Cohen | Fans will come for the party

Saturday’s 52-10 football victory against Princeton was an inspirational display by the Penn student body.

And not just because of the inventive new ways in which students were able to convert the tailgate area into a personal Porta-Potty.

Indeed, all of the — ahem — shenanigans for which Quakers fans were responsible made the actual contest seem secondary to the rager going on outside the stadium walls.

I’m hardly trying to detract from the Red and Blue’s dominating win. The Quakers controlled the game from start to finish and proved beyond a doubt that they are the class of the Ivy League.

For the first time in my career as a Penn student and Daily Pennsylvanian sports writer — all five illustrious semesters of it — I felt like I was at Penn State.

And I was damn happy about it.

The dreary New Jersey sky was clouded by plumes of barbecue smoke, and Natty Lights were being distributed like the brewery was having a fire sale.

Aside from free burgers and beer, there was an energy pulsing through the visiting fans which I have never witnessed before.

It actually felt like the rivalry that sold me on Penn back when I was debating between Philadelphia and Chapel Hill, N.C.

Some might think that comparing Penn-Princeton to Carolina-Duke is disingenuous at best, insulting at worst.

But I would remind them that not only has the Penn-Princeton feud been around much longer, but it used to have big-picture implications.

As the years have worn on, Ivy League football has become less relevant to the national spotlight, and the rivalry has taken a backseat to more well-known athletic antagonists.

But it would have been quite a task to convince any of Saturday’s tailgaters of this — the passion looked straight out of places like Lincoln, Neb., and Austin, Texas, where football is a religion.

Quakers supporters were definitely not comparable in number to those fan bases — and were noticeably devoid of corncob-shaped hats — but there was a certain fire inside of the Penn fans, a fire whose death so many alumni have been mourning recently.

Let’s not beat around the bush: this fire was due directly to fire-water.

If Penn wants to see this kind of turnout at home games, I suggest it rethink its alcohol policies.

After all, throwing toast onto the field comes from the fact that students originally made a toast — with their preferred alcoholic beverage — to dear old Penn.

Both Princeton and Columbia have sizeable designated tailgate areas, with relatively lenient rules.

Columbia allows those with valid photo identification — including a school ID for Columbia students — to purchase up to four beers during pregame concessions.

Princeton doesn’t purvey the alcohol themselves, but allows patrons to bring their own food and drink, as long as the drink isn’t in a keg.

I see no good reason why those of age should be prohibited from partaking in a few beers while enjoying the game.

We would be kidding ourselves if we pretended college students don’t like to get drunk.

And a great drunk activity is rallying behind the school to which we dedicate so much time and energy.

School pride is a good thing, whether it’s sober or not. We need to take the lipstick off the pig and accept the realities of college life.

ELI COHEN is a junior philosophy major from Washington, D.C. He can be contacted at dpsports@theDP.com.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.