A FRONT ROW VIEW: Combine the hoops games

When was the last time you were at a Penn women's basketball game? Considering the fact the average attendance at the Palestra this year is just more than 200 people per game, it probably wasn't recently. Although this team is not exactly the epitome of sporting entertainment, there are ways to generate more support for many of Penn's second-tier teams, including women's basketball. The best way to create a greater interest in the women's program would be to schedule Ivy League doubleheaders, with the women's games preceding the men. In this scenario, there would be a much higher likelihood that anyone going to either game would come early or stay late. This trend has been clearly documented by the four events this year where Penn has been part of a doubleheader. The women played before the men at the Palestra before the Lafayette game, at McGonigle Hall against Temple and at Jadwin Gym for the Princeton doubleheader. In these cases, many Quaker fans came early to see both games. Even if people do not necessarily come for the entire game, their presence for crunch time late in the second half has considerable value. The final example is when the women's team played Villanova at the Civic Center before a La Salle-Temple men's game. In this case as well, many of the spectators came early to see the women's action. However, at Penn at least, the Quakers have not built a substantial independent fan base. It is a travesty to have the Palestra, arguably the greatest acoustic basketball arena in the country, sit almost vacant during any basketball game. The lack of fan support also neutralizes home-court advantage, which could conceivably cost the Quakers a win or two a year. Last weekend's one-point loss to Brown serves as just one example. A noisy and rowdy crowd can normally take credit for a few missed opposition free throws, a turnover or at least greater defensive intensity from the Quakers. This combination has to be worth several points per home game, especially in tight games that go down to the wire. Although the current players and coaches on the women's team would obviously prefer more people in the stands, nobody has ever questioned the reasons for the current Ivy League policy. In fact, nobody on the team knew why the system of staggered roadtrips even existed. There are some valid reasons, however. Jeff Orleans, President of the Ivy Group, pointed out that the system not only gives the women's teams an independent identity and enables every Ivy school to host a basketball game every Friday and Saturday night throughout the season, but that the staggered roadtrips may provide greater flexibility for many schools to operate their facilities. Not every Ivy institution has an arena like the Palestra that can be dedicated exclusively to basketball. Perhaps it would be more advantageous for the women's teams to sacrifice some of that supposed "independent identity" in return for more fan support, regardless of people's true intentions. So what if people are only at games because the men play next? Most people on Penn's campus have never had any exposure to our women's basketball team. If more people went to games and became somewhat familiar with the team, they may become fans. As it is now, more Penn students sit in their bedrooms and listen to our NCAA bound Quakers on the radio than journey down to the Palestra to watch the women. Several fans voyaged hundreds of miles up to New England this weekend to see the men play. Only 212 voyaged a few blocks to see the women play Harvard Saturday night. This should not be an issue of gender equity or any other matter of political correctness. The Ivy athletic departments have an obligation to do what is best for all of its teams. It seems to me that Ivy League doubleheaders would benefit the women's basketball programs at nobody's expense. Like any proposal for change, there are advantages and disadvantages for the Ivy League. Right now, for the Penn basketball programs, there seem to only be advantages. Perhaps this is something the players, the coaches and the administrators should investigate, and perhaps even experiment with on a limited basis of one roadtrip per year. Jed Walentas is a College sophomore from New York, N.Y., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.