We are writing to extend an early and sincere welcome to Alabama students who plan to travel to Happy Valley for the Sept. 10 football game between your Crimson Tide and our Nittany Lions. We hope your trip is enjoyable, and you find the same hospitality we encountered in Alabama last fall.

Our trip was a pleasure (aside from the not-unexpected outcome of the game) in large part because of Tide fans – especially students.

At one point, we were the only two people in Gallette’s wearing blue and white. It was just us, the live band and seemingly hundreds of Alabama students, and the students consistently asked us about our trip, encouraged us to have a good time, made recommendations on places to eat or simply thanked us for traveling south.

We plan to extend the same hospitality at our tailgate this year (more on that later), and we hope all other Penn Staters do the same. That hospitality has been one of the greater parts of our intersectional rivalry, and we hope everyone does their part to continue that tradition.

For those of you who do travel north, go to the Creamery on our campus and then look to your left for some noticeable yellow hammers. We plan to provide the traditional Tide beverage as part of an effort to raise money for tornado relief.  We’ll then send the money we collect back to Tuscaloosa with a friend who will be tailgating with us.

Again, enjoy your trip.

Steve Sampsell is the director of college relations in the Penn State College of Communications.

Editor’s Note: Steve Sampsell later clarified that the beverage of the week at his tailgate will be Yellow Hammers, but that the donation drive for tornado relief will be separate. Yellow Hammers will not be available for purchase for tornado relief.