1,150 posts later...
When I started Zombie Nation more than two and a half years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. Come to think of it, I'm still not completely sure I know what I'm doing. But blogging wasn't something they teach you in journalism school, mostly because that was a time when the main stream media still clung to the hope that it was just a passing fad that could be weathered. So I just kind of put my head down and jumped in without the slightest inkling what would come of this whole thing.
I landed on the name Zombie Nation directly because of my love for the Penn State night game atmosphere. My second game ever in Beaver Stadium was the Nebraska night game in 2002. And I'll say this much about it; you have no idea how great night games are until you're marching down the field as the drum major lands his flip in front of 110,753 erupting fans. While "Kernkraft 400" (the real name of the song by Zombie Nation), didn't arrive on the scene until 2004, there was something different about night games in Beaver Stadium prior to 2006. Fans still appreciated every win like it was the national championship game. The stands weren't half-empty for kickoffs, even though Penn State went 26-33 in that five-year span.
Things are different now. The aura of the Nebraska win, the 05 Ohio State win, supporting the team in its darkest time. It's all gone now, but that's okay. I get it, as should all Penn State football fans. History is fantastic. Tradition is priceless. But sometimes we have to understand when it's time to move on.
That brings us to right now. Penn State just wrapped up a fantastic win over LSU in the Capital One Bowl. That's 51 wins in the five years since 2004. This is not the same program. It is not a team in search of an identity, or even the slightest sustained success. No, Penn State is officially "back," just as we once thought after that Nebraska win, or after the '05 Ohio State win. But this game, probably more than any other, stamps a big S back onto the college football landscape. Four January bowl games in five seasons, five bowls and four wins overall. These are no longer the same Nittany Lions who helped drag this program back from the edge as the fans chanted "Oh, Oh, Oh, Ohoh!" Over, and over, and over again.
So, let's look at this as the official closing of the book on Penn State's dark times. This blog, like the memory of all those heart-wrenching losses and Penn State's uneasy return to relevancy, won't be going anywhere. But I will be. As you have probably already heard, Tim from Happy Hour Valley, and Galen and Nick from The Nittany Line will join me to run a new Penn State site. So, 1,150 posts later, this will be my last here on ZN.
You can now find me, along with Tim, Galen and Nick, by clicking on the link below:
