by Kyle from ORD's article said:
i don't know if it was the move to the Big Ten, the "Miami factor" or just the change in times that changed things, but things sure are different, alot different.
BuckeyeMike80;2068710; said:
Describing it as a CULT is exactly on target.
I've been saying it for years - these people (and I use that term loosely) think they are BETTER than everyone else. The next time they actually face reality with anything close to objectivity will be the first time.
See, and I thought it was just me. I've always been amazed, by the way at this kind of "who's the douchiest fan base in the Big Ten, Wisky or Penn State" narrative that sort of goes on around here. It's not even close. The Whisky folks just play differently. They're sort of like puppies and everyone else is a cat. The puppy goes bathit crazy trying to play and the cat just stares at it like it's nuts. they are annoying and overbearing, but, overall it's harmless. Not my cup of tea, but there's nothing really that goes on at Camp Randall (or after) that isn't going to happen to a Steeler fan at Cleveland Browns stadium. To them its all in good fun, even if it irritates everyone else. I've been to Mad Town a lot of times. It's kind of a "when in Rome" kind of place, except it's more like when in "wherever the Visigoths are from" do as they do. And be sure to be extra loud and drunk while you do it.
The Penn State thing on the other hand is bizarre.
Mike is right, they really just think they're better than you. And if they're not better than you, there's a reason. And that reason is because you're cheating or someone else is keeping them down. (Even a scUM fan will tell you that the reason Ohio State beats them is because we pay our players AND their defense under Rich Rod sucked... you know at least there's some quid pro quo there.) But somewhere in the Penn State mythos, in addition to the Paterno idolatry, there is this belief that not only are there eveil forces out to get them, but, that any shortcoming on their part is a result in their moral superiority.
Case in point. A few years ago, I'm not sure when, but, in the last 5 - 10. I'm listening to the radio and they're interviewing a Penn State reporter for, I think the Harrisburg paper. So, whatever year it was, the pregame prediction was for Ohio State to win big and Penn State wasn't having a particularly good year. And as invariably has happened since he turned 70 (55 years ago) the conversation turned to the current (at the time) state of the Penn State program, Paternos stewardship, etc, etc.
And somewhere during the lamentations about the inability of Penn State to compete on a national level, the reporter says the following:
"But, Penn State would be able to compete nationally if the were willing to compromise their principles to do what it takes to get top recruits"
No wink wink. No Chuckle Chuckle. No ha ha.
See, they are better than everyone else. Everyone else cheats. Penn State does not cheat. Everyone else cheats because if they didn't, Penn State would get top recruits. Penn State doesn't cheat, because if they did, they'd cheat better and get top recruits.
This isn't some idiot on Audibles. This is their beat writer. And when your beat writer says shit like this as a casual, well known fact, along the lines of, "the sun rose in the east this morning" - you've got a problem. Well, a number of them. But, you have a fan base that believes it to be true, a media member that believes it to be true and it just reinforces itself in the sick insular State College way that we've been observing the last couple months.
Extra rant: Never mind the fact that whoever was running the interview had already gone through the fact the Joe Pa is old, Penn State sucks and the head coach doesn't even go for in home visits. Shit, even a Michigan fan will tell you that for Jim Tressel to buy Terelle Pryor Hookers, Tressel needs to be there. Any idiot knows that. I'm pretty sure at the time too, the 2001 race scandal was reasonably fresh enough to be a tool against Penn State, and that's always been an undertone in State College as well. How Spanier had his job after that is a mystery to me too... but, you know, Black Kids showing up dead after receiving threatenting emails don't move the needle at Penn State apparently any more than child abuse. Of course the proximity of the actual incident here from a timeline perspective adds even more creedence to the cover up, who wants a pedophile scandal right after a little racial violence.
Actually, a tree is what gave me the scar, but that's a story for a different thread.
