Live updates from The Line

Hey Quakers fans,

It's currently 8:40 p.m. If you're a student and you're reading this, you should be packing up your pillow and heading down to the Palestra for tonight's annual season-ticket all-nighter, The Line. Doors close at 9 p.m. If you absolutely insist on staying home, I'll be bringing you live updates and some videos throughout the night. As of now, I'd say there are about 30 students here, not counting the players. I've already spotted Zack Rosen, Jerome Allen, assistant coaches Mike Martin and Dan Leibovitz, and the whole Red and Blue Crew (obviously). I've got to go buy my season tickets and try to catch some video of people trickling in. Check back soon and click below for new updates.

[9:12] It's a little past 9 and people are still trickling in, signing up for contests, Red and Blue Rewards cards, and purchasing tickets. I've signed up for the burrito eating contest later, and submitted my name for a knockout contest against the Penn hoopsters and a 3-on-3 tourney with 1 men's player, 1 women's, and 1 student. We'll see if I get picked. There are a few other contests but I didn't bother signing up. On the court, a shootaround and a game of knockout are underway. Watch these two quick videos to see for yourself.

Sign-ups:

Shootarounds:

[9:19] The scheduled events are about to get underway. I just said hi to Rob Belcore. He's decked out in some camouflage and told me he's pumped up for the dodgeball tournament. That's not for a few hours, so let the suspense continue.

Zack Rosen and Rob Belcore are reading the introductions for the first part of the night. They were cracking up just reading it. We'll see what they've got in store. Meanwhile, a few kids are gathered in the media room watching Game 6 of the ALCS.

Zack Rosen tries a few underhanded shots from halfcourt. Dau Jok to his left, giving him crap every time he misses. If the video doesn't load, click it again and watch it on YouTube.

[10:15] We just had a performance by dance group Strictly Funk, but I had to delete the video I shot to make room for the introductions. Rob Belcore announced all the members of the men's team and Penn Athetlics video guy announced the women. Here's the intro for most or all of the freshmen (I cut it short for space purposes). Sorry if the audio isn't great. It's kind of echo-ey in here.

And here's the intro of Zack Rosen:

My camera filled up eventually so this is all I've got for now. The skills contests are starting. Gotta go.

[10:35] Freshmen are looking good in the 3-point shootout. Dau Jok and Steve Rennard made almost every shot they took. It went to overtime and a team of a student and Zack Rosen took down a team of a student and Steve Rennard. In other news, somebody is going win this 42-inch TV tonight:

[10:46] I'm a bit out of breath because I just got randomly selected to participate in a skills competition. I had to dribble around some cones, down the court, make a layup, and sprint back. My pants nearly fell down on the way back so my team fell behind a bit. I was with Casey James and Erin Power. We lost to Dau Jok's team. Whatever. I think Cal got some video of me, so you might be able to see me looking ridiculous.

After that they did the drawing for the 40-inch TV pictured above. Here's video of the girl who won:

Time to eat some burritos!

[11:15] Well that was a bit ridiculous and even more disgusting. Just had the burrito-eating contest. In a pathetic showing, the last two of the five teams competing were the men's team and the women's team. Jack Eggleston anchored the men's team and barely beat the women's team. I was a last-minute addition to one of the teams, so I had to pass off my camera to a female member of the Red and Blue Crew. Can't attest to the quality of her filming, but here's the video. I'm in the red Phillies shirt.

We're in a bit of a lull now as people eat some food and pick out their spots to sleep. A few people thought ahead and brought inflatable mattresses. Pretty nifty. I'll just be sleeping on a blank in the middle of the court, if they let me.

[12 am] Just had a chat with Mike Howlett's girlfriend, since Mike was sleeping on her air mattress (below). Cute story: they met at The Line last year, then started dating in March. There's a Penn Basketball romance for you. She was actually the one who shot the video of the burrito-eating contest, so props to her for that. She also shared an interesting tidbit: all the players are required to sleep over this year. Last year Zack Rosen was the only one. According to Cal, that was Coach Allen's decision.

The Red and Blue Crew is setting up the dodgeball tournament. Insert pithy Will Ferrell/Ben Stiller reference here. I'll be back with a recap when it's over.

