[NU Sports] A surreal Saturday ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

A weird feeling seems to be over most of the Big Ten stadiums today, especially of course in State College.

The last time I remember having this little excitement for a Big Ten football Saturday was after Sept. 11 -- which oddly enough was spent at Penn State. My brother was a student there at the time and my good friend from Madison and I flew out on half-empty planes to meet up in Pittsburgh and drive up to the UW-PSU game.

He mentioned at the time (and reminded me again this week) how much that weekend filled the need at the time. PSU was a "Pleasantville" atmosphere that took us back to a different era and the people there showed their usual hospitality.

I only can hope that the people of State College and the players -- who have had their world turned upside down, faith shattered and souls challenged this week -- find the same sort of healing through the game. It will never be enough for the true victims, but it can help the secondary victims from the fallout of the scandal. Canceling the games hurts everyone, where hopefully playing the games helps some get back to a brief version of normality. I'm cheering for the Penn State players today.

As for our game, let's hope everyone wakes up to the level of Jeremy Ebert (and our punt coverage team?!?!) soon -- we seem to be dragging a bit out there.

Go Cats!
- SjT
 
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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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