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It's been a long time since I've written to the Mirror.
The urge usually hits when I feel the need to get something off my chest about my alma mater, Penn State.
Thus, I felt compelled to write about my first (and last) trip to Ohio Stadium (aka, "The Horseshoe.")
I will leave it to the sports pundits to dissect the disappointing performance of our football team (note to Cory Giger -- you go right on pressing James Franklin about his offensive coordinator's seeming inability to implement a vertical passing game).
No, I want to talk about my experience as a visiting fan.
It started when my wife accidentally dropped her sunglasses under the row of bleachers in front of her. When she reached down under the seat to retrieve them, the comedian sitting in front of her turned around and yelled, "I thought you were Sandusky."
That same clown took it upon himself to personally converse with Coach Franklin throughout the game, calling him, "a piece of (expletive)" on several occasions, and liberally extending his middle fingers in the general direction of the Penn State bench.
Anyone who has attended Penn State games over the past 15 years or so knows the song "Zombie Nation," and the familiar chorus which culminates in 100K strong shouting, "We are Penn State!"
Well, with the game finally in hand, 100K strong Ohio State fans took things up a notch, singing along to the song and replacing the last four words -- again, middle fingers fully extended -- with, "(Bleep) you Penn State!"
I was particularly struck by the fact that there were several fathers sitting with their young sons directly in front of us, some of whom had no qualms about joining in on the revelry.
I was reminded of sitting in the stands at Beaver Stadium as a 10-year-old, watching games with my father and brother as John Cappelletti carved up defenses on his way to winning the school's only Heisman trophy in 1973.
The most vitriolic statements that I can remember were from one fan in particular who, seemingly every other offensive play, would shout (from the 85th row), "Up the middle, Joe!" -- a criticism of Coach Paterno's conservative play calls.
I was fortunate to attend the Ohio State game in 2016, when Marcus Allen and Grant Haley secured for Franklin his first (and only) win against Ohio State. I honestly don't recall seeing or speaking to any fans from Columbus in the stands that night, but I can assure you that the last thing on my mind when Haley scrambled for that touchdown was to look around for anyone wearing a red jersey, flip them off, and shout obscenities at them.
Rather, I was overwhelmed with joy, knowing that my daughters were two of several thousand PSU students who stormed the field at the end of the game (something that I experienced as a student on multiple occasions during the glory years of the '80s).
I wondered to myself how my father (an ex-Marine and PA State policeman) would have reacted had he personally seen and heard the vulgarity and boorish behavior that I witnessed last weekend.
Now, some of you may write this off as the rantings of a grumpy old man. I get it -- we live in a different world than the one in which I grew up as a kid.
Societal norms have evolved to the point where profanity and abhorrent personal conduct have become so commonplace that we rarely pay attention to it, brush it off, or (at our worst) condone it.
With that said, just ask yourself this: Would you want to be that guy in the stands that an impressionable 10-year-old kid remembers and writes about some 50 years later?
Joe Cavrich
Pittsburgh
PSU must solve receiving troubles
It's hard to believe that an eight-point loss to a Top-10 team is a total embarrassment, but that's where we are after the inept offense and penalty-prone defense deflated any hope of a CFP berth.
The question is this: How much, if any, is fixable?
I listened to 19-year-old Drew Allar following the game. He manned-up and accepted responsibility to a greater degree than the six- and seven-figure coaches.
Scheme was as much to blame as the QB, right? No Parker Washington or Jahan Dotson to correct for QB shortcomings. So why not an in-game adjustment to Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson?
Taylor Stubblefield was fired in January. Now look at the mess with the wideouts. Any cause and effect? Stubblefield took flight to Air Force. Aren't they 7-0?
The season isn't lost. Michigan has yet to play a top-flight defense, and if Jim Harbaugh stole any Nittany Lion signals in the Horseshoe; I suspect that was an exercise in futility (unless he wants to be 1-15 in third-down conversions,)
Franklin needs to accept that the Lions are a run-first team then coach to make it work. Support Allar, who showed maturity following the loss then try to develop a workmanlike receiver or two.
And finally, fans, don't believe the hype.
What we saw Saturday and what we saw in the first half of the Northwestern game might be what this team really is.
Greg Guise
Ferguson Township
PSU won't advance under Franklin
To Drew Allar and his parents: Get into the transfer portal as soon as it opens. James Franklin destroyed Christian Hackenberg, and he's right on target to do the same to you.
Hackenberg could have bailed on his commitment at the time of the Sandusky scandal yet kept his word to PSU. I'll always respect him for that.
Franklin is 1-9 vs. OSU, 0-10 on the road vs. Top-10 teams 3-16 vs. Top-10 teams.
I have been saying it for the last five years that Franklin has taken this program as far as it can go under his leadership.
He does not believe in having a dominant offensive line. It's just lip service. The last excellent O-lineman was Stefan Wisniewski, and that was 10-plus years ago.
Barkley, Curt Warner, Franco or Lydell would find nowhere to run behind this line.
The wide receivers are pathetic as there was absolutely no separation from Ohio State's defensive backs.
Franklin wanted to cover Marvin Harrison Jr. one-on-one, and D-backs spoke of how they were ready to meet the challenge. Don't you think we could sneak some double coverage on this guy? This is on Manny Diaz, too.
In addition to his pathetic record vs. top teams, Franklin has had unacceptable losses to Temple, Minnesota, Indiana, twice to Maryland, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas.
How often, if ever, does Michigan, OSU, Georgia and Alabama lose to teams like that?
Penn State could not even run the ball vs. Northwestern, the worst run defense in the Big Ten.
Pat Kraft should keep the stadium the way it is. Use those dollars, and alums will pony up the rest to rid us of the $8.5 million dollar man.
Cael Sanderson could do it, and there's plenty of others, too. Mike Munchak wanted the job. He could teach and recruit O-linemen like himself and Sean Farrell. Matt Rhule would have loved to come home.
PSU will never be great again.
I'm 76 years of age, have had season tickets since 1978, and I regret that I will not live long enough to see us beat Ohio State and be great again.
Ed Hill
Altoona
Fan still bleeds Dodger blue
My Dodgers lost to Arizona because they could not hit Arizona's pitching.
They could not get hits when they needed them. They could not score runs when they needed them.
Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Campy would not be proud of this team.
But I am still a true Dodger fan no matter what.
John Wise
Duncansville