It's almost that time...

...College Football Season!  yay!  One week from tomorrow the Penn State Football season starts.  Hard to believe summer is almost over.

I found this posted by a friend on-line.  In honor of Football season, please read on.  This was written by Joe Paterno's son:

PENN STATE IS…

Penn State is a sunrise over Mount Nittany.

Penn State is breakfast in the dining halls or at the HUB. Or an Irving’s bagel. Or a cup of coffee with the townies on College or Beaver.

Penn State is a tuition bill, a student loan and an annual tuition hike.

Penn State is the route that takes you from your dorm or apartment to your classes – and a route where you see the same people every day along the way. 

Penn State is running out of meal plan points before the semester ends or having too many to dump with days to go.

Penn State is a jam-packed bus ride on the Loop on a cold rainy day. Penn State used to mean having a roll of quarters handy when the Loop used to cost 25 cents.

Penn State is a class in Willard or a class in the Forum. Penn State is an 8 a.m. class at the building on campus that is furthest from where you live.

Penn State is the Willard preacher.

Penn State is acing a test you studied for. Penn State is not doing well on the one you didn’t prepare for. Either way, Penn State is learning a lesson about how to succeed or not succeed in life.

Penn State is that professor who tells you that you are capable of doing even better.

Penn State is a group project and late night meetings fueled by coffee or Red Bull or Diet Coke.

PENN STATE IS ALSO...

Penn State is hanging out in the HUB between classes or at lunch or just because.

Penn State is a sorority or fraternity or a team or an interest group that gives you a base foundation of relationships to build upon.

Penn State is wearing a jacket again to face the first cold snap of the fall. It’s being bundled up as the snow falls.

Penn State is late night pizza. And grilled stickies.

Penn State is the electricity in the air on a crisp fall Friday afternoon the day before a big home football game.

Penn State is a fall Saturday afternoon in a white-clad Beaver Stadium — the heart of Penn State pumping energy and pride outward to Penn Staters all over the country and the world.

Penn State is the earth-shattering roar as the record-setting fundraising THON numbers are held up on Sunday evening.

Penn State is alumni crowding into The Tavern, or revisiting the old haunts that still stand, like The Skellar, The Brewery or Zeno’s.

Penn State is several hundred at an alumni event in Scranton or several dozen at one in L.A.

Penn State is going to work out in Germany wearing a PSU shirt and hearing from across the hotel gym, “We Are…”

PENN STATE IS ULTIMATELY...

Penn State, ultimately, is the place where you are forced to turn inward and rely on your classmates. As a college town far away from the population centers of the state and the East Coast, Penn State is a society unto itself. The isolation forces students to bond with one another through a shared set of experiences, places and events.

Penn State is those ties that bind Penn Staters to each other in ways that don’t fade with time, nor lessen with distance. Across the miles and across the generations, we all share some common experiences that lead to a unifying love of our alma mater.

But we are now reminded that Penn State all starts with that first sunrise, that first week, that first test, that first party.

Penn State builds from standing at childhood’s gate. And although Penn State will certainly mold you through college, its effect on your life will never end.

You will always be Penn State.