A Challenge Awaits—Go Get It

Ladies and gentlemen relax and understand that the end of days is not here. A nine-overtime loss to Illinois is not the end of civilization as we know it, even if the new 2-point play system was an abject failure (more on that later).

The lessons here are not unique to Penn State, one could compile a long list of schools where these same words apply…….

As many of you dreamt of what this season could be, it is always easy amid summer days to overlook the injury factor that can and does hit a lot of teams. When you play a collision sport like football, players will get injured. And that changes a team’s dynamics forcing coaches to adjust. At times they will fall short.

But let’s have some perspective. Many of the reactions on-line, and by a range of columnists have painted a picture of the apocalypse upon PSU, the end of days. There is concern about the future on a number of fronts, but always remember that Penn State has always risen above the challenges we faced.

The immediate reactions are understandable. When media and coaches paint a rosy offseason and preseason picture it is easy to buy into the hope that springs forth as each season begins. When those hopes crash into reality it is not always easy to accept.

Some of the anguish is of our own making. The world of social media involves large swaths of posts and tweets that are for chest-beating bravado. Some even seem to measure their self-worth on how they “own” or troll people from other schools when their team wins. But ultimately fans’ boasts and trolling are in the hands of college players and coaches.

And once a fan writes a check with their mouths and their team loses, they resent the return fire on social media. The anger builds and they lash out at their own team and coaches.

Many feel that with what coaches are making these days and with the celebrity status (and now NIL money) granted to college athletes, they are now fair game for the harshest of criticisms. So fans blister those social media accounts, which are easy to find because those addresses are promoted on the school’s football roster.

The lesson for coaches and players is that you never get anything for free. For all the praise and fame you seek on social media there are those just waiting for you to lose so they can go after you. That’s the deal. If you don’t like it you do have the opportunity to drop off social media. The right to a criticism-free social media existence is not part of the Bill of Rights in this or any other country.

But back to the fans, just because that annoying Iowa fan came back at you this week after you went at them after they lost to Purdue it’s not the end of the world. Best to avoid the back and forth altogether.

It all comes back to one of the best lessons I ever got when my father advised “Don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk.”

So where does that put Penn State now? First, most of us who witnessed that overtime 2-pt shootout hated it. It is an attempt to emulate penalty kicks from soccer. Football evolved into a better game from soccer so why turn our evolution back towards that? And barring Christ himself performing a Lazarus-type rising, Penn State’s playoff hopes are essentially dead.

So please don’t ask “With the playoff gone what are they playing for?” Players play because they love the game, they live for that competition and they want to win for themselves, each other and for Dear Old State. No player who gets to this level lacks the heart of an intense competitor. You don’t make it this far on talent alone.

There is a pride that comes with playing at Penn State. There are decades of men who played this game before them, the ghosts of the past. Those ghosts of the past were once mortals who dropped passes or missed tackles and lost games and left the field of battle battered and bruised –sometimes with the joy of victory and other times feeling defeat’s bitter sting.

This is no time for the braying naysayer jackasses of social media. This is the time for the believers, this is the time to recognize that playing a great football team affords the opportunity to attain a victory whose memory will linger long after we’re gone.

This is not the time to talk about next month or next year. Tomorrow is promised to no one and as such all we can do is pour our energy into the next game each week and see the young men compete and test their mettle against the next great team on the schedule. A win in primetime on national television can go a long way to erasing the memory of the last two games. But win or lose, relish the competition….for before you know it these days will pass.

So if you want to gripe and ruminate on games past that cannot be undone, get off the train. A team cannot be weighed down by people who only buy in when the going is good. And when the times get tough, we find out who our friends are and find out who never really was with us.

Now that the line is drawn and the ascent from defeat must begin, where will you be?