Ode to the Quakers: Tuesday, March 3, 1998

"The Charge of the Fab "The Charge of the Fab Penn Five" To access Tennyson's poem about an ill-fated British military operation in the Crimean War -- and to compare my unworthy local variation -- you may click on the following Web site: http://library.utoronto.ca/www/utel/rp/poems/tennyson1c.html. I Ivy League, Ivy League, Ivy League title, All in the gym of Jadwin [1] Rode the Penn Quakers. "Forward the Fab Penn Five! Charge for the net!" he said: Into the gym of Jadwin Rode the Penn Quakers. II "Forward the Fab Penn Five!" Believing all that jive That they could dethrone all Those royal fakers. Theirs' not to make reply,[2] Theirs' not to reason why,[3] Theirs' but to do and die:[4] Into the the gym of Jadwin Rode the Penn Quakers. III Tigers to right of them, Tigers to left of them, Tigers in front of them, Like Bulls and Lakers; Outscored from three-point land, Defended and outmanned, Into the jaws of Death,[5] Getting their hides tanned, Rode the Penn Quakers. IV Goodrich with skillful flair,[6] Goodrich now here, now there, Goodrich shooting, mid-air, Challenging all Penn men's Basketball takers. Jordan and Romanczuk,[7] Once injured (O such luck!), Refuse to in it chuck, Relentless in attack, Like ocean breakers. Defeat, but not disgrace, Was the Penn Quakers'. V Tigers to right of them, Tigers to left of them, Tigers behind them, Like Bulls and Lakers. Who will the story tell? Though lost at final bell, They that had played so well Came thro' the jaws of Death, Back from that Princeton Hell, With heads unbowed, held high, Noble Penn Quakers! VI "When might revenge be made In this holy crusade?" All Princeton is quaking. Honor the game they'll play On the first March Tuesday, Penn giants a-waking! __________________________________ 1. "Jadwin": what passes for a basketball gymnasium in central New Jersey. 2. I.e., to haughty Princeton taunts. 3. I.e., why Princeton is Ivy League champion -- again. 4. I.e., not literally, of course, but the next worst thing: losing to the Tigers. 5. A metaphor describing a small-town college in central New Jersey. 6. Not the tire, but Steve, the senior Tigers center and retread. 7. Michael Jordan (Penn's, not Chicago's) and Paul Romanczuk, junior forward. _________________ Fr. Alexander F. C. Webster is a 1972 College graduate and Eastern Orthodox chaplain at the University.