I first visited Penn on Tuesday, February 17, 1998, four months before my high school graduation and eight months before my first Daily Pennsylvanian article.
The only reason that I remember the date is because of that day's issue of the DP -- it was the Penn-Princeton day and the newspaper's back page featured four stories about the game. Two were serious -- the others were humorous dueling columns explaining why either the Quakers or the Tigers were unfit for membership in human society, or at least the Ivy League.
This sort of thing has always been my favorite part of DPOSTM (the DP sports department). We get our jobs done, but aren't afraid to have a lot of fun along the way. We abuse the office intercom system, throw things at news reporters and come up with ridiculous plans to purchase Major League Baseball franchises.
Never, though, are work and play as fused as when DPOSTM goes on a road trip. I'm proud to have seen all eight Ivy League schools over the past four years, and I'd like to share the highlights of my travels.
In all, I've taken 19 road trips to see 27 games in the Ivy League alone over the last four years. I've been to Harvard seven times and Dartmouth six, including a trip to both in the winter of my freshman year.
In between the two northern Ivies is a little place called Chicken Hutch, which serves unbelievable wings and offers an opportunity for unbelievable gluttony. On my first of 10 trips there, our group took some extra time to make insulting signs for that night's men's basketball game against Dartmouth. The signs were promptly confiscated when we arrived at Leede Arena.
On the drive back to Philly, I had the great pleasure of riding shotgun and screaming along to the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction with Marc "Mawk" Edelman, who was incredibly helpful earlier that year in getting my first-ever basketball feature into readable shape.
Marc was one of my first editors, along with Josh Callahan and Kent Malmros. Kent, along with Eric Moskowitz and Dan Tenenblatt, the following editors, helped to convince me to stay at the DP, rather than go to UTV. It was the best decision I made in four years here.
The next-best decision I made was to run for sports editor in the fall of 1999. Josh gave me some of the best advice I could get for the interview and the year to come as editor.
I edited DPOSTM with Will Ulrich and Rick Haggerty, and cannot thank them enough for helping me to grow as a writer and as a person. I could not have worked with two better guys in the back corner office at 4015 Walnut.
We had a good time in the office that year and a great time on the road, especially when Penn went to the NCAA Tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C.
When we first arrived in Dixie, we could not find a place to eat other than Shapiro's of Tokyo, which was, you guessed it, a Chinese restaurant. Later that day, we were treated to Mike Krzyzewski responding to the greatest question of all-time in a press conference: "Coach K, how wavy is your team?"
After Penn lost to Illinois, photographer Andrew "Boo Boo" Margolies decided to stay in the hotel room, but Haggs, Will and I decided to go out. Without going into details about where we went, the night provided us with memories of Innocence, Kid Rock and a conversation consisting entirely of the phrase "What did you say?" It's just too bad that we missed seeing former Penn Sports Information Director Shaun May in our travels that night.
I did most of my DP travels in the last two years, and the trips tend to blur as one, with Sub Stockman's penchant for Johnny Cash and National Public Radio, Ryan Kelly's domination of the movie game and late-night stops at the Molly Pitcher Service Area just before our return to Philadelphia.
We all owe a great debt to Connecticut State Trooper Ed Benechi for letting Haggs out of a massive ticket on I-84, to the staff at Chicken Hutch for staying open late and to all of the people whose houses we slept at for free -- especially Andrew McLaughlin, Eric Moskowitz and their families.
I know that I've left a lot of things out in this farewell, but all that I've forgotten about our journeys in the last four years could fill a book. So could all of the Kamin Cup games, ridiculous office innovations and tales of the athletes and coaches I've had the privilege of dealing with in my time at Penn.
I hope that you've enjoyed reading what's followed my byline since I started writing here so long ago. I hope that the teams I covered as a freshman and sophomore bear me no ill will for my grievous errors as a young writer.
I'd like to thank all of the editors who have worked with me in the last four years, particularly my cohorts on the 116th Board. To Amy Potter, Dan McQuade and Lance Stier, I wish you the best for the fall semester. I must also thank all of the teams I've written about for being so cooperative and helpful over the years.
Finally, I'd like to thank my parents for being my most honest critics and my biggest fans, over the last four years and before them.
I'll miss it here next year, but when Princeton visits the Palestra in February, I'll be sure to ring my cowbell loudly, wherever my next road trip takes me.
Farewell, Penn. Farewell, DPOSTM. Have fun.
Jesse "Motors" Spector is a 2002 College graduate from Brooklyn, N.Y., and former Daily Pennsylvanian Sports Editor.
