COLUMN: Pack the Palestra

From Marc Chodock's, "That's What I'm Talking About" At a quarter to seven tonight, walk out of your residence hall, off-campus house, apartment or computer lab and head down to 33rd Street. There you will find the Palestra. Now if this is your first trip, don't be alarmed. It doesn't have a JumboTron scoreboard shooting fireworks. Instead, you will find an atmosphere meant for one thing -- college basketball. For the price of a movie, you can simply sit in your seat or jump up and down, cheer and make as much noise as you would like. On the court, a few of your classmates will be wearing jerseys adorned with the name of the institution where your $30,000 tuition goes each year. Go ahead and root for these guys. For a mere 12 months a year, all they do is eat, breathe and sleep basketball. These guys work day and night, going to class and acting as ambassadors for Penn as they travel around the country. Right now this group of 12 athletes finds itself in a position it hasn't been in almost three years. With a sweep this weekend, the Penn men's basketball team will be one win away from the Big Dance -- not to be confused with MTV's The Grind. Everyone is used to filling out the NCAA Tournament brackets. Well, for those of you on the four-year plan this could be the first time to select your beloved Quakers to make it to the Final Four. Who knows? They might even beat UCLA in the first round. Although Cornell and Columbia are ranked in the bottom quartile of college basketball, the Quakers need the support. While the chance of an upset is unlikely, don't forget that Yale, ranked No. 310 out of 310 in the RPI, defeated Princeton two weeks ago. It's been a long season for these bruised and battered athletes. After the Quakers watched a 29-3 lead go to waste two weeks ago as Princeton came into our house and pushed us around, Penn's November 23 win over No. 6 Temple seemed like ancient history. Quakers center Geoff Owens will hopefully be making his return after smacking his chin against the hardwood floor at Dartmouth last weekend. Owens spent this past week going from doctor to doctor -- the last of whom decided to put a wire in his mouth and close it shut. If you're at the game, help the rest of us as we give him the best standing ovation of his career when he takes the court. This sarcasm isn't directed at everyone. Some of you have been making the journey faithfully all season. The average attendance at the Palestra this year has jumped from 4,000 to 5,000 fans per game. While we can thank the Athletic Department for adding the likes of Kansas to the schedule along with three City Series games at the Palestra, we should ask them to post flyers around the University advertising the games. I don't think the players want to have to go around every week reminding their classmates when the next home game is, and I can't write a column like this every weekend. One more thing not to forget. During halftime against Cornell, Penn's legendary 1979 squad will be honored. The Quakers celebrate the 20th anniversary of their remarkable run to the Final Four, when they beat several highly ranked teams before running into a brick wall named Earvin Johnson and Michigan State. Along with the honoring of the 1979 team, you will also witness the final game at the Palestra for senior forwards Paul Romanczuk and Jed Ryan. I have never met two guys as hard-working and devoted as this pair is to their team. With a chance to give this school exposure besides what people might read in U.S. News and World Report -- sorry, Judy -- come support your school in other means besides increasing the average SAT. You never know; you might just like what you see. If you hate it, you never have to go back. But if you love it, do me a favor -- tell them Chodock sent you. And next year bring your friends.