Tony | It's easy to appreciate Penn Athletics' Student Appreciation

So how was your last Saturday?

Mine was cool. I spent it covering Penn football’s loss to Princeton at Franklin Field that afternoon and Penn basketball at the Palestra that evening. On paper, Penn Athletics’ presence on campus Saturday couldn’t be any better.

And in reality, it was awesome.

Holding the afternoon together was Penn Athletics’ $10 Student Appreciation Package, which allowed students to get in on the football-basketball doubleheader, with perks like a Homecoming barbecue in the east end zone area of Franklin Field at the end of the third quarter, a Red and Blue Crew section ticket for the Penn-Temple hoops matchup and a special performance from Bill Cosby.

But the moment I knew Penn Athletics’ Student Appreciation Day was a success was during the Quakers’ 21-4 comeback run against Temple late in the second half, when the student section started to erupt louder than I had ever heard anything at the Palestra before.

That run had the Palestra literally shaking with excitement and teeming with fans packed in every corner of the arena. The students no doubt had more than their fair share of visiting alums chiming in — but students came, saw and then liked very audibly what they saw.

That’s what student appreciation is. And that’s success.

In fact, 700 students bought the Student Appreciation package. Forty-eight more walked up before tip-off and bought a Temple game ticket.

Numbers those solid suggest that Penn Athletics at least now has hooked a decent amount of student fans it wouldn’t have if it weren’t for all the Student Appreciation hoopla.

A Homecoming crowd of 21,214 also packed both sides of Franklin Field to see Penn-Princeton, marking the highest Homecoming attendance at the Frank since 1996. It was also probably one of the few times that you’ll ever see that many people throwing toast at the appropriate time.

To be fair, Princeton fans traveled well too. Below the North Stands press box were ample waves of Tiger faithful claiming victory at game’s end.

The Temple student section — the Cherry Crusade — also loudly cheered on a victory on Quakers soil, but the losses don’t matter if the measure is student interest.

There are still only 146 student season ticket holders for Penn men’s basketball, but Student Appreciation certainly didn’t hurt that number any. Whether that number grows in future years is dependent on winning and atmosphere.

Last Saturday, Penn students didn’t get the former. But they got the latter in spades.

As I wrote early last month when the Student Appreciation package was announced, Nov. 9 won’t prove to be the cure for student apathy towards Penn Athletics.

But it did prove the absolutely electrifying best anybody could pull off in a 24-hour period. Only time will tell whether the memories will continue for those Penn students newly minted into the practice of Student Appreciating.

MIKE TONY is a senior English and history major from Uniontown, Pa. and is senior sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at tony@thedp.com.

SEE ALSO

The state of Penn Athletics

A toast to tradition, transvestites and Pennsylvania football

Franklin Field: Finding a way to stay young at heart

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