It's a Penn State Life

Future Lion?

I traveled to State College earlier this month (December) to speak at a seminar along with my boss, Kelly. Kelly's husband, 2 daughters, and Suzanne (of course) spent the day of the seminar touring town and campus. They got some great photos but these 2 of Katie were just too sweet not to share...

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas from 2theLion and Katie!!!!!

Message from Diesel Tailgating Coordinator

Per the Tailgating Coordinator...

Penn Staters and friends,

While we wait to cheer our boys on at the Orange Bowl, I would like to pass on some tailgating info for 2006 football season. While I would have liked to poll everyone like last year, the planners and I had a unanimous vote. The following tailgates were selected based on time of year, quality of opponent and special event weekends:

April 22nd, 2006 Blue-White Weekend (tentative date)
Sept 30th, 2006 Northwestern (Oktoberfest tailgate)
Oct 21st, 2006 Illinois (Homecoming)

I'm passing this along now so that you can be prepared to make hotel reservations. Hotel reservations for the regular season need to be made and PAID FOR IN FULL by the end of January (~$350/weekend/room). I would like to coordinate the effort, but cannot afford to front the cash for more than 1 room for the season. Please let me know if you'd be interested in helping out. I will be sending out a reminder in January.

As always, Madeline and Suzanne will be there for most homegames, if you happen to be in town for other weekends. Full 2006 schedule

Below are some interesting videos that I thought you'd get a kick out of.

Merry Christmas,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

JoePa and his thoughts about Ohio Staters:
http://www.brianchalfin.com/pennstate/joepa.html

Penn State PSU Nittany Lion does Michael Jackson Thriller

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=217969400013445906&pr=goog-sl

Description: At the PSU vs Purdue Game on Oct 29th 2005 the Nittany Lion on the field did the Michael Jackson Thriller dance with the help of two Blue Band members: Justin Kulikowski and Erik Dennis.

Fantastic Photo from Tailgating

Another one of my favorite photos from this season's tailgating - Pooh in front of the PortaPotty - Thanks to Shelley and Mike for the photo from the Purdue Homecoming tailgate!!!

Vote for Williams' catch for Pontiac play of the year

Fans Can Vote for Derrick Williams' Reception as the "Pontiac Game Changing Performance" of the Year - Freshman's catch could yield $100,000 for Penn State's general scholarship fund

Website reaches 1000 hits!

Wow - we've reached the 1000 hit mark on 2theLion.com --

PENN STATE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS!!!!!

With their 31 - 22 win over Michigan State - The Nittany Lions clinched a share of the Big Ten Title for Football and the BCS bowl berth.

GREAT JOB LIONS!!!!

sI.com - All-Sports Rankings

SI.com - All-Sports Rankings

PSU is the number one sports school in the country! Way to go Lions!

Website passes 900 hits!

On our way to 1000! Hopefully 2theLion.com will reach 1000 hits by the end of the season! and 10 entries in the guestbook ;)

Our website has been added as a link on Tailgating.com (look under Parking Lots/College)

Be sure to cheer the Lions on to victory against msu this weekend -

To the Lion!

Thanks Tyler!

Tyler just sent along CDs of the pix from the tailgating season - there's a lot to go through - I'm going to have to take a week off just to update the website - but I have to share this one - because I love it - and it makes me laugh -

Okay, this is just about the funniest

thing I've seen in a while...



It's about time they welcomed Gregg!

GO LIONS!!!!!!!

Photo from SI.com - SI on Campus

Those crazy Dieselers

They're building us a car mountable flagpole - it's a tailgating dream come true - seriously, it is. Rob sent along a sketch - it looks great! I love it that the flag is wavy - nice touch.

Pep Rally at Rec Hall

GoPSUsports.com - Pep Rally for wisconsin game

Return to Paternoville

The kids are out again - camping outside the stadium to secure seats to the PSU wisconsin game. As of Tuesday morning, over 30 tents populated the now famous location.

This is what college life is all about!

to the lion!

White Out for Senior Day

GoPSUsports.com - White Out declared for clash against wisconsin

The results of editing -

Dang - I'm having flashbacks to the high school paper when Mrs. K thought my movie review of "less than zero" was too edgy...

Below is a link to the published "opinion" that I submitted to the Collegian regarding the CHEERLEADING staff's cheer choices. Sadly, I just come across as an mean old lady who yells "down in front"!

Letter to the Editor - Fans need lessons about game cheers

Oh well!

PENN STATE v wisconsin

Hey Friends,

Can you believe it? It's the final home game and tailgate of the 2005 football season. November 5th is Senior Day at Beaver Stadium and Penn State hosts the university of wisconsin. Kickoff is at 3:30pm - and the game will be televised on ABC.

