tool name
close“We’re half way there.” Shorter than a twitter, but enough lyrics to fire the hopes of all Nittany Lion fans now and back through the ages.
Speaking of the ages, I recall going to games when swing or big band numbers dominated halftime. I wondered why they were playing such old songs. It took me awhile, but I was always puzzled by the datedness of the music the Blue Band had to play. Back then, I just couldn’t understand why they didn’t play many new songs. And I’m not that old. When I was a student here, Joe Paterno was the coach.
But now I finally realize why they are playing songs from when I was at Penn State. Only now am I classified in the Go PSU Donate demographic. How better to bring out the donating spirit than by playing the songs you remember from those bygone days!
And so there was that lyric — “We’re half way there” — as the endless rain
dripped from the sky long after the last natural light had been drained from the day. Yes, a punt had been blocked by Iowa, and yes, we were losing. But now we were coming back and that song blasted across Beaver Stadium.
I’m no student of music, but that song has another line: “It doesn’t really matter if we make it or not.” As I heard those words, I protested them. My thoughts meshed with those of about 100,000 other fans. At that moment, it did matter.
A strange thing happened, though: we didn’t make it that night. The boring but consistent rain kept dancing through the lights, the droplets seemingly having eyes for even the smallest way
through our rain suits and everything else. And there was a penetrating chill. And each time we moved the ball downfield, something went amiss.
We lost. How many of us replayed parts of that game as we drifted off to sleep later that night? And yet, mere days later, we were anticipating the rest of that season, this season.We would follow the lyrics of another song, saying “Don’t stop believing.” And we won’t.
The thing I most remember about Penn State football is how we always come back for more. Whether it’s memory or hope, elation or frustration, we’ll be back.
We’re now in traffic-light season: The emerald greens of summer turn cautious yellow, then fiery red before falling to form a crinkly brown carpet. Soon ice-cold winds from the remote frozen hinterlands of the Arctic will chase those leaves. But whatever happens with our Nittany Lions, there’s a spirit that burns bright in each and every one of us — and no north wind on earth can blow it out.
Elliot Abrams, Penn State ’69 and ’71 (meteorology), is senior vice president at AccuWeather Inc. and a Patton Township supervisor. He can be reached at
elliotabrams@gmail.com. Penn State football memories columns run each home Saturday.
In Print
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