A FRONT ROW VIEW: Wake up Palestra

Last weekend, Cornell coach Al Walker said, "It's great to come in to the Palestra with the atmosphere and the crowd." That proves he's in his first year. I'm only in my second season at the Palestra, and even at home in Chicago, we'd heard about Penn, the Palestra and the Big 5. Before I came here, I was regaled with stories of obnoxious Penn fans throwing other teams off their rhythms. But to put it bluntly, this season the Palestra has not been the factor it's been in the past, and there is no doubt in my mind it is our fault as fans. We have been letting the Quakers down. I cite four examples: One: The wave. I had previously thought the farthest the hated wave would intrude onto Penn's hallowed sporting grounds was Franklin Field. But apparently I was grievously wrong. For the wave, that symbol of sterile football stadia, to surface in the Palestra is a travesty, like taking a Porsche through a car wash. Two: Like Dodger fans, Penn fans have developed the disturbing habit of coming late and leaving early. This distracts the fans already at the game and demeans the team and players. Three: It's too quiet. When we can hear Walker yelling instructions to his team from the other end of the court, we're obviously not doing our job. Four: During a Quaker offensive possession at the east end of the floor, Penn faithful in the front row of section 115, who camped out for days in the freezing cold and willingly paid $90 for their seats, were seen mugging for the TV cameras at the west end. Having now delineated my gripes with Penn fans, I'll give my suggestions on how to improve things. First: Stand. I don't care how many irate alumni come down and tell you to sit, you have the right to stand in your seat. You paid a lot of money for that right. The more people who stand, the less leverage the 'sitters' will have in trying to get us to sit with them. Sit and watch at an opera. As a Penn student, you have a responsibility to get involved, to participate. Standing also helps solve the noise problem -- when you're standing, there's not much to do with your hands but clap. I'm not saying we have to clap continuously, but it's a lot easier to sit on your hands when you're not standing. In addition, standing is a show of support, and although I have no proof, a standing crowd is a lot more intimidating than a sitting crowd. Second: Chant. Penn fans have (or had) a reputation of being nasty, vicious and mean. There's no reason for that to change. SUNY-Harlem and SUNY-Ithaca are two of the greatest chants in college hoops, and we should use them. There's also no reason why we can't make up some new cheers. Surely we have the imagination to come up with something better than "Let's go Quakers" over and over and over and over?or yelling, "Hey so-and-so, you suck." That just isn't constructive cheering. Along the same lines, yelling "ohhhhh" while the opposing point guard has the ball doesn't have to stop just because it's not the first five minutes of the game. It seems to disturb the guard -- why stop? Third: Come early and don't leave until the singing of the Red and Blue is over. That stands to reason both from a fan viewpoint and from common courtesy. And here's a message to fans sitting behind the basket: sitting while an opponent takes free-throws is a disgrace. Stand up. Organize yourselves. I would recommend taking a page out of Duke fans' book and move in circles, or hold your arms over to one side until the shooter is about to shoot, and then quickly switch to the other side, or at least bounce in place. Studies have also suggested the most effective method to disturb a free throw shooter is to make a great deal of noise and then fall silent just before he shoots. I think all I'm trying to say is there's no reason the Palestra shouldn't be an extremely hostile place like it once was. It has great acoustics and with minimal effort, the noise could be deafening. When we treat every game in the Palestra as if it were the Princeton game, then, and only then, are we doing our job as fans. Luke DeCock is a College sophomore from Evanston, Ill., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.