Blue White Illustrated

was one thing. Letting the players kibitz with the fans was another. The team hotel for the TaxSlayer Bowl, the Omni Amelia Island Plantation, was a 45-minute drive north of EverBank Field and downtown Jacksonville, where most of the fans were staying, as well as the media. The nearest limited-access highway, notorious I-95, was miles away, and you had to use narrow two-lane roads or crowed streets to reach the ho- tel. It was isolated in a heavily wooded area along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, behind iron gates manned by no- nonsense uniformed security personnel who had to clear everyone entering. Un- less you were a guest or had permission, you were turned away by security. The Lions' headquarters reminded this writer of the plush resort hotels in Mia- mi Beach where Penn State teams of the Paterno era often stayed, mixing with the hundreds of fans who always were around, whether they were hotel guests or not. The practice field was another 15 min- utes farther away at a local high school field. The day I was there, a few Penn State fans tried to talk to some players near the school locker room but were thwarted by Penn State's own security people. Even the media was allowed only at selected times, just like back in Uni- versity Park. One cannot blame anyone at Penn State for the location of the team hotel. Bowl officials designated the hotels and practice facilities for both teams. In fact, the Omni had other holiday guests not connected to the bowl game. With most of the Penn State fans not arriving until a day or two before the game, there was little concern about not seeing players around the hotels or tourist areas. Until the pep rally. Bowl officials scheduled pep rallies for both teams on New Year's Day at Jack- sonville Landing, a small entertainment area with bars and restaurants along the Jacksonville River between two prime tourist hotels. With Penn State's rally scheduled for 2 p.m., Nittany Lion fans began showing up shortly after noon, and by the time the event started, there must have been some 1,500-2,000 standing three- to four-deep on the ground-level steps and second-story walkway overlooking a large Christmas tree at the front of the stage where the speakers would be. Despite an intermittent rain that sometimes turned into a steady drizzle, the fans were enthusiastic as always. They hollered and cheered, frequently shouting out the We are… Penn State mantra, as the Blue Band, cheerleaders and Nittany Lion mascot performed, and several in the university hierarchy led by president Eric Barron and athletic director Sandy Barbour tried to fire up the crowd with brief remarks. However, as the pep rally went on, the fans around me near the Christmas tree were wondering out loud about the whereabouts of players and coaches. And as the event ended with the singing of the alma mater and the band began marching out, the fans realized they would have no chance until the game to show the players how much they supported them, despite the season-ending losing spiral. The crowd was never told why the team was not there, and the grumbling afterward in the bars and hotels made it clear that the fans were not pleased. The word was the team had a last-day walk-through and couldn't spare any- one. No one? Sure, the logistics to get some players downtown were not ideal. However, it was a poor decision not to have at least several players at the rally – and a couple of known ones, not just un- familiar reserves. I can just imagine the crowd's reaction if young Gregg Garrity, one of the team's prime punt returners, had appeared alongside his namesake father, one of the stars of the 1983 Sugar Bowl game against these same Georgia Bulldogs. Perhaps it's the same at other schools, with players not taking part in such pep rallies. However, despite what outsiders may think, Penn State and its loyal foot- ball fans are different and have been throughout the school's 125-year foot- ball history. Traveling to games to sup- port the team despite geographic or oth- er miscellaneous impediments has been a tradition for Penn State fans since 1887. It doesn't matter whether the players' absence from the pep rally was inten- tional or an oversight. There seems to be a blind spot at the university about the loyalty of the Penn State fans. And with BLUE COLLAR Fans cheer on the Nittany Lions dur- ing their TaxSlayer Bowl matchup with Georgia. Photo by Steve Manuel

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