It's amazing what 20 years can do

For many a Penn State fan, the night of January 2, 1987, is forever burned into their souls, for that night Penn State beat the Miami Hurricanes, 14-10, in a rousing Fiesta Bowl that has since become legendary in the football program—mostly for the nail-biting, jaw-dropping ending.

The game took place 11 days before my 9th birthday, and I remember staying up late with my father to watch it. My mother was working the late shift as a nurse at a local nursing home, and so that just left us guys to catch the Nittany Lions' glory.

At 9 years old, I was only beginning to catch the Nittany Lion fever, but at the time, I still didn't have a big grip on the finer details of football. I knew that if you got the ball in the endzone, it was a touchdown—and beyond that, little else. And at the conclusion of that game, when Miami was 4th and goal in Penn State territory with only seconds left in the game, and Miami QB Vinny Testaverde threw a pass right into the hands of Penn Stater Pete Giftopolous for a glorious game-ending interception . . . that was the first time in my life I ever saw my father cry. In his adrenaline-pumped joyous cheers, I remember him falling to one knee and putting his face into his handkerchief, briefly weeping with unadulterated joy. (I myself can remember doing much the same at the late-night conclusion to last year's Orange Bowl.)

My father recorded the Fiesta Bowl off the TV—and for several years after that, we thought the tape had been lost. We searched high and low for that videotape, but it never surfaced . . . until several months ago, when it was miraculously unearthed at my apartment! I was in the process of going through all my belongings, because at the time I was getting ready to move to a new apartment, when suddenly there it was among several old VHS tapes that had been packed away (i.e., movies that I didn't watch anymore).

After I switched apartments, I made it a point to watch that game before the 2006 college football season got under way, but sadly I never got around to it. This past Friday night, though, just over 20 years to the day after Penn State's legendary victory, it finally came to fruition; fellow Penn Staters Will and Erica came over to watch the game, too.

Let me tell you, it was quite an eye-opening experience watching a Penn State game from 20 years ago! Coming off a recent bowl win with an almost totally different coaching staff, you could tell the coaching style was night and day between 1987 and 2007. Even the TV coverage was different! It wasn't so flagrantly commercialized and glamorous as it is right now, with no score strip running along the bottom, with no commentator break every 17 seconds—it was just straight coverage of the game, letting the boys on the field play, and allowing the fans at home to watch the game and feel the excitement on their own terms! It's amazing the difference between then and now.

I did frequent double-takes at all the names that I haven't heard in ages: Blair Thomas, Shane Conlan, D.J. Dozier, and of course the hero of the game, Pete Giftopolous. And even though I knew the outcome of the game, the tension was still palpable as the final moments of the game ticked away, as Miami slowly but surely advanced down into Penn State territory in a last-ditch attempt to overtake the game and remain at #1. And when Pete Giftopolous intercepted the ball right on the goal line . . . in the back of my mind I could still hear my father screaming, “Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!!”

Upon reflection, I kind of feel like I should put this tape in a safety deposit box—or at least frame it and hang it under a cross. Because for something this rare and this momentous, I feel like I'm in possession of the original stone tablets of Moses! (This game hasn't been released on DVD yet, that I'm aware of.) And I have to say this much: for something that was taped off of TV on a mid-80s VCR, the sound and picture quality held up remarkably well! And kudos to my father's video-editing skills, for he paused the recording at every commercial so that we could enjoy seamless football viewing (though I have to confess, part of me was hoping for at least one '80s commercial to laugh at).

But I have to admit, even 20 years later, the victory we attained against Miami that night was an exciting thing to see. For me, the greatest PSU victories of my lifetime were the Orange Bowl from last year and the 1997 comeback against Ohio State, but having just watched the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, I can't in good conscience discount that win anymore.