These USC fans are OK with sitting in Penn State land
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When USC fan Keith Taylor bought tickets three weeks ago to the Rose Bowl game for his family, he looked for the best available seats.
The lawyer paid $442 for three tickets and ended up in Row 5, close to the 50-yard line and with an exceptional view of the field. He also ended up smack-dab in the middle of Penn State fans.
Wearing a red USC shirt, Taylor, 56, today said he didn’t mind his surrounding company.
‘When they’re sitting down, we’re going to be standing up,’ he said. ‘We plan to be standing up a great deal.’
But won’t the cheers for the Nittany Lions be annoying?
‘No,’ said Taylor’s 14-year-old son, Zach. ‘Because I know they’re wrong.’
Among the various contingents of white, there were other red dots sprinkled in, including Matthew Neally, 48, and Ron Krajniak, 50. The two had allowed their friend, a Penn State fan, to hunt down their $245 Row 10 seats.
‘He said, ‘You want to sit with me, you sit at the Penn State side,’ ‘ Neally said.
‘It’s gonna be hard,’ Krajniak said. ‘By the fourth quarter, we might be the only ones cheering.’
Several rows over, Ian Shively, 23, wore a red shirt and said he had actually chosen his seats because they were in a Nittany Lion section.
‘We just wanted to change it up,’ he said about the seats he and his father, Rob, paid $300 for a few days ago. ‘It’s more fun to be in the middle of the other side.... The downside is there will be no one to high-five around us.’
Rob Shively, 48, actually blended into the crowd, thanks to his white polo.
‘I heard it was going to be 78 degrees outside,’ he said, shrugging.
-- Corina Knoll
