'The best part of Penn'

The day dawned perfectly, with the torrential rain of Hurricane Floyd now nothing but dew on Franklin Field. And with the sun shining down on them, members of the Penn football team delivered exactly what the screaming crowd of 9,377 desired -- a 17-6 win over Dartmouth in the defending Ivy League champions' opening game of the 1999 campaign. Penn fans swarmed to majestic Franklin Field as early as noon for the 1:30 p.m. game, with the majority decked out in full red and blue apparel. Freshmen clutched song sheets, with the lyrics to the traditional Quaker songs printed on them. And when the Penn players finally trooped onto the field to begin the game, they were met with deafening roars from the fans hoping to end the season by throwing another goal post into the Schuylkill River. "Football games are the best part of Penn," yelled College sophomore Wendy Shiekman. She's not alone in that assessment -- at least judging from the number of painted faces, chests and screaming fans. Unlike most other Ivy League schools, Penn's student body passionately embraces its football team -- especially coming on the heels of a championship season. But that level of passion cuts both ways, and when the Quakers made mistakes -- and there were plenty of them in Saturday's sloppy victory, including a fumble on the opening kickoff -- fans responded. "I've never seen so many turnovers in a first quarter before," groaned a disappointed freshman who asked not to be identified. "The number of turnovers in this game is getting to basketball level!" In all, the Quakers suffered through three fumbles to the Big Green's defense, and quarterback Gavin Hoffman, a Wharton sophomore making his first appearance for Penn since transferring from Northwestern University over the summer, threw two interceptions. But despite the mistakes, there were still plenty of fans roaming the stadium and encouraging the crowd to get into the game. Eight Penn students made it their mission to liven up the crowd by stripping off their shirts and painting "PENN" across their chests and "QUAKERS!" across their backs. As the game wore on, Penn refused to let Dartmouth control the ball, as the Quakers' much-touted defensive line earned its reputation. The crowd was quick to forgive the early mistakes when the d-line continued its dominance from 1998. "The defense was simply dominant, and looked like a brick wall to Dartmouth," said Wharton sophomore Dave Lebel, a self-proclaimed Penn Superfan. "The offense looked decent, but that's to be expected from a new quarterback." The game also was an opportunity for freshmen to learn about days gone by and players past. "When I was your age, we had a real quarterback," one College junior solemnly explained to his freshman neighbor, referring to Class of 1999 graduate Matt Rader. "And we used to dominate the Ivy League. Maybe you'll get to see a championship, too." As the game endlessly wore on, disgruntled upperclass Penn fans in the second deck took to berating their underclass counterparts. One shirtless man attempted to enliven the stands with cries of "P - E - N - N!" Getting little response from the majority of the crowd, whose only interest in the game stemmed from seeing toast fly, this student took to berating his fellow students to "put down the books and get out of the library!" Upperclass distaste was also rampant as enthused fans flung their toast at the beginning of "Drink a Highball," sung immediately after the third quarter, instead of at the traditional line, "Here's a toast to dear old Penn." "You can't do that!" shouted one student, eyes wide in horror. "You just can't throw the toast whenever you want! That's not right!" As is usually the case, nearly all the crowd poured out of Franklin Field after the ceremonial toast throwing, leaving only a few hundred devoted Quakers fans to pick up the slack. "More students need to stay till the end of the game to cheer on the Quakers," Lebel said. "We'll need a lot more fans next weekend versus Villanova." But Lebel added, "There were several die-hard Quaker fans, as 'Dartmouth, you suck' chants could be heard at the beginning, and those same fans were there at the end to accompany the band with the 'Red and the Blue.'"