Joe DiMaggio once said of opening day: "You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen." The Quakers begin their season tomorrow with the first of eight games in Boca Raton, Fla., and they hope that some wonders are in their future.

Playing 10 games in only a six-day span, the Penn softball team will be hitting its midseason stride by the time the rest of school returns from spring break. During their stint in Orlando, Fla. for the Rebel Spring Games, the Quakers will see five doubleheaders through Friday.

For most students, spring break comes as a vacation from a month's worth of midterms, papers and summer internship applications. For Penn seniors, however, it comes as a vacation from a month of constant partying. Smokey Joe's, where FebClub begins and ends, was packed last night as seniors gathered to celebrate the last night of a month of daily senior events that included nights at clubs, parties and shows.

Approaching the EIWA Championships this weekend, maybe all the wrestling team needs is a few words of inspiration from its former leader. Roger Reina, who led the Quakers for 19 years before retiring in 2005, made an appearance at practice this week to speak to the team about how to approach the tournament, held at East Stroudsburg.

For the second year in a row, Penn will be facing a Big 12 power from the Lonestar State. The game will take place in Lexington, Ky. on Thursday afternoon. If Penn wins, it will face either No. 6 Louisville or No. 11 Stanford. Tottering between a 13 and a 14 seed, Penn emerged on the lower end and must now contend with an Aggies team that went 25-6 during the regular season but lost two of its final three games, all in conference play.

Brian Voelker must now do more with less. Voelker, in his fifth year coaching Penn lacrosse, counted on veterans on defense to carry the Quakers. But after seeing that unit get outmuscled on Wednesday in a tight 13-12 win over Lehigh, he thinks that the key might lie in playing smarter, not harder.

The women's tennis team heads to California for spring break with clear goals - five wins and good tans. The road trip will help show the No. 37 Quakers (6-1) exactly where they stand. They start out with their two toughest opponents, No. 41 UC Irvine and No.

Freshmen living in Hill College House have earned the right to special preferences in the housing lottery.

Another week, another full slate of top-ranked teams. That can effectively sum up the Penn men's tennis team's season so far, as it has already faced seven top-100 teams, losing to all of them. And by the time students are returning from their weeks of relaxation on the beach, the team will have faced five more.

Rap artist Juelz Santana has signed a contract and will officially headline Spectrum's annual spring concert, Penn officials and representatives for Santana confirmed yesterday. The concert will be held April 20 at the Theater of the Living Arts, the same venue as last year's concert.

Though citywide shooting rates are soaring, it seems there may be a bit of hope for West Philadelphia. The number of assaults with firearms in West Philadelphia - comprised of the 12th, 16th, 18th and 19th police districts - has dropped 35 percent from 2003 to 2006.

This is just the way it was supposed to happen for Penn's seniors. On their home floor, Ibrahim Jaaber, Mark Zoller and Stephen Danley led the Quakers to an 86-58 victory over Yale last night to clinch a third straight Ivy League title and NCAA Tournament berth, and avenge their lone conference blemish of the season, a nine-point loss in New Haven a month ago.

It might only be a week into the 2007 campaign, but the Penn women's lacrosse team will have an opportunity to make national headlines. The squad will travel to Evanston, Ill. to take on the two-time defending national champions, No.

Mayor John Street delivered his final budget address to the city last week, praising his and his predecessor's work in delivering 15 years of balanced budgets. But Pennsylvania regulators and several mayoral candidates aren't so quick to congratulate Street's work.

Kiss that 15-seed goodbye. The 2007 men's basketball team did what last season's Ivy champion squad couldn't - close out the season with a win against Princeton. It dropped Penn's r‚sum‚ enough to eventually make a date with powerhouse Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Brown coach Craig Robinson is a glutton for pain. He spent four years as a player at Princeton getting heckled by the rabid fans of the Palestra and went 1-3 in his four games there.

Wharton now has two administrators to replace. The Conference Board officially named Wharton Vice Dean of Executive Education Jonathan Spector as its new president and chief executive officer on Tuesday.