You make some fair points, namely the optimism of PSU fans going into 2006, and the fact that the ND game is a bigger deal to us than it is to you. But, here some things to think about...

-Why would we not be a little delusional after 2005? We were coming off the worst stretch in Penn State history, and we pull off an incredible season that no one saw coming. Maybe we thought some of that magic was going to carry over. It didn't take long to get a dose of reality thanks to your Irish. And let's be honest, ND fans were talking national championship going into last year so it's not like it doesn't work both ways.

-Of course the game on September 8th is a bigger deal to us. You beat us 41-17 last year. It's also the first big game of the season for us, a night game against the most polarizing program in the country. But, it's at best the 4th biggest game of the season for us.

As far as our OOC schedule-have you been watching college football recently? Every team does that. I don't think it's right, but it's the way it is. But we also play in one of the most difficult conferences in the country so I don't feel too bad about that.

I just think it's pretty unfair to judge an entire fanbase on the people that frequent message boards. The majority of those people are the fringe wackos who nobody would listen to in real life.

I have a little more to say but gotta run right now.

You fail to acknowledge the biggest off-season story of penn state fans, the unmatched tribute they gave to virginia tech during our intersquad scrimmage aka the blue-white game.  

Here's the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNjc_kTHz0&mode=related&search=

All of the students and a good deal of the rest of the 71,000 fans at the exhibition wore maroon and orange rather than blue and white to the game.  The student section formed a giant VT.  

Turning their backs on the OSU band during halftime is no big deal.  It's a joke, and it's says nothing of the students' relative level of class.  Buying a tee-shirt and going through all of the effort to transform a tradition that is always focused on our campus outward to another school says something much more profound.  

You need to recognize.  

Now to JoePa.  Its funny that you think my grandpap, a dead man, could do his job.  What I don't think you understand is that the players that the other coaches gameplan with wouldn't be there without Joe Paterno.  There would be no National power, there would be no 4 and 5 star recruits. To say that Joe has no effect on the program is underinformed and pure arrogance on your part.  Take a look at tape from the OSU game in '05, and it has Joe Paterno written all over it.  Galen Hall and Tom Bradly called the plays, but under Joe's philosophy.

When you win a bowl game of relevence, come and talk.

Anyway, I'll try to sum up what I think my feelings are as a Penn State alum and fan in the context of ND nation.  Despite the fact that no one can really define "class," Joe Paterno runs a classy football program.  

The players behave generally well for males in their age bracket who get a lot of attention, and they study.  Joe donates extensively to various charities, including the University, where, oh yeah, he gave $10 million to build a library.  Since Beaver Stadium's existed, the fans have consistently cheered and applauded BOTH teams when they take the field.  And despite recruiting rankings to the contrary, Penn State still wins...they even have an outside chance to win the Big Ten and a BCS game this year.

Now, when you go to a ND game--and I've been to plenty--you realize that you've taken a pilgramage to the sacred land of college football fans everywhere.  Everyone's nice and friendly, even when Michigan or SC or Florida State's visiting.  But everyone knows this...so no one questions it.  

Considerably less people know about the specialness of Penn State football, of the tradition, applauding the other team, chills up the spine for anyone with a pulse when 100,000 shout We Are, and the tailgating.  

It's fun to tailgate at a Notre Dame game, but it's an experience to tailgate in the fields surrounding Beaver Stadium.  Notre Dame games, with the students walking across the quad and plenty of non-alcholic fun for the kids, are nice.  

Penn State games are to football fans what Phish concerts are to hippies.  Rows and rows of RV's, more tailgating than the eye can see, girls showing their tits (maybe not classy, but fun), and drunken revelry that's a little bit edgy but usually not over the top.  There's a reason it's called Happy Valley, and if you've never been, come on down on September 8th, and you can then evaluate the "classiness" of our program in way that's more authentic than reading blogs and articles.  We'd love to have you, even if you can't find a ticket.  

In any event, the truth of the matter is that no person or school or organization is all good or all bad, all class or all depravity.  Some Penn State fans (more of today's students than we'd like to admit) are dicks, but the vast majority take a lesson from Joe Paterno and display class and integrity in they way they conduct themselves, even on Saturdays when they've had too much to drink.  But few people who never attend a Penn State football game know about that.  Meanwhile, most college football fans do know that relative civility of the Irish faithful, even if they've never been to South Bend.  

So we're a bit defensive.  Nevertheless, we'll clap respectfully for ND on September 8th when they emerge from the tunnel, win the game without running up the score or going for it on fourth down with the game in hand, and we'll shake your hands, and thank you for coming.  Because we're classy.

Gotta run, my dog is about to fight and I've got $23,000 on him.  C'mon Brady, rip 'em up!

I can agree and disagree with that.  There are more assholes than in the past, but its true everywhere thanks to youtube, paris hilton, ESPN, and the National Football League.  Its all part of a new sports culture that will eventually permeate even the great Notre Dame.

I list Notre Dame's faults to illustrate that ALL schools have their problems.  We owe you no apologies for taking unprovoked shots at us and retaliating.  If our students owe them to anyone, they owe them to Ohio State.  Unless Notre Dame fans were suddenly proclaimed the big brothers of college football, its none of your business to slam us from South Bend without even having been to Happy Valley.

If you want classless, I'll refer you here.

http://mondesishouse.blogspot.com/2007/01/you-stay-classy-west-virginia.html
Am I condoing it?  No.  It is embarassing, but its embarassing for fans across the country.  When I think of Michigan fans, I don't remember the ones who told me "That must be a nice place to live" while i was waiting outside a port-o-pottie, i remember the ones that gave us hot dogs at their tailgates and lost graciously in the bean bag toss.

My point is that you'll remember what you WANT to remember about an institution and their fan base.  If its negative, thats your choice, but most of us aren't like that.  I don't even think its all students.  Heck, I'm 17, and I was always taught how to act at a Penn State game, I bet plenty of students there now were as well.  Its just a higher percentage of those who don't, because lets face it, society as a whole is on the downspin.

Those people don't represent me, they represent the drunken bums of America.

I was a member of the Michigan Marching Band, and any time we performed in front of an angry rowdy crowd it just made me feel great that they CARED enough to insult me.

That meant far more than obligatory polite applause ever did.

Indifference is far worse than hatred.