Dial It Down....

This weekend, a bus-load of us went to the Purdue vs. Penn State game in Happy Valley. It was a fun time - the bus was probably the best part - because Purdue lost. But we still managed to have a lot of fun. And as with every group, you always get a select few that probably would've been better off watching the game from home or just dialing it down a few notches in case you couldn't read the annoyed faces/glances that were coming your way.

Here are just some things those select few did that would've made my trip just a tad better than it already was:
Select Few #1 - not a Purdue alum - a friend of an alum...just along for the ride. No ties to Purdue, no ties to Penn State. Thinks his friend looks like Chad Pennington, QB of the NY Jets. All through the game, starts yelling, 'J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.' Um, yeah, you're in the middle of PA and if you're going to have any NFL fans around, it's going to be the Steelers or the Eagles, my friend. So let's just quit with the J-E-T-S chant....you're making us look bad.

Select Few #2 - Purdue alum - only part of the club for a couple of years. Becomes loud and constantly looks like she's having a seizure when drinking and watching football. Can't seem to sit still and jumps around and paces when bad plays occur - which is quite often with Purdue. During the game, stands the whole time and yells....yells a lot. Has no sense of Rhythm because during the "We Are - Penn State" chant, she manages to yell, "We Are - Boilermakers." Do you see the problem? Penn State (clap, clap) - two syllables. Boi-ler-ma-kers (clap, clap, clap, clap) - four syllables. But guess what? Purdue people do that chant too and it goes, 'We Are - PUR-DUE." Hey look - Purd-due (clap, clap)...two syllables. I think that would be a better choice for the counter chant, don't you?! But it wasn't only the yelling and the lack of rhythm that set me off, it was when it was a quiet moment in the stadium she decides to yell, 'Joe Pa sucks!' that I had to turn around, only to see her huddled into her seat and hiding because...oh my goodness, could it be she yelled without thinking? I finally just had to say, 'You are going to get killed and none of us are going to jump in and save you.' And that was that.

There were other select members on the bus that I could've done without but the above two were probably the ones that took the cake. I'm not even going to start in about how we all sat together in the stands and left the stadium at the same time and guess who manages to get lost and can't find her way to the bus - that's right...Select Few #2. The search party was called out and she was the last person on the bus....oh yeah....that was fun.

Overall - it was a fun trip...I just don't understand why some people have to be so loud and make a scene while at a football game....we know you love football (it's why we're all there, isn't it?), we know you love Purdue (it's why we're all there, isn't it?) and yes, we want our team to win (it's why we're there, isn't it?) but do you have to make us look bad? Just dial it down and maybe, just maybe, someone will walk back to the bus with you.