Midweek Musings - The Off-Season Gathers and Now Our Watch Begins

The off-season gathers, and now our watch begins. It shall not end until kickoff against Idaho.

Such is the burden of Penn State football fans. We pine for a competitive basketball team, and take solace in the fact that our wrestling team is as cold, calculating, and indomitable as ice zombies from the frozen north. But for most Penn State fans, the off-season has truly hit us with the second - and final - national signing day in the rear view mirror.

We shall take no secondary teams, hold no tailgates, father no coaching carousel rumors.

While it may be tempting to revel in March Madness by rooting for a secondary team, most of us will instead be consumed by the seemingly inevitable coaching search that awaits us after Pat Chambers departs the BJC. We won’t celebrate, but instead wait stoically for the next lord commander head coach to lead us.

We shall wear no jerseys and win no glory. We shall live and die at our keyboards.

We spend our days hoping for a new winter workout video, or a quote from James Franklin about the roster. Perhaps a commitment from the class of 2020. Anything to keep us going through the long cold winter.

We are the swift, anonymous sarcasm in the darkness. We are the watchers on the internet boards. We are the shield that guards Penn State’s honor from random internet trolls.

We’ll hear all through the off-season that without Trace McSorley, the Nittany Lions won’t be able to field a functional offense. We’ll hear arguments that PSU shouldn’t be in the top 15 or top 20 or top 25. That James Franklin is a fraud. We will defend Penn State’s honor.

We pledge our life and honor to Penn State, for this off-season and all off-seasons to come.