God, Country, and the Lions
I went to a small liberal arts college in the middle of Atlanta. We had three thousand students and no football team.
Which is why a hundred and ten thousand people in one place is overwhelming. It’s a small city crowded into the largest football stadium in the country. It’s the size of a refugee camp tailgating in the parking lot. It’s the number of people last night all rooting for the Penn State Nitany Lions. Of which I was one.
To most people the fact that I flew three thousand miles across the country to see a college football game would be extreme.
To most people I would be considered a football fanatic. I’m not. But my brother in law is.
And until last night I never understood what it meant to be a college football fan. Until last night I didn’t understand school spirit. And then I saw one hundred and ten thousand people crammed into one stadium. All wearing white. All drunk. All screaming their voices out as their team trounced Illinois.
And for the first time I understood what it all meant. Why people become fanatics. Why their life revolves around God, Country, and the Lions. And for the first time I was thankful that I went to a school of three thousand people.
It was a great game. A great experience. A great bonding moment for me, my sister, and my new brother in law.
But I have a hard enough time believing in God, America and my own personal sanity to take on a competing belief system that is the Penn State Lions.
