Perspective Piece
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Ohio State - Penn State, Oct. 8[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial,
sans serif][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE][/FONT]ByMatthew Zemek
Saturday night’s tilt between Ohio State and Penn State has a delicious and irresistible emotional feel to it. Buckeyes-Nittany Lions is the kind of game a sportswriter loves to contemplate. It has a texture and flavor that is not just appealing, but even endearing. There’s a sweetness to the subtext of this game that warms the heart, and makes one appreciate college football ten thousand times more than any other sport on the planet.
OSU-PSU is an ultimate, prototypical kind of college football game, and I emphasize college here.
College, after all, is where you learn about yourself, grow up, and become a real man. College is where you get an education, and for education to be relevant, you can’t just study textbooks or notes; you need to learn by experience, having your baptism by fire in so many aspects of life that you were either shielded from by your parents, or which Mom and Dad did for you.
Saturday night, Penn State’s precocious freshmen will get a real college education at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ defense.
No, this does not mean that Ohio State will run the Nittany Lions into the ground; the above comment is not meant to convey that idea. It simply indicates that these young Penn State talents will learn a lot about how to conduct themselves and make in-game adjustments—physically, tactically and emotionally—against a veteran defense that is the best in all of college football. The extent to which Derrick Williams and the other young Lion pups can make these changes in midstream will largely determine Penn State’s fate. If you can outfox Nate Salley or Donte Whitner, and minimize the impact of Heisman-worthy linebacker A.J. Hawk (who should cry bloody murder if he doesn’t get a plane ticket to New York this December; surely, he deserves that much), you can then proclaim to the world that your college education is paying big dividends.
Adding to the emotional sweetness of Saturday night’s battle, which is just as much a “big event” as it is a mere game, is the presence of the Old Master on the sideline, watching over the progress of his too-young-to-know-better freshmen forces.
Yes, this heartstring-tugging extravaganza, a Hallmark kind of football game if there ever was one, is made complete by the presence of Joe Paterno, defying time and staying young at heart to lead a resurrected Penn State program unbeaten into battle against the behemoth from Columbus. College football soars with joy and crackles with extra excitement whenever an iconic figure graces a spotlight game, and with PSU rebounding to battle the Buckeyes in a game that’s significant for both teams—and more instructively, significant for the same reasons (a Big Ten title)—you have JoePa back where he belongs: on the sidelines in a big-time game. The fact that he’s entering this contest with a rare youth movement in Happy Valley only adds to the sizzle of this high-stakes tilt.
Everything that’s good and right about college football, everything that’s magical and endearing about this treasured sport, will be on display when the legendary coach and his teenage talents face the mighty colossus from central Ohio, loaded with linebackers every bit as good as anyone Paterno himself cranked out at the original “Linebacker U.”
Youth and skill. Old age and treachery. The established power and a resurgent one. An established icon—Paterno—against a potential icon in the making in Jim Tressel, who—just like JoePa—loves old-school sweaters, button-down shirts, and ties.
The imagery, the cross-generational appeal, and the meaning of a real college education all make Bucks-Lions a game that sings with romance, beauty and magic.
Let’s hope the action on the field can match the delicious storylines that give this contest its rare, timeless and endearingly sweet texture.
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Ohio State - Penn State, Oct. 8[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial,
sans serif][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE][/FONT]ByMatthew Zemek
Saturday night’s tilt between Ohio State and Penn State has a delicious and irresistible emotional feel to it. Buckeyes-Nittany Lions is the kind of game a sportswriter loves to contemplate. It has a texture and flavor that is not just appealing, but even endearing. There’s a sweetness to the subtext of this game that warms the heart, and makes one appreciate college football ten thousand times more than any other sport on the planet.
OSU-PSU is an ultimate, prototypical kind of college football game, and I emphasize college here.
College, after all, is where you learn about yourself, grow up, and become a real man. College is where you get an education, and for education to be relevant, you can’t just study textbooks or notes; you need to learn by experience, having your baptism by fire in so many aspects of life that you were either shielded from by your parents, or which Mom and Dad did for you.
Saturday night, Penn State’s precocious freshmen will get a real college education at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ defense.
No, this does not mean that Ohio State will run the Nittany Lions into the ground; the above comment is not meant to convey that idea. It simply indicates that these young Penn State talents will learn a lot about how to conduct themselves and make in-game adjustments—physically, tactically and emotionally—against a veteran defense that is the best in all of college football. The extent to which Derrick Williams and the other young Lion pups can make these changes in midstream will largely determine Penn State’s fate. If you can outfox Nate Salley or Donte Whitner, and minimize the impact of Heisman-worthy linebacker A.J. Hawk (who should cry bloody murder if he doesn’t get a plane ticket to New York this December; surely, he deserves that much), you can then proclaim to the world that your college education is paying big dividends.
Adding to the emotional sweetness of Saturday night’s battle, which is just as much a “big event” as it is a mere game, is the presence of the Old Master on the sideline, watching over the progress of his too-young-to-know-better freshmen forces.
Yes, this heartstring-tugging extravaganza, a Hallmark kind of football game if there ever was one, is made complete by the presence of Joe Paterno, defying time and staying young at heart to lead a resurrected Penn State program unbeaten into battle against the behemoth from Columbus. College football soars with joy and crackles with extra excitement whenever an iconic figure graces a spotlight game, and with PSU rebounding to battle the Buckeyes in a game that’s significant for both teams—and more instructively, significant for the same reasons (a Big Ten title)—you have JoePa back where he belongs: on the sidelines in a big-time game. The fact that he’s entering this contest with a rare youth movement in Happy Valley only adds to the sizzle of this high-stakes tilt.
Everything that’s good and right about college football, everything that’s magical and endearing about this treasured sport, will be on display when the legendary coach and his teenage talents face the mighty colossus from central Ohio, loaded with linebackers every bit as good as anyone Paterno himself cranked out at the original “Linebacker U.”
Youth and skill. Old age and treachery. The established power and a resurgent one. An established icon—Paterno—against a potential icon in the making in Jim Tressel, who—just like JoePa—loves old-school sweaters, button-down shirts, and ties.
The imagery, the cross-generational appeal, and the meaning of a real college education all make Bucks-Lions a game that sings with romance, beauty and magic.
Let’s hope the action on the field can match the delicious storylines that give this contest its rare, timeless and endearingly sweet texture.
