Last Saturday the Nittany Lions men's basketball team was beaten by the Fighting Illini of Illinois, but the Penn State student section was completely embarrassed.
It started out looking like any other PSU home basketball game. The fans filtered into their seats as the players went through their warmups. It looked just like this.
As the players left the court for their last pregame meeting, the fans behind the basket stood and cheered them on with chants of "Let's Go PSU". Yessir, the visiting team was in for a tough crowd this day. The players came back to another round of applause. The lights dimmed as the players were introduced. Then when the lights came back up, the scene in the Bryce Jordan Center took a sudden shift to the orange.
A group of Illini students known as the Orange Krush had duped the ticket office into giving them a block of 100 prime seats directly behind the basket. They drove all night and snuck into Happy Valley under the cloak of pretending to be PSU alumni from Chicago. When they removed their blue jackets the Nittwits were shocked. The players were shocked. The Illini players on the other hand were encouraged. They started the game on a 9-2 run and never looked back.
At one point the student section tried to regroup and save face by chanting, "Where's your mascot?" The Krush shot back, "What's your record?" Ouch. Thoroughly demoralized the Nittwits were never heard from again and the Bryce Jordan Center became a home game for Illinois.
Adding insult on top of insult on top of injury, the Orange Krush stopped on their way in town that morning and did this.
How dare they? The gauntlet has been thrown down, Nittwits. The honor of your team, your school, and its alumni are at stake. It's on you to make this right. You have one year to plan. Get them.