Classic Big 5 basketball

After Cheap Seats got cancelled, I never thought I'd watch ESPN Classic in the near future (tons of great Philadelphia sports moments to relive), but this Thursday at 10 p.m. it will show The Palestra: Cathedral of Basketball.

The movie, narrated by legendary Phillies announcer Harry Kalas, is a documentary about college basketball's most historic gym, interviewing writers, former players and Big 5 coaches about what it was like to play there.

Producer and director Mikaelyn Austin played on the Penn women's team in the early 2000s, going to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, where the 15-seed Quakers fell to Diana Taurasi's defending champion UConn Huskies.

Anything that spreads the love of the Palestra is great to see, though I'm not sure how many people get Classic, or ESPN U, which is also showing the movie starting the 11th at 10 p.m.

From what I've heard the mediocre lighting in the Palestra scares away bigger TV stations from showing live Penn home games, but with Virginia and UNC coming to West Philly, that could sweeten up the deal.

I was comforted last year, though, when while walking to class I saw Texas players arriving at the Palestra for a practice a day before playing Villanova, and all they all had cameras out shooting the front of the stadium. Even when empty, the Palestra has more atmosphere than any other Philadelphia gym Kevin Durant will be playing in as a pro.