Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
P R E V I E W Beaver Stadium. That shocking defeat still remains my worst Big Ten memory, although seeing Adam Taliaferro lying motionless on the Ohio Stadium field in 2000 and then being strapped down and wheeled away was more emotional. Oh yes, seeing Adam walk through the Beaver Stadium tunnel a year later in the opening game of the 2001 season would have been one of my best memo- ries. But I had to watch "the miracle" on a hospital room TV after becoming dizzy and fainting during the pregame tailgating. (And no, it was not caused by alcohol.) I can't end this column without men- tioning the two Rose Bowl games and the 4 hour, 39 minute triple-overtime marathon that was the 2006 Orange Bowl. Once again, my best memories of those games are not of what happened on the field. During that 1994 broadcasting con- vention in Los Angeles that I noted ear- lier, Carole and I drove to Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl stadium for the first time. A few weeks later, we made reser- vations with longtime Pennsylvania friends to stay at the same hotel and spend several days together. We also were going to tailgate with Ira Miller, another Penn State Daily Collegian alum who at the time was covering the 49ers for the San Francisco Chronicle. Ira also had the contacts to get us the tickets for the game and the Rose Pa- rade. This was to be another dream come true for a couple of dedicated col- lege football fans. Unfortunately, my wife wound up in a Virginia hospital and could not make the trip. She insisted I go on without her, and being the loyal husband that I am, I followed her orders. Ira threw a great tailgate with a lot of his friends stopping by, including Penn Staters like Tim Cur- ley and Richie Lucas. The next year, I had Carole's unused game ticket framed and gave it to her as a Christmas pres- ent. Luckily, I ducked when she sudden- ly gave it back to me. (Yes, I still have that ticket.) After missing the 1995 Rose Bowl game, Carole was excited when we re- turned to Los Angeles in late December 2008, this time as part of the Penn State media. Two days before the game, she was thrilled when we were given a spe- cial backstage media tour of the Rose Parade floats. Once again, Ira Miller had obtained seats to the parade, and this time we knew they were prime seats, in the first grandstand where the parade begins with the TV cameras beaming it all across the world. Carole also was with me for the vari- ous news conferences for both teams at the media hotel in downtown L.A. We were in the middle of everything. She took an instant dislike to USC coach Pete Carroll, but that was natural for such a passionate Nittany Lion fan. After the last news conference on New Year's Eve, the Penn State group gathered in the media room to watch a Nittany Lion basketball game on television. Shortly after midnight, we both woke up vomiting with our heads thumping. That was the beginning of our 24-hour nightmare. We did make it to the parade but were too sick to enjoy the great seats. Instead of tailgating, we slept in our car before and after the game and didn't have much to eat until downing a bowl of soup later that night. The next afternoon, while near Disneyland, we learned that several Penn State media members had also become sick, and it was traced to tainted ice cubes in the media hotel. Let me end on perhaps the best of all memories. In my last month as director of the All-Sports Museum, Carole and I were part of the official Penn State party at the 2006 Orange Bowl. It was an ex- perience most fans can only dream about. The highlight was the postgame celebration in the wee hours of the morning in the noisy, jam-packed Penn State hotel suite with Joe Paterno, Fran- co Harris, Michael Robinson and dozens of other players, coaches, staff, families and invited fans among the throng. Never in the past 25 years were these words more meaningful: "We are… Penn State!" ■ A new Penn State football book by Lou Prato with a forward by Adam Taliaferro The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions Published by Triumph Books (soft cover) Pre-order now at Price: $14.95 plus shipping Autographed copies of Lou's book We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions are still available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-8189. Price: $19.95 plus tax where applicable and shipping