Feeling a little nostalgic, we're planning a Memories tailgate - featuring recipes from "the olden days" such as: Bloody Marys; Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches; Chuck's Cheese Sauce; Uncle Al's Burnt Keilbasa; Chili; Brownies; and, so much more!

Bucky and the other badgers will be clad in their red and white - many, strangely enough, in overalls.

This is a big game for the Lions. PSU and uw sit atop the Big Ten Standings - This game could very well determine the winner of the Big Ten this year (can you believe it?) and which team will be the Big Ten's BCS representative in January.

As usual we plan to park in Lot 13 or Lot 12 (see map), as close to the front of the lot(s) as possible.


All are welcome. We just ask that you comment here or send us an email so we can prepare accordingly. We'll be sending out our "regular" email a little closer to gameday; if you'd like to be added to our email list, please email us at coach@2thelion.com - and check the Website (2theLion.com) for updates! Also, be sure to see our football analysis on the football blog (2thelionfootball.blogspot.com).

Hope to see you there - To the Lion!

DDT6 Tailgate - one for the ages

We met the other tailgaters at 6:30am at the Sleep Inn and once everyone was present and accounted for, we (3 trucks and 2 cars) headed out to the stadium. The gates didn't open until 8am - so Rob (Tailgating Coordinator) had asked us to make some "pre-breakfast" snacks - we had chocolate chip, blueberry and corn (w/ green chilies) muffins, keilbasa rolls, and sausage pockets (inspired by the Bath Pasties!) -

Once in the parking lot (and after I yelled at the parking attendant - who was being a Jacknut) we started the set up. The clever dieselers always purchase an extra parking pass - so we can have even more room to spread out. We had 3 canopies - 2 of which we used for chairs and "side" tables - and one for the food tables. The guys have a mammoth flag pole from which they fly USA and PSU flags, wrap with blue and white lights and top with a cut-out of a nuclear submarine - makes it pretty easy to spot. We had 2 full-size gas grills, our tabletop grill, 3 coleman stoves, 1 of those outdoor deep-fryers and a propane fueled outdoor fireplace.

They fired up the grill and made bacon, sausage and eggs for breakfast - Suzanne made white russian coffee drinks and we heated up some apple cider. We put out some snacks and desserts on the tables -

For Lunch the guys heated up the deep fryer and made peirogies and deep fried Turkey (they made another around "linner-time") - Suzanne and I had prepared a "nacho bar" with refried beans, Chuck's Cheese Sauce, taco meat, lettuce, shredded cheese, ripe olives, salsa, sour cream and homemade nacho chips! We had skewered pounds of shrimp on Friday and marinated it in Good Seasons salad dressing (remember the tailgate next to Chuck's where "Steve" would make "Shrimps on the Barbie" - it's his recipe) - I grilled them up and Suzanne had gotten out a great platter for me - but they never made it to the table - folks were eating them off of the grill - it was hilarious, and a little scary! I didn't get one, but I'd saved a "good one" for Suzanne and she said that they were great - It made me very happy and a little nostalgic -

We had made: brownie bites; homemade pretzels; "big" chocolate chip cookies in the shape of footballs; cheese puffs; peanut butter/chocolate cookie bars; burnt keilbasa; chocolate covered pretzels; some crazy coffee/caramel cookies suzanne made; spinach dip; creamy salsa dip; 3D football cake; a big tray of "dirt" that we decorated with graham cracker tombstones and buried non-blue and white football players; tortilla roll-ups - and so on. It was a "locust" event of biblical proportions - we couldn't get the stuff out there fast enough - but it was great - everyone was eating and drinking and having a super time.

The Dieselers also made - sausage sandwiches, bbq brisket; beer can chickens, cheese/bacon burgers, cheese/meat tray, baklava - yum!

One tailgater's parents stopped by and brought baked goods including whoopie pies and cookies. Suzanne's parents brought homemade sweet potato pie and homemade chocolate lollipops. Dena and Mark, Cousin Tim, Tyler (and his friend Todd) were also there - Tyler brought his famous brownies and pumpkin bread - Todd brought some soft pretzels from south side pittsburgh - Suz's friends Shelley and Mike brought burgers and hotdogs, spinach dip in the hollowed out bread bowl and a crazy assortment of Smirnoff beverages (WAY too drinkable!) - Dena and Mark brought a bunch of beer and snacks (and they stopped at the supermarket on the way for me to get more whipped cream!)

The weather was cold in the morning - but clear - by afternoon the sun was out and quite comfortable -

It was a wonderful day (and night) - the Lions posted another WIN - the unofficial attendance is 120 - so there ya go!

Inside the Stadium! (Audioblogger)

Click above to hear an audio post from inside Beaver Stadium during the PSU/purdue game!