The rain poured down this Friday morning like cold shrapnel, taking the last of the leaves off the tree in my backyard. It was forming a bit of ice and slush on the porch and on my windshield. The skies are grey and the level of optimism for the weekend seems to be plummeting with the temperature.
This Saturday the weather will be in the 30's, cold and wet. There will be little to no sunshine, and the football team that so many in the area enjoy rooting for has been struggling for over a month since they lost to Ohio State.
Yet all I can think about is how this is another opportunity football team, and it's fans and alumni to prove themselves. To show up and support one another through another difficult climb.
Will we have enough love for each other that we still want to celebrate? That we still want to cheer on those athlete's that give it their all for one another and for those who came before them?
I will be attending tomorrow's game against Wisconsin, my first game since the Ohio State loss. I plan to eat some cheese, and maybe even have a glass of wine or two, and spend some time with friends and family talking about Penn State football, pop culture, and whatever else we want to celebrate.
A part of me can't wait to show up tomorrow. I can't wait to show my support for a team that has struggled through this season. Because I believe we need each other now more than ever.
For the past seven years this community has been healing and bonding, and we have achieved things far faster than anyone expected. We took the adversity the world had thrown our way and responded by doing the right things day in and day out.
I couldn't have been happier as two coaches helped push Penn State out of the mire and a positive attitude and an incredible zeal for doing things the right way kept the school and it's alumni together. Even in the losses and the struggles, you could see that the effort, passion, and exuberance to play for the sake of the game, for the sake of each other was still there.
I believe that tomorrow we will see exactly what type of team we will have to finish this season.
I do not expect a sell out crowd, I do not expect good weather, and I don't expect Penn State to play anywhere close to a perfect game.
But I do expect us to bring energy and enthusiasm to that stadium tomorrow. I expect that the fans that show to be loud and passionate just as I expect the players to do the same. I expect that we don't turn on one another, to point fingers at players and coaches and to instead pick each other up and encourage for the next play.
Penn State football will always be more than wins and losses. It will always be more than the size of the crowd. Penn State football, and Penn State athletics in general is about the pursuit of greatness in the face of adversity. It's about beating odds and not worrying about the weather. It's about being a great person as well as a competitor.
It's about doing the things that make each other and ourselves happy.
Tomorrow, win or lose, bad weather and all, I expect that I will leave with a smile on my face.
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