I'm going to try and be as level headed as possible here.  I hope this doesn't get me lumped it with the rest of my "delusional" friends.

"But Notre Dame fans, while being rather smug about all things related to their university, seem to take a disproportionate amount of crap compared to other fans who are far more out there."

Well when your university refuses to join a conferance, and pulls in loads of money on a personel TV contract, what do you expect?  Your blue and gold pedestal that you place yourselves on is much higher than our blue and white one.  No matter HOW down to earth domer bloggers are, it doesn't make up for the arrogance the school itself displays.

"Notre Dame fans obviously think quite highly of their program, despite the bowl losing streak and general ugliness that pops up from time to time, and while most of us will admit things haven't been consistently great for a while, we always get appropriately called out for it when we do stray too far into the land of fantasy."

That comes with the territory.  When you shove Touchdown Jesus down our throats on NBC every Sat., naturally, people are going to hate your school.

"Penn State fans somehow get a bye when constantly talking about their tradition, which is nearly as dated as Notre Dame's.  Since the turn of the millennium, Penn State has finished better than fourth in the Big Ten once (2005), while also collecting 9th (2004), 10th (2003), 6th (2001) and 7th (2000) place finishes along the way."

Fair enough, but this isn't 2004, 2003, 2001, or 2000.  This is 2007, and the stuggles those years aren't going to temper what I think of the team this year, and aren't going to diminish the great tradtion our school has.  I won't assail your tradition, just don't assail ours.

"It's important to note their Big Ten finishes since the Nittany Lions have played a non-conference schedule worthy of laughter and delicious cupcakes the last few years, including this season where their non-Irish games include Florida Internation (rated 119th out of 119 in Athlon's preseason poll), Buffalo (rated 118) and Temple (rated 115, as apparently Eastern Michigan and Utah State were not available).  Granted, Notre Dame's schedule is slowly shifting that way, but PSU's has been like that for this entire decade."

Now this is completely off the deep end.  Yes, Fla. Intl. and Buffalo really suck, but please, look at YOUR schedule!  Duke, Air Force, Stanford....need I go on?  Everyone plays cup cakes.  It just so happens yours are better than ours this year.  In 2005, ours were South Florida (bowl team in '06) and Cincinatti (knocked off Rutgers in '06).  It's a cycle, and we just happen to be on the very easy end this year.

"Penn State fans also seem to think that just because a great-great-grandfather "runs" their team, they're quite different from the Ohio States of the world when it comes to class.  I'd love to think so, but sadly, all of my experiences in State College lead me to believe otherwise.  I attended the 2005 Ohio State/Penn State classic, and while I maybe could handle their entire student section chanting "F** Ohio!" and "F** Lee Corso!", they turned their back on the dotting of the "I"!"

You know, I was there, too, and didn't notice any of this.  Nor did any jounalists who covered it.  There are always loose cannons at every school.  Everyone has their tasteless moments.  May I refer you here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM28gO8bs_M

Bear in mind, Herbstreit is an OSU grad, and made these remarks at halftime of the OSU-PSU game.

This from the article you cited:

"Outwardly, I was enthusiastic about the idea. But visions of a vandalized RV danced in my head. Harassment from drunk coeds. A weekend of beer showers. And God forbid the Irish lose -- we'd have to leave by halftime....I thought of that young lady as I read the end of Mr. Staub's article. What would happen to a Notre Dame student who found herself in respiratory distress in Happy Valley? I would hope fans there would give her the same level of attention we gave our Nittany Lion friend, but reading that article, I'm not so sure.  I'd like to think my lack of surety would bother PSU fans, but reading that article, I'm not so sure."

Sounds like someone is a wimp.  At that same OSU-PSU game in 2005, fans from both team got along pretty well.  Aside from the kind-hearted booing we gave them, I don't recall many instances of shear ugliness.  In fact, at College Gameday, one OSU fan took a massice "O" flag, and displayed it right behind Chris Fowler's head.  In response, and Penn State fan got his own flag, and stuck it in front.  Fans from both sides laughed, and all in all, I think both sides had a good time that weekend.

No one is going to destroy your RVs.  My God, Happy Valley isn't Bull Run.  Expect the booing, and mild harassment, but, at least from my end, and that of many of my PSU counterparts, its all in fun.  People that treat you like crap are the exception, not the rule, I promise.

"The Notre Dame/Penn State game on September 8th is obviously important to the Irish, as every potential win needs to be focused on in an attempt to reach bowl eligibility this season, but for the Nittany Lion fanbase it's become almost an obsession."

I don't know who started that blog, but people in the PSU community have made fun of it, too.

"could restart the local rivalry with Pitt, but the Lions envision themselves on some sort of blue-and-white pedestal when it comes to playing the Panthers."

Ok, now, here is where you really don't get it.  Pitt wants a 1 and 1 series.  Would you take a look at the Big East?  In a world where EVERYONE makes a bowl, Pitt hasn't been there in years.  Outside of the top teams, I don't see the Big East as anything more than the MAC.  Would ND give a MAC team a one for one?  Now I'm not sure how things are done at ND but football games make our athletic department independent of tax payer expenses.  We need 7 home games.  if Pitt doesn't want to break their backs for us, there are other schools that will.  Now, if we keep adding the Virginias of the world to the schedule down the road, I might understand, but to give those whiny Panthers a one for one is like letting your middle school brother hang out with your college buddies.  We'd like a rival, but, we aren't THAT desperate.

"I think the animosity between the two teams comes from a hint of jealousy from Penn State about the coverage Notre Dame gets"

Probably.  It's hard to understand why a team gets so hyped, and then plays in a BCS bowl and its shown they don't belong there 2 years in a row, and again gets more press than anyone that isn't USC.  Which reminds me...

I'm sure ND hates ESPN's love affair with USC as much as I do.  Heck, the entire press gives them more credit than they deserve.  They play in a JV league, and when they ran the table in 2005, they got a free pass, because they had Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.  Never mind FRESNO ST. took them to the brink. The same was true of Texas that season.  Texas won the conf. title game 70-3.  What does THAT say about the Big 12? I'm not so sure they were the best two teams in the country that year, and while I don't know If PSU, OSU, or ND could have taken them, I don't think the last TD Young scored to win the game for Texas would have happened if PSU's defense was on the field.

Looking back, I'm glad we had our hearts broken on the field that season, because, if not for 2 seconds in Ann Arbor, we would have run the table, too.  Would the press have put us in that title game?  I doubt it.  The hypefest that was USC-Texas wasn't going to be overcome that year.  The BCS would have again been exploited as the fraud it is.

Why do I tell this story?  Well, to illustrate why the PSU's of the world get upset at the press ND receives.  Someday, it may not be about what TEAM is better, but who the media likes more that gets to play for a National Title.  If it came down to an undefeated SEC champ vs. the only 2 11-1s in the country, ND and PSU, who would get the nod from the media?

Keep that in mind when you get attacked.  We get away with it, because we are part of the rest of the world.  ND isn't.  With greater power come greater responsibility, or in this case, criticism