Almost three weeks ago, jeers and profanity and beer showered John Matko's lonely protest of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal outside Penn State's Beaver Stadium.
They call this isolated dip in central Pennsylvania's mountains Happy Valley, where withered fields of corn stalks inch toward Penn State's campus, cloaked in brick and the bright red and yellow leaves of autumn.
In the middle of Curtin Road, John Matko held one handwritten sign in his right hand and rested another against his jeans. Two inches of black tape obscured Penn State's logo on the 34-year-old father's hat, as he tried to ignore the jeers, slaps and beer hurled at him.
Matko said one of his two brothers, Robert, a steadfast supporter of Penn State's football team, hasn't spoken to him since the one-man protest.
Penn State protester wearied of lonely fight in battle of ideology →
"I'm trying to let it blow over," Matko said in a recent telephone interview from his Pittsburgh-area home. "I don't want to be the focal point of all this. ... I've been trying to keep a low profile. I've never been in the center of anything like that."
Penn State protester wearied of lonely fight in battle of ideology →
