Considering how long it took for spring to arrive in West Philadelphia, it may seem hard to believe that the Penn Relays start three weeks from today.
It's true. Come April 28, the 111th edition of the track and field festival will descend on Franklin Field and the surrounding blocks.
The eastern end of campus will turn into a noisy carnival of high school track teams, souvenir hawkers and great Caribbean food, with huge crowds packing a stadium whose regular tenants rarely play in a big-time atmosphere.
I suspect that another Penn Relays tradition will continue to take place this year -- a general sense of apathy towards the event among Penn students.
Even the incredible amount of hype that followed the Olympic runners at last year's relays wasn't enough to stir interest from the student population.
In addition to the lack of buzz around track and field this year, the 2005 Relays fall during the weekend in the middle of final exams. So the excuses not to attend are as easily available as your preferred drink will be at Spring Fling.
But if you have been to the Penn Relays before, you know how special the atmosphere is.
You know what it's like when a 4x400-meter relay is close coming around the last turn, and the crowd rises and starts whooping.
You know what it's like to smell the lemonade and the beef patties, or to watch the sea of Jamaican fans who go crazy when one of their countrymen is winning a race.
Simply put, you know you have to be there.
If you haven't gone before, there is an extra incentive to make this year your first trip. Penn students always get in for free with a PennCard on Thursday and Friday, but this year you can get half-priced, general admission tickets ($9) for the Saturday session if you buy them before April 27.
This year's general admission sections are the upper deck of the end zone and the upper deck of the south side stands.
"You just have to get them before the start of the Relays," said Dan Flynn, the Penn athletic department's marketing director.
The flip side of this promotion is that Flynn and his staff ought to do everything possible to get the word out about the promotion. Hopefully, they will be able to get out onto Locust Walk and drum up interest with flyers and placards, or maybe even a ticket sales table.
As for what you'll get with the Saturday ticket, this year's United States vs. The World races might actually be a bigger deal than last year's were.
Remember how the U.S. team narrowly lost the gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the Athens Olympics?
"This is going to be 'Let's show everybody what we're really capable of,'" Flynn said. "The stars will definitely come out, and there is sort of a chip on the shoulder of the American runners that want to make amends."
You can be sure that 2004 Olympic 100m sprint champion Justin Gatlin will be here. Prior to becoming a household name after his performance in Athens, Gatlin ran at Franklin Field for the University of Tennessee.
There have been many famous runners with similar stories over the years at the Penn Relays, including Philadelphia native Jon Drummond. He ran for Overbrook High School before representing his country at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
If you are looking for superstars of a different kind, it will be hard to miss comedian Bill Cosby as he chats with the athletes in the infield. Just look for a Temple University sweatshirt and a bunch of people trying to keep from doubling over in laughter.
You might even find your high school's track team. The running of hundreds of prep races is one of the big reasons why the Penn Relays is the world's largest outdoor track and field event.
The best thing about the Penn Relays, though, is not the competitors. It is the atmosphere. There is simply nothing else at Penn like a big crowd at Franklin Field. It is different from a packed Palestra, which is of course legendary but still only seats 8,722 people.
Since the football team is not moving to Division I-A any time soon, the only way to get a big-time experience at Franklin Field buzz is to pay a visit in April.
It's that time of year again.
Jonathan Tannenwald is a junior urban studies major from Washington, D.C. His e-mail address is jtannenw@sas.upenn.edu.
