Wharton sophomore Eric Vande Vorde took a 10-hour nap Wednesday after catching a flight from Detroit to Philadelphia the night previous.
Since he was well-rested, Vande Vorde didn't sleep Wednesday night, and surfed the internet well into Thursday morning.
An avid basketball fan, he frequently checked PennPhone to see if "The Line's" secret location would be revealed. After calling numerous times, the message "went from field hockey to no new message," he said.
Vande Vorde knew something was up, so he called to wake up his friends Brian Walsh, Dennis Morrow and Alex Stratoudakis. After learning at 6:45 a.m. that the secret location was under the scoreboard at Franklin Field, the foursome slowly jogged down Locust Walk from the high rises, certain that nobody else would have found out the location at dawn.
Yet these four were not alone on their journey to Franklin Field. On the walk, they spotted a group ahead of them also jogging towards the stadium.
A foot race ensued and, when the dust settled, it was Vande Vorde's quartet that emerged victorious, claiming first dibs on Penn basketball season tickets.
The group hopes to sit front and center at the Palestra.
"We want to be close enough to smell Jan" Fikiel, Walsh said.
The group has a special place in their hearts for Penn's Fikiel, as they call themselves "Jan's Fans" (pronounced "Yon's Fons"). For the basketball season, they have ordered T-shirts bearing Fikiel's image and a German flag, representing the big man's home country.
Today's announcement on the location to claim bracelets -- which enable fans to claim better spots in The Line to get season tickets -- was a surprise to Penn fans, who only knew that the place would be revealed sometime between Oct. 15 and 17.
"We wanted to do something that rewarded our biggest fans," Assistant Athletic Director Alanna Wren said. "I was impressed by how quick the response was. The first group got here six minutes after the announcement."
A total of 231 people in 84 groups took part.
The only two people who will choose seats before the foursome that arrived earliest are The Line's two leaders -- Engineering junior Chris Mullin and College sophomore Brian Rosenwald -- who wrote essays in advance explaining why they were Penn basketball's biggest fans.
"I wrote about how I had a broken foot last season and went to all the games on crutches," Mullin said. "I was going for some sympathy."
Rosenwald wrote about how he "grew up in Penn sports culture."
"I pick Penn to go to the Sweet 16 every year," he said. "My heart thinks, not my head."
The Athletic Department staff waited on Franklin Field until 9 a.m. before moving indoors to the Athletic Ticket Office. Students still looking for bracelets can pick them up from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the ticket office.
Those with bracelets will then camp out in the Palestra starting at 7 tonight and ending at 8 tomorrow night.
