Lou Prato remembers the days when tailgating meant a few fans arriving an hour or two before a football game to open the trunks of their station wagons and enjoy a beer and a sandwich.

Of course, he said, the tailgating culture changed as much as the Penn State football record has in recent years.

The late 1950s and early 1960s, he said, were a time when the fans were more appreciative of the game of football -- not whether the team won or lost.

"A lot of today's fans are spoiled by winning," he said. "People aren't used to losing."

Today, the definition of tailgating has evolved to include a certain level of rowdiness and nastiness that comes mostly from some young people drinking too much, he said.

But despite what the 1958 Penn State graduate and current director of the All Sports Museum sees as a problem, Penn State regulates tailgating less stringently than many schools across the country.

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said Penn State has continued to take the stance that tailgating restrictions are not needed.

Despite the dependency of the football program on alumni donations, the current policy is related more to where alcohol problems occur.

"The alcohol-related crimes we are seeing are taking place downtown -- not at the areas around Beaver Stadium," he said.

Other schools have taken a different stance on alcohol policy for tailgating festivities.

Michigan State University (MSU) changed its tailgating policy in October to prohibit drinking game paraphernalia in parking lots where tailgating takes place.

MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said the decision was made by administrators, community officials, alumni and others after a chief medical officer told officials there would be a death by the end of the year if the binge drinking did not stop.

However, the restrictions don't ignore the important role that tailgating plays in game day festivities, Denbow said.

"We wanted to protect the tailgating culture and excessive drinking was prohibiting that," he said.

MSU also restricted access to all parking lots to five hours before kickoff and two hours after the game ends.

Denbow added that financial factors, such as loss of ticket sales or alumni donations, were not considered when making the decision.

Ticket sales and game turnout have not been affected since the decision, which will mostly likely stay in place for next year's season, he said.

About two years ago, the University of Notre Dame adopted a policy that prohibited tailgating during games. The decision was made as an effort to curb excessive drinking during the events, Matt Storin, a school spokesman, said.

However, additional restrictions have been unnecessary, he said.

"From what I've seen in the last two years, alcohol abuse at football games hasn't generally been a problem," he said.

State-owned universities have not taken an umbrella stance on an alcohol policy at tailgates, as this decision is left up to the individual universities.

Pete Gigliotti, Shippensburg University spokesman, said the school adopted a policy several years ago that prohibits students, including those over 21, from consuming alcohol at tailgates.

The policy was implemented to ensure the safety of those at the festivities, he said, adding that the games attract crowds of nearly 6,000 people, many of whom arrive early to meet up with friends and hang out before the game.

Prato said Beaver Field, the original home to Penn State football, may have only held 28,000 people, but the games were just as much, if not more, fun than they are today.