Palestra caretaker Dan Harrell says that the building has a heartbeat.
"Can you hear it?" he asked before the Penn-Princeton game this year, as he held his hand parallel to the ground.
Sitting in the midst of 7,821 fans, bouncing as they watch the Quakers storm back from an 18-point deficit with 7:35 remaining -- against Princeton, of all teams -- I definitely felt a pulse overtaking the crowd. And I certainly got goosebumps.
But it doesn't take the best college basketball game in recent memory to feel the Palestra speak.
Walk through the corridors all alone. Read the plaques throughout college basketball's most historic gym.
The Palestra is just one of the many places on campus that breathes in its history. Since 1927, individuals have made the building what it is today. And they haven't all had a crossover dribble.
Sure it's the players on the court. But it's also the writers, the coaches, the electricians. It's Dan Harrell. It's Palestra announcer John McAdams -- the voice of the Palestra.
It's Steve Lolielo, or 'Rocky,' as he's known in Penn Athletics circles. Former Penn hoops star Diana Caramanico, a legend in her own right, went as far to dub Rocky the greatest fan in the school's history.
Move right next door to Franklin Field and trace the bricks of the stadium that has stood since the inaugural Penn Relays in 1895. Red Grange, Jesse Owens, Chuck Bednarik -- it's almost unfair to choose particular names that have raced through the stadium over the past century.
Fittingly, the University archives sit entrenched under the north stands of Franklin Field, preserving the history of the University of Pennsylvania and much of the city, as well.
Through it all, this paper has been there to cover it. All schools are proud of themselves. But Penn seems to be particularly conscious of preserving its own history.
And part of that lore includes The Daily Pennsylvanian.
During my time as sports editor, friends asked me what I did for nine hours every weeknight in a windowless building. Then they asked me how I got my schoolwork done if I was at the DP all night, every night -- that was an easier question to answer.
Really, though, editors spend the time that it takes to put out a daily paper. But in the midst of those long nights, people also have nuggets of free time.
During this time, I chose to walk to the giant green bound volumes of old DP stories that line the wall of the newsroom. Several times I also went down to Van Pelt to check out the microfilm editions of earlier papers -- Microfilm News 20. Check it out.
I read through past articles, sometimes looking for how the paper covered events I knew about. More often, though, I randomly flipped through the volumes because I was interested in the articles both for writing style and, more generally, to learn about the past. I now wear the nickname of "Bound Volumes" proudly.
Throughout my life, I have thrust myself at different activities that I have particularly cared about. And in the process, I have absorbed the history of the activity, because it has been important to me -- and also because I accumulate a lot of random information.
During my time at the DP I have tried to tell stories of people, not games. I have tried to illustrate sports as a lens to larger issues in society.
Since 1885, this paper has stood at the center of campus life, chronicling Penn's history and becoming a historical document in its own right.
Like the school it covers, the individuals who have run The Daily Pennsylvanian have been particularly conscious and proud of its own significance.
That begins with a fact seemingly as minimal as the pictures and various other pieces of paper that are strewn across the walls in the sports office -- once they go up, the rule is that they stay up.
Of course, the consciousness extends to the effort and general attitude that college students put in on a nightly basis to provide the campus with a daily paper.
I am proud to say that now my articles take a seat in the bound volumes that I love so much. Perhaps in the coming years another slightly nerdy, intellectual, Jewish kid who likes sports -- Penn gets a lot of those, so it isn't so much of a stretch -- will read through my articles in one of those giant green bound volumes.
Zachary Silver is a 2005 College graduate from Philadelphia and is a former sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.
