Best State College Hotels

State College Hotels-PSU Blue White Game-A Great Weeekend for State College

Last Saturday, April 24th mark the annual Penn State Blue White football scrimmage at Beaver Stadium in State College Pennsylvania. Sure, many of the bigger football programs have some form of spring football as an initial barometer for estimating new talent before the summer months begin and many kids leave campus. This year the Nittany Lions need to fill many different positions from last year, one of the more interesting competitions is at quarterback. This particular Saturday was very gray and wet and seemed to dampen the performances of the teams. There was no clear winner at quarterback. Both Kevin Newsome and Matt McGloin struggled. Although Shawn Kersey had flashes of greatness, it was against the 3rd team defense. And, in fairness to the QBs, the offensive line didn’t look sharp in protecting them nor did the new core of young receivers, catching for them. Which on,e might be able to attribute to the stout defense they were up against. Don’t ask me who won or what the score was because truthfully, it doesn’t matter. The big winner on this day was the town of State College.

If you do not know, State College is the home of the Pennsylvania State University. Although, if you watch a televised game, you would think that it is actually named Happy Valley, but it is not. The game usually pulls in over 70,000 fans, although this year was lower because of the weather. This yearly scrimmage is not just a game but a nice weekend event for the fans and the town. The game and parking free with a meet and greet of the players via an autograph session. There are many activities throughout the weekend for everyone to enjoy. Outside the stadium they set up a nice little carnival with rides and vendors and games geared toward younger children. They also sponsor a high school band parade and this year was the inaugural Beaver Stadium Run/Walk which I believe was for the Special Olympians. The State College Spikes minor league baseball team has a kickoff baseball game, their field is also located right by the football stadium. And they top the whole thing off with a fireworks display, and who doesn’t like fireworks? This entire event is a huge shot in the arm of the community and provides a pleasant distraction particularly during a somewhat dull part of the year. It is a welcome boost to the economy particularly State College Hotels and restaurants. Nothing could be more resplendent after a long hard winter than to put on ones favorite PSU gear and head down to the stadium. Most people will view the game as a necessary step in building a big time football program but if you visit the Blue White game, you will see that it is much much more and State College is lucky to have such a wonderful resource. Whether the game yields football knowledge for the coaches is yet to be known, but the town is surely better for it.

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