The Experience of Beaver Stadium (Part 2)

By Michael Schneid

Before attending the Blue-White Spring Game at Beaver Stadium this past Saturday the biggest stadium I have been to is Neyland Stadium in Tennessee. I saw my Bearcats face the Volunteers in Knoxville last September. Before the game was the best tailgate I had ever attended. Before Tennessee, I had typically enjoyed the Rugers tailgates.

 

I graduated from Cincinnati and was more concerned with getting a prime seat (front row, corner endzone) than tailgate up until kickoff. Our tailgates when we had them were good, nothing too special admittedly. Cincy also has the luxary of selling beer in stadium so when we entered 90 minutes to kickoff, the party did not stop. People kept drinking.

 

But the scene at Happy Valley on Saturday morning was different. It was special. It was something I had really never experienced before. An all day tailgate with non-stop drinking and eating, surrounding by friendly fans in blue and white. My group wasn't just crazy fans looking to drink all day, it is the thing to do at Penn State. Wake up bright and early and tailgate.

 

I got my picture taken next to the Joe Paterno statue which was an amazing experience. It was eery and weird being that this was the first game at PSU since Joe Pa passed away.

 

The stadium itself was just that. The outside was pillars holding up ramps and the concourse area. Nothing fancy or special about the stadium, and I mean that in a good way. No fancy design or anything like that. Like the colors, the logo, and the team's jerseys themselves, everything about the stadium is just "simple." Sometimes simple is easy and the best and at Penn State, in many aspects it works well.

 

The game itself was a typical spring game. I found that spring games are just about the fans and the kids. Show off some of the possible break out players for the coming fall and let the players sign autographs before and after. Show a connection between student-athletes and alumni, families, students, etc. The spring game is the conclusion of spring practice and this game was the first in the Bill O'Brien era and was played in front of over 60,000 fans on a cloudy, rainy afternoon.

 

My experience at Penn State was unlike anything else. When I walked in I was in awe, similar to Tennesee in terms of the size of the stadium and the amounts of people it can hold.