[12:55 am] Dodgeball has been epic. A few choice team names: Dau Jeezy (featuring, of course, Dau Jok, as well as Rob Belcore and Jerin Smith), Dunkaholics Anonymous, Dodge-adelphia, Rape Whistle Crew (um, what?) and Ballhers (featuring mostly W. Hoopsters like Jess Knapp, Erin Power and Cassie Pappas). We've had a 1 man vs 3 man comeback. We had Conor Turley make a miraculous catch as the last man standing for his team, which brought Miles Cartwright back on the court en route to a win. Both Mike Howlett and Rob Belcore each knocked a few people on their backs. Belcore was sporting an Iverson-style sleeve. Nobody takes dodgeball more seriously.

Perhaps the best moment, in the semifinals, Turley threw a rocket at Howlett, but Howlett dodged it and an innocent spectator sitting behind him got pegged in the face. Both games going on at the time came to a stop as the whole arena focused its attention on this poor girl, who got a big round of applause when she shook it off.

The finals was a best-of-3 series between the Swag Team All-Stars and the Konvicts. Swag features Zack Rosen, Mike Howlett, Larry Loughery, RBC line leader and loyal Buzz reader/commenter Rob Sharp, and a few other students. The Konvicts are a team of all students, seemingly all underclassmen — a tale straight of "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story." Swag took the first game in dominating fashion, with nearly the whole team intact when Rosen made the final kill. Game 2 came down to a 1-on-1 battle, and the Konvicts pulled it out to send it to a pivotal Game 3. In the decisive game, our man Rob Sharp was the last man standing for the Swag Team All-Stars. Outnumber 4-to-1, he didn't last long, and when he eventually went down, Loughery and Rosen crashed to the Palestra floor in shame.

The last event of the night is a Quizzo competition. Let's see if my year as DP Sports Editor did anything for me. If you're up this late and still following, much thanks.

[2:30 am] Well Quizzo was OK. Had nothing to do with Penn sports, though there was a question about which Ivy League football team once lost an NCAA record 44 straight games. Do you know? Anyway, the team of Red and Blue Crew leaders won handily, but they sacrificed their prizes to the second place team. The lights are off in the Palestra now but people are still shooting around, one girl ran a suicide (no clue why). Dau Jok is sitting up at the very top of the bleachers on his laptop, apparently mixing some new jams, or so he says. He's such a nice guy; definitely my favorite new Quaker. Zack Rosen is a true ambassador for the team. Most of the players are already asleep — practice at 9 a.m. — but Zack stayed around to talk with a group of freshmen and sophomores until just now.

Thanks for following. It's time for bed. I'm going to sleep in center of the Palestra floor, on the 'P'. I'm not going to sleep a wink, but I'm going to love every minute of it. Good night all. I'll be back with one last update in the morning.

[8:30 am] I'm already back in my room, first and final Line in the past. I guess people didn't want to be on camera in the morning because I was the last one to be woken up. Didn't sleep great, but at the same time, I slept on the middle of the Palestra hardwood where so many Penn basketball legends have stepped foot. That's something I will remember and cherish forever.

Funny story about Jerome Allen. It was around 2:45am after I had finished the blog for the night, set up my bed and was just shooting the breeze with some Line Leaders before passing out, when Jerome Allen comes stumbling out of the locker room. I legitimately thought he was sleepwalking, with that half-conscious, half-squinting look of a man who didn't quite know where he was. Of course, even a sleepwalking Jerome Allen will know when he is in the Palestra. And as it turns out, he had just woken up to make sure everything was still going well, and that all his equipment (DJ Jazzy Jerome?) was safely put away. Marketing manager Josh Craggs eased his nerves, and he was right back into the locker room and back to sleep. I saw him again in the morning right before I left, and we joked about how he must be getting old because he was "conked out by 11."

Now, a few final thoughts before I get some more sleep in a real bed.

My overall impression of the turnout was definitely good. I can't compare it to year's past because, as I've said, this was actually — and quite depressingly — my first Line. Hopefully we'll get a number of overall student ticket sales at some point, but it was definitely enough to more than fill the student section as long as everyone turns out for every game. The evening overall was a ton of fun. The players were very friendly with all the fans, and honestly, it seemed more like they were just hanging out with fellow college students than trying to endear themselves to everyone because that was what was expected. In short, I think they just genuinely appreciated everyone coming out. I ran into Dau Jok again in the morning, and he still doesn't really know that I'm always around the team because of the DP. Right now he thinks of me as just another fan, and he thanked me — twice — for coming out.

I will be back later today or tomorrow with an edited clip of all the video I shot (lots of which didn't make it onto this blog) as well as some hopefully deeper insights on how this year's Line went. If there's anything specific that you want to know, leave a comment.