Mid-Monday Mix: A packed house

My colleagues and resident NBA-junkies Brian Kotloff and Kevin Esteves are waking up today and wondering 'did that really happen?' Yes it did. Some of the NBA's finest descended on Penn last night for the Battle of I-95, and despite the star power of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, the home team won. Talk about a feel-good story.

The game itself was pretty good, but as Kotloff writes, the atmosphere in the Palestra was unmatched, despite being hotter than a.....

Rundown:

Football dropped to 0-2 this weekend with a loss to Villanova, a team they haven't beaten since 1911. For the second-straight week quarterback Billy Ragone threw two costly picks.
Sports editor Megan Soisson was there and says that Penn needs some more creativity in their offense, which is getting one dimensional behind Ragone.
Women's soccer dropped its Ivy opener to Harvard, 2-0, Friday, but bounced back to shutout Stony Brook at home Sunday. Not how they wanted to start the defense of their championship. But the Quakers are putting up impressive numbers at home.
Men's soccer swept their weekend Penn Soccer Classic with rainy but comfortable wins over Stony Brook and Long Island.
Much like last year, Penn volleyball dropped a five-setter to Princeton in its first Ivy match. But unlike last year, Penn also fell to Delaware this weekend. Coach Kerry Carr says the early season matches won't matter much come November.

Weekend Win: This weekend's award goes to the portly referee who stole the show at the Battle for I-95. His hip-shaking dance that went along with each call was hilarious, and if you weren't there, you have no idea what I'm talking about. He also did the "count it" motion on an and-1 three times for each foul.

Multimedia: Check out these videos from the pregame at the Battle for I-95. If only I had video from the post-game at Whisper nightclub.

Extra extra: You have to see the newly installed Palestra video. There were actual instant replays at the Battle for I-95. Even LeBron James enjoyed the new toy, looking to affirm that he in fact had not committed a foul, thus making his LeBron-face appropriate.