Penn State Game

My roommates currently are planning to go. The "plan" currently consists of

• drive to Happy Valley
• get drunk
• come home

Times and locations TBA.

I went to Happy Valley for the 2006 game.  It's definitely a fun town but it can be intense for game weekends.  The students were mostly jackasses.  I'm in my 40's and didn't really interact with them other than hanging out in the same bars or tailgating in the same parking lots. 

I was sworn at, screamed at and had a beer thrown in my general direction.  The adult fans weren't much better.  The guy in the seat next to me kept yelling, "You're scum Lloyd".  Apparently he was still bitter about the two seconds being put back on the clock in 2005.  I was impressed at the number of Michigan fans who made the trip that year.  Jake Long's family also tailgated in our parking lot and that somehow made me feel better.

Anyway, I got a ticket for $100.  Other friends paid $125.  I went with a bunch of PSU grads and we rented a house on campus for the weekend.  Apparently the house is owned by the residents' parents and they make them get out on weekends to make a little extra money.

There's a decent (old) hotel right on campus that we stayed in the first night.  Very convenient.  I don't remember the name.  Hotels aren't plentiful or convenient so book early.

As far as food goes, definitely check out The Diner and The Cafe if you get a chance.  The Skellar is a good bar for Friday nights before the game.  It'll be packed with Alumni back in town for the game.

I'm optimistic about a good showing this year.  PSU's offense should be significantly downgraded from last year.  The D will still be good but they lost some players (Bowman, Lee....).  We'll learn a lot about Michigan's progress during this game.

for the flashback.

When I read the title, in my mind all I could see was SuperMario.

I went to the '06 and '08 games.

The '08 game was a good time despite the loss. We were recovering from the Toledo loss and it was a 4:30 start. Mostly they felt bad for us IMO.

HowevA, the '06 game was epic. I wore my #7 Henne jersey in the student section. They (students) were all drunk and still bitter about the last second game. The tailgating rowdiness wasn't terrible and actually pretty entertaining, but walking from the stadium was scary. Students just wanted blood.

That said, make sure you walk home with a chick. That tends to kill most of the hate.

FYI...find a friend and stay at their place, hotels are tough to find and very expensive on game weekends.

The great equalizer with opposing Big Ten fans is shared hatred for OSU. Break the ice with that and you are good to go.

The Creamery.  Peachy Paterno in a cone.  Essential.

• Rented an RV and stayed in the RV lots Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights
• Tickets ranged in price from face to $200.  Expect the high range more than the low range.  If you see some decent prices, don't be picky.
• We were slightly harassed, but nothing more than expected.  Went to campus for breakfast Friday morning and heard some grumbling.  Got harassed a little bit tailgating on Saturday morning but ended up hanging out with the "harassers" most of the day.  I usually find that if you accept that you are the visitor and choke down some humble pie, you can have a good time most every tailgate.
• Not an expert on Happy Valley restuarants.  Since we RVed it, we brought most of our food.  The Tigers were in the ALCS when we were there and we watched one of the games at Hooters, which is on campus.  Hooters might not be best known for their food, but I actually like their menu choices.

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/michigan-penn-state-8-pm-kickoff

Here is a thread from a few months ago with similar info - particularly as you read down the thread.

I didn't find the fans to be terribly awful.  Yeah, there's your usual cadre of drunk students, but it's no more or no less than when you go to East Lansing.  Columbus is an entirely different universe.  But it's not the norm by any means.

I mean, I was standing on a street corner with my buddy, we're both wearing jerseys.  This is '06, so I decided to be a little devious and wear my Manningham jersey.  We're obviously lost, as we're trying with little success to find the way to their Union to hit the bathrooms and maybe grab some food.  A student walks up to us and gives us directions, wishing us a good day as he left.  And we found our way.  Just walking around the parking lots around Beaver Stadium, we were offered food, beer, etc. at many, many PSU tailgates, and even stopped at a few of them because the people seemed really cool.  You don't see that on every campus.

I'd also add that everyone we encountered from PSU, from the ticket office to the parking lot attendants to the stadium staff were incredibly (almost uncomfortably) friendly and helpful.  We were traveling with someone who needed a handicap parking space, and so we called their ticket office to ask about it.  A few days later the pass showed up in the mail.  You're not going to find that everywhere.  I've gotten harassed enough by stadium attendants and campus safety people at lesser schools (Illinois was particularly bad) to realize how awesome that is.

Basically, anyone who says PSU is going to be some horrific, uncomfortable experience with drunken people doing awful things is completely wrong.  If you're respectful, if you don't go out of your way to be an asshole, you'll be fine.  It's a beautiful campus that's rather hard to get to, but it's a trip well worth taking.  I'd love to do it again.