Penn State Fight Update

Sorry for the light posting today. I had a head cold hit me last night like a ton of bricks, so I'm all drugged up and kind of out of commission today. But I have been monitoring the situation regarding the fight that occurred between some football players and other students at an off campus apartment this weekend. Here is what I believe to be true at this point.

Sometime late Saturday night Penn State safety Anthony Scirrotto was walking on College Avenue with his girlfriend. An altercation occurred between his girlfriend and another guy, who was accompanied by two other men. Scirrotto and his girlfriend left the scene. Later in the evening, or early Sunday morning, Scirrotto went to the Meridian II apartments with 10 or 11 of his teammates including cornerback Justin King and fullback Matt Hahn. They entered an apartment where a party was taking place and confronted the male(s) they met on College Avenue. A fight broke out and one person (not a football player) was sent to the hospital and later released after minor treatment.

There are some rumors going around that I'm not sure I believe at this point. Here is what I don't know at this time.

What occurred on College Avenue? I don't know if it was a physical or verbal confrontation. Some people claim the girl was pushed to the ground. Some people say she started the fight. I'm not sure. Rumor also says one of the three guys threatened he had a concealed weapon. I find this hard to believe. If a guy threatened me and my wife with a weapon, I wouldn't go looking for him later, even if I had a posse of twelve 250 lb guys.

We also don't know what happened later at the apartment. Did the players force their way in, or is that the residents embellishing the story? We don't know who threw the first punch. We don't know which football players were fighting and which ones were there to just watch their teammate's backs.

What I do know is the players involved are idiots. It's not a long walk from Nittany Apartments to College Avenue, but it takes a good five minutes. At some point somebody has to have the common sense to know nothing constructive is going to come out of acting like thugs and confronting a bunch of punks. Somebody has to raise the question, "What would Joe do if he knew I was taking part in this?"

What makes me even more angry about this is the fantastic opportunity these kids throw away over stupid chest thumping. They don't have an appreciation for the thousands of fans who get choked up singing the Alma Mater. They don't realize they have an opportunity to do something people like me only dream of. If you gave me the option of lopping off the finger of my choice in exchange for the chance to run out of the tunnel wearing the Blue and White and play one play in a stadium packed with over 100,000 people, I might do it. That's what Penn State football means to me, and that's why it pisses me off to see kids take it for granted.