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Nov. 20, 2005 Penn State University’s head coach, Joe Paterno, will turn seventy-nine next month and reports he’s not even close to being done with football. The past four or five years have been tough ones for the coach. Almost every football critic and armchair athletic director were calling for his head. Such statements as, “he’s finished, washed up, too old, and out of touch” were heard all across the NCAA football world. On Saturday Joe proved many people wrong. The Nittany Lions once known as the beast from the east have won the Big Ten bid for a BCS bowl. Though it wasn’t the prettiest win they have had this year, it was a resounding and strategic one. It is only their second Big Ten title in ten years, but a well earned one. Last year they were a hapless 4 wins and 7 defeats. This year they jumped to ten wins and one defeat. They could have been 11 and 0, but for one last second catch by a Michigan tight end earlier in the season. I have watched Penn State football for at least twenty years and what I saw on Saturday was the old Penn State, hard hitting linebackers and in-your-face offense. It’s good to see some of the old power houses back on top again, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, and Penn State. It feels almost like real football again. Of course, you have to enjoy college sports to appreciate it and believe me I love college sports. A friend of mine asked me Friday if I was looking forward to watching the Colts and Cincinnati in the NFL. I said “no, but I can’t wait to watch Penn State play Michigan State in the Land Grant Series; IU and Purdue in the Old Oakin Bucket Series; the Auburn and Alabama series; and the Northwestern and Illinois series. God, I just love the college excitement.
Why is it? I thought you would never ask. It’s the mistakes, it’s watching young boys maturing to men, it’s the tradition, and it’s the fact that these young players are motivated by something more than money and signing autographs. They are fighting out on that playing field for a school steeped in historical rivalry, and for a coach that expects them to play their best on the field and off the field. They play for a program that doesn’t want to hear them whining about not getting a ten million dollar bonus. They play because they love football and there is something about that, that just makes sense to me. When the leaves begin to fall and the air gets chilly my blood courses through my veins faster than Michael Robinson can run down the field for another T.D. College sports are the greatest spectacles on television. Man, it just feels good.
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