a ton of enthusiasm by the non-student section fans. Was there a standing ovation at any point in the game? Again, not sure if it was the weather, but not a single time where I was remotely concerned about crowd noise. TCF has been louder on a number of occasions than Beaver Stadium was at any point during the game.
The only grumpy fans we came across were the ones pissed at our mini-Gopher student section for standing. Ho-hum.
Thought their indoor concert inside the basketball arena by the Blue Band was nice. Not sure if that was just for homecoming, or if it's a weekly thing, but it was nice.
Disappointed the band wasn't able to march on the field for pregame or halftime. I understand why, with the natural grass/weather, but ugh. 2,000 mile round trip and I feel like I didn't really even experience a Penn State gameday.
I will also add to the chorus calling for Grey. I understand partially the "not in a hostile environment" argument, but this was HARDLY a "hostile" environment. This was not typical Penn State. The guy has to get experience eventually, and us being down 20-0 with 7 minutes left feels like as good an opportunity as any.
A sweep to the left on fourth and one? Not a great play call. Wish we could've at least scored a touchdown.