* love = exciting home-and-home series

I love a good debate, and that's exactly what I wish this past had been between ND and PSU fans about which one was crazier.  I committed a most deadly sin when I posted a nasty, mean-spirited post meant to spark said debate, then proceeded to drop off the grid for the next five days.  Due to a series of events, some within my control and some most definitely beyond, and then a nice little road trip to South Bend and Chicago I just returned from, I was away from the computer for a long, long while and couldn't defend my position or myself when it came under attack from a litany of Nittany backers, and I apologize profusely for doing that.  Give Rob lots of credit for telling me I really needed to look into things, including texting me as I drove on I-80 West Thursday afternoon telling me I probably should respond to my post, as people were justifiably not happy.

So I'm very sorry for disappearing, and any nasty comments directed my way are most certainly deserved.  Reflecting back on the arsenic-laden anti-PSU fan, I realize I missed the point I wanted to make and just ended up attacking a fanbase for no other reason than I read a couple of comments from random Internet denizens - in comments, no less!  Nearly as bad as messageboards! - that raised my ire.  After a rousing weekend that served as a sneak peak to the glory of senior year and featured my first trip to Wrigley, allow me to try to formulate what I really meant before I hurriedly posted the original anti-PSU piece on Monday morning.

What I meant to get across, and this is surely a sign of an awful writer that I couldn't articulate my thoughts well enough, is that a lot of college football fanbases are crazy, but a lot of them get called out for it.  Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, the SEC (especially Alabama), Southern Cal and a litany of other fans are mocked on the internets for being crazy, set-in-the-past, bandwagoners or just pure evil, yet Penn State fans, who are certainly as crazy about their team - and enjoy telling everyone that - as much as if not more than most of the aforementioned schools, never really get mentioned in that manner.  Even if a few people were informed, the piece did the work, even though it certainly should have been much clearer and just better overall.

Penn State fans, for my basically unprovoked attack and then disappearance in the face of your contention with my comments, I more than welcome you to insult my school, myself and any other aspect of my life until the morning of September 2nd, at which point we shall turn out attention to actual matters of pigskin to be resolved at 6:00 on September 8th.  

And since I've tried to respond to that, we can move onto other legitimate football issues: WTF, Kevin White? And here's MGo's rather comprehensive PSU preview, although there's little mention of the Wolverines basically forcing the Irish to drop them by asking for two straight games in the Big House.