The trip up to State College was trey uneventful. We spent the entire time listening to old school gangsta rap, notably B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems," which Chris could not get enough of. For those of you that have not driven through Pennsylvania, the roadway system lies. We were directed onto I-99, which is a toll road that would take us through Altoona, PA. We got our change ready, and then when we exited the road, we were informed there was no toll. Very weird. If you're the type of man who likes to see the same type of RV 100,000 times or like seeing big heaps of rusted car frames piled together in people's back yards, then US-220 North to State College is for you. It reminded me of some of the roads it takes to get to Atlantic City, NJ. Traffic was moderate up 'till State College, and absolute murder when we entered the town. The stadium parking lot, as it turned out, was a huge 30 acre field across Park(?) Street from the stadium. Excellent place to tailgate, as there was enough grass to keep it from being sandy but not enough so that you couldn't drive on. Upon arrival, my thoughts were to break out the alcohol, but my compatriots wisely remarked we should wait until we found tickets first. I had a glass of Blue Beast (Seagram's concoction made of raspberry flavored gin and juice - with ginseng) and we took to the streets:

Andrew and Chris both figured that since the money was going back to Joe Pa anyway, he should be the one to hail us the tickets. Seriously, it was hard to find tickets. We heard from everyone there that cops were on the lookout for scalpers ready to take them away in cuffs. We ended up meeting these AWESOME Lion fans who had come down in 2 RVs for the game. They were paranoid that the three of us were cops (despite Andrew's non-law enforcement looking presence) so they made us have beer and party with them for a while. That took a lot of arm twisting lemme tell you. The unfortunate part is that I got no shots of them because they thought they would be essentially mug shots. Also, notice the thumb on the very leftmost side of the picture. Keep it in mind.



Some nice Nittany Lion fans took a picture of us post us getting tickets. Just seemed right that Joe Pa should be there to join in the celebration. Note how much crisper this photo is since I didn't take it (and this is just after one cup of Blue Beast, mind you). Also notice the lack of a thumb. In retrospect I am not sure why I am grabbing my shirt. Perhaps I just couldn't wait to get these Nittany Lion colors off me. Perhaps the Blue Beast made me briefly think I was Napoleon. Regardless, the ticket problem was solved and now we could get onto the drinking.......