Conversion vs. inborn: the factors in fan-aticism
By ERIC YODER
Daily Collegian Sports Writer
Some people are converted into fans
Some of us are raised fans.
If you convert to something, you’ll be
serious enough about it to stay com
mitted and you’ll never be unconverted.
Just ask religious converts. Those raised
with a belief, though, may come to
challenge it. But they find it hard to
shake.
Call me one of the latter. I was born in
a Penn State household and raised a
Penn State fan. My first bib had a Nit
tany Lion on it. Through high school, I
wore the blue and white at great risk
of bodily harm because my school’s
arch-rival wore those colors. I often
wonder if my decision to attend Penn
State was made because I liked the place
or because I could rattle off the starting
line-up.
My loyalty hit its peak when I skipped
playing in a freshman high school
football game to see a Lions game. I
wouldn’t have played much anyway, but
that kind of thing can make you stop and
review your priorities. The answer was
easy: I had made the correct choice.
Commentary
Becoming a sports writer at The Daily
Collegian was unsettling because I was
forced to be objective. The Collegian is
not a branch of the Sports Information
Department, although many people
think it should be. It wasn’t easy to
become a non-fan. Old habits die hard.
Especially if the first word you learn
after goo-goo and da-da is “Paterno.”
Joe Paterno wasn’t the coach when I
was born, but that didn’t stop my father
(class of ‘5O) from making me a Penn
State rooter. Dad had played in the Blue
Band and still makes it to as many
Homecomings as he can to tromp around
where athletes younger than his sons
play. The family has a connection with
the football program of a sort a few
years before I had been born, my uncle
had planned to try making the team, but
fell down a flight of stairs on his way to
the try-out, breaking a leg. Considering
that a bad omen, he gave up the idea.
At about age 3, when it became ob
vious that neither my brother nor I
would ever consider going to try-outs, we
forgot about re-writing the record books
and settled down to be fans.
First came the sweaters, coats, hats,
shirts, etc. with lions on them. I was a
walking publicity photo. We replenished
our supply and the neighborhood’s, as
my father had turned the whole block
into Lion backers when we came to
games, at least once a season. It was
anything but a Happy. Valley for us.
I don’t remember much about those
Contact Lenses
Cleaned and Polished
$7.00 per pair
KNUPP OPTICAL
254 E. Beaver Ave.
State College
237-1382
HOAGIES (SUBS) Sale
$l.OO
This Sat., Oct. 21 from
10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at
Schlow Library $l.OO
Hoagies will be sold by
Trinity Lutheran Luther
League.
Special
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$3.77 a dozen
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145 S. Allen St
early years except three things: the
lousy seats, the lousy weather and the
lousy games.
The seats invariably were of the end
zone variety. My father belongs to the
Alumni Association and , gets seats
through its lottery, apparently being
unwilling to contribute a thousand bucks
or so a year to the Nittany Lion Club to
get some decent seats.
Those seats and the other factors
usually made for a miserable afternoon.
If the weather was good, the game
wasn’t, and vice-versa. For us, of
course, a “good” game was defined as a
Penn State win. Penn State didn’t lose
much in those days, but could be counted
on to choke when we visited. My most
vivid memory of University Park when I
first arrived here as a student was sit
ting through a monsoon to watch the
Lions get clobbered by Navy. And that
930a.m.
THIS SATURDAY The Witch Hunt begins
Saturday morning at 9:30! Witch hunters will
search for plastic pumpkins with witches inside.
When you find one, you win!
PRIZES The kids will be
divided into age groups. That way, hunters
will be hunting with kids their own age.
(All hunters must be between the ages of 2-10.)
• $ 5, 5 3 and S 2GIFT CERTIFICATES
for the 3 winners in each age group.
•FREE BOX
for every participati
THE ANTI-INFLATION DEPARTMENT STORE
DESIGNED TO SAVE YOU MONEY EVERY DAY
WITHOUT EVER RUNNINGASALE
was in 1964, so you know it made an
impression.
When we couldn’t make it to the game,
we’d listen on the radio. It seems we did
our fall house-cleaning every Saturday
for 11 weeks to the tune of Penn State
football. I still shudder at the sound of
Fran Fisher’s voice with fear someone
will hand me a bucket of soapy water
and make me clean their basement.
But we loved every minute of it,
State College:
Hills Plaza • South Atherton Street (Route 322 E)
and Branch Road • Store Hours:
10am -10 pm, Monday-Saturday, Sunday 12 pm-5 pm
Without Penn State, I would never have
seen Dallas or New Orleans. One of the
best times I ever had was staying in the
same hotel as the team for the 1972
Cotton Bowl and seeing daily the men
who were then my heroes. The same
happened for the Sugar Bowl. It was
somehow reassuring to learn those
people were human,after all and not
above having a good time on Bourbon
Street.
The Daily Collegian Friday, Oct. 20, 1978
The fascination of the Dallas game
besides a stunning come-from-behind 30-
6 victory was my father winning a
football autographed by the players.
About a dozen of them are now in the
pros, including Harris, Mitchell and
Cappelletti. We were offered $lOO for it
on the spot, but wouldn’t sell it for any
amount then or now.
I miss that kind of thing. Being a fan
Was fun.