In response to, "Penn State-Syracuse no longer a rivalry" (Sept. 15), maybe you are too young to know about this: One of the reasons some of us old-timers hate Syracuse is they prevented us from joining the Big East. Sure, the Big East is a bust now, but it would have thrived with Penn State. The other Big Ten schools didn't want Penn State in the Big Ten, and many Penn Staters didn't want us in the Big Ten. We are an Eastern school, and many of the schools forming the Big East were our perennial rivals anyway. But with Syracuse so powerful back in the late '80s, the other Big East schools bowed to them. One of the reasons Philadelphia Eagle fans booed so loudly when Donovan McNabb was drafted is that we Penn Staters in Philadelphia remembered how much we hated Syracuse for that political move. I don't care how bad Syracuse is now, I still hate them and always will hate them. I always feel vindicated when we beat them, be it by one point or 42!
Maryann Portone
Class of 1974
