Operation Kilverine

Well, our IM football team is no longer undefeated. We lost on Thursday evening 14-12 to a team that had lost 62-0 the week before. The cold, strong wind played a HUGE factor in this game though, as neither team was able to score into the wind (we led 12-0 at the half). Oh well. We’ve just gotta regroup now and go out and win our next three games.
Football weekends are a really bad time to go out on the town on a Friday or Saturday night because all the bars and restaurants are absolutely packed out, and traffic is extraordinarily bad with 50-80,000 visitors in town. So last night Jacob, Mario & I went over to Walter’s place to play a game of “Lord of the Rings Risk.” It’s the second time I’ve played that version of “Risk,” and I really enjoy it. With the different board and the extra rules nobody can use their traditional “Risk” strategy, so it’s fun and new. It was a pretty long game, and after a good six and a half hours I managed to pull it out. It was kind of a strange game though, as in the late stages there were two separate battles for the same territory, where the invader had over 120 armies and the defender had over 50. Now that’s a lot of rolls of the dice!
All the talk around Happy Valley this week has been about the Penn State vs Michigan game. This is definitely the most-hyped and anticipated game on the Nittany Lions’ schedule this year, and it’s been circled on the calendar ever since the Wolverines beat Penn State 27-25 last year on the last play of the game (I won’t get into the series of atrocious officiating calls that allowed that play to happen in the first place). Penn State fans are extraordinarily bitter at Michigan, because the Wolverines have won the last 7 meetings between the two teams, and 8 of 11 overall.
With this game being televised nationally on ABC (okay, to the eastern two-thirds of the country), and with it being a night game (8pm EDT kickoff), the obvious comparison for this game is to the Ohio State game last year, which was a nationally televised game at night against a top-5 team. The major difference from last year to this year though (apart from PSU being undefeated at 5-0 and ranked in the teens before the Ohio State game, as opposed to being 4-2 and just outside the top 25 right now), is that last year all the excitement and exuberance in the week leading up to the game was more pro-Penn State than anything else, even though there’s no love lost between PSU and tO$U (THE Ohio $tate University). This year it’s quite different, it’s almost more about distaste for Michigan than positive support for the Nittany Lions. Penn State fans hate Michigan more than any other team (myself included, though that also comes from being a Golden Gopher fan growing up and being bitter about never having the Little Brown Jug…), and there literally is so much pent-up rage against Michigan that I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there are riots or some such incidents after the game tonight in State College, regardless of the outcome. I really hope that doesn’t happen, but it wouldn’t be a total surprise if it does.
Anyway, with Jeff [Frame] being such a die-hard Michigan fan (it’s his alma mater, so I guess that’s kind of an excuse…), we couldn’t let that slide without anything happening. So Vic & I hatched a plot, a covert operation dubbed “Operation Wolverine” to re-decorate Jeff’s office for Friday morning. Before Jeff got to Walker, we showed up with plenty of blue & white Penn State clothing, shakers, signs, pictures, rally towels, a footy scarf, and Vic brought up their life-size JoePa cardboard cutout and snuck Jeff’s beloved Wolverine stuffed animal out of their house. I’ve included three pictures here showing our handiwork. Take special note of the stuffed Wolverine: Vic bound and gagged it, and then hung it in a phone-cord noose from the ceiling. We didn’t hang it until Vic performed some spinal surgery on it, however, in order to remove its two batteries, to prevent it from playing the Michigan fight song, “Hail to the Victors,” when squeezed. When Jeff walked in and saw our display, the first thing he did was to squeeze the Wolverine, but got mildly upset when it didn’t play anything, haha. Then he rescued it from the noose, but apart from that he liked the display and wasn’t upset by it or anything. It’s just some good-natured teasing, that’s all. 🙂
So what’s my prediction for the game? Well, Michigan is ranked #4 in the country and I think is clearly the better team right now. If this game were being played anywhere other than here at Beaver Stadium at night, I’d pick Michigan to win. However, considering the absolute zoo that Beaver Stadium will be tonight (a stadium-wide whiteout, around 110,000 screaming fans, and everyone’s of course more jacked-up for a night game), and with how fired-up the players undoubtedly will be, I think the atmosphere and emotion will carry Penn State to a 17-13 victory. I think it’ll be a tough, defensive struggle, and the Nittany Lions definitely need to “uglify” the game to have a chance to win. If it turns into a shootout I highly doubt Penn State could keep up, especially with how good Michigan’s defense is.
Hail to the Lion, Loyal and True
Hail Alma Mater, with Your White and Blue,
Penn State Forever, Moulder of Men,
Fight for Her Honor, Fight, and Victory Again
Fight on State, Fight on State,
Strike Your Gait and Win.
Victory we Predict for Thee,
We’re Ever True to You, Dear Old
White and Blue.
Onward State, Onward State,
Roar, Lions, Roar!
We’ll Hit That Line, Roll Up the Score,
Fight on to Victory Evermore,
Fight on, on, On, on, on,
Fight on, on
Penn State!
If you wanna hear some of the above songs or other fight songs for the Big Ten, click here!
Well, it’s time for me to make some lunch, go pick up Andrew and then ruck up to the tailgate! I’m so pumped for the game, even though I don’t have a ticket! It should be an absolutely electric atmosphere everywhere in this town too all day, it’ll be fun!! Be sure to watch it on ABC tonight at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central, and be sure to cheer for the Nittany Lions!!!
WE ARE… PENN STATE!!
FOR THE GLORY OF OLD STATE, BEAT MICHIGAN!!
LET’S! GO! P.S.U.!