I hate to beat a dead horse, but I just can't let this one go.
What I saw Friday at the beginning of Penn's season opener was just embarrassing. And I'm not talking about what we all (or, some of us) saw on the court, where the Quakers stumbled their way to 24 points in the first half - shooting 31 percent from the field, 25 percent from distance and 42.9 percent from the charity stripe.
No, I'm talking about the bleachers surrounding the court, and the fact that, at least on the Penn side, you could see them.
Over the past few years, much has been made of the attendance patterns for the students at basketball games - specifically, their tardiness.
To be honest, I was glad for my spot on press row just then. I was thankful to be wearing a blue button-up shirt instead of my Red and Blue Crew tee, and the chance that journalistic impartiality afforded me to disguise my Penn affiliation.
Because at that moment, the Palestra was Drexel's house. The "away" fans had arrived early, and had filled their section to the rafters in order to heckle the Red and Blue as they warmed up.
"I guess it almost seemed like a neutral site, I think [Drexel] had more students there initially," senior captain Brian Grandieri said. "I think they got there like an hour early, where our fans kind of stumbled in throughout the first half. It would be great to see them get there earlier and heckle them like they heckle us."
Forsaken by their fans, the Quakers had a nightmare first half, and the gym just got louder as the Dragons built up their now-formidable lead.
And then something funny happened. As more and more Penn fans filtered in, red-faced from the cold and wide-eyed in the disbelief that their team could have struggled so mightily without them there, the team responded.
The Quakers spent the second frame on the comeback trail, fueled by a now-existent student section that needed only the slightest excuse to make some noise. When freshman Jack Eggleston tipped in his game-leveller just before the buzzer, the Palestra had one of its signature moments where you can't even hear yourself think.
The Red and Blue Crew had arrived.
"I think [the fans] were definitely a factor in the game on Friday night," Grandieri said. "Our fans are awesome; they're a big part of why we win so often at the Palestra. They're irreplaceable; they make the Palestra what it is."
And I'll second Grandieri on those points - our student section, which I proudly count myself a part of, compliments what the players do on the court to make basketball games a genuinely good time.
But only if we're there. Maybe it would be silly to suggest that the team struggled so much in the first half because the fans weren't there, or to say that the turnaround was due to their arrival.
But really, how hard is it to show up on time? I know people like to have a good time getting ready for games, but can't they just start earlier? If their commitment level were truly as high as their decibel output would indicate, I'm sure they'd find a way.
So let's find a way.
Ilario Huober is a senior International Relations major from Syracuse, N.Y., and is former Sports Editor of The Daily Pennyslvanian. His e-mail address is ihuober@sas.upenn.edu.
