The Triangle -- Drexel's student newspaper -- ran a column last Friday about the Penn-Drexel men's basketball game that will be televised on ESPN at 10 a.m. Nov.18 and will take place at Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center. (See here for my original reaction.)
However instead of celebrating this game -- it'll be the first-ever time Penn plays at the DAC -- the columnist comes across as whining that this isn't good enough. He wants Penn to play at Drexel every other year. While I agree it is a little unfair that Penn has never played the Dragons north of Market Street, I don't think it's simply because Penn wants to maintain home court advantage.
While that plays a part, at the same time, the DAC is not that impressive of a facility. It holds only 2,300 people (roughly a quarter of the Palestra), and is the smallest of any City Six venue. Frankly, any game in the Palestra will have a better atmosphere, as well as allow more fans (of both teams) to attend. Why should the two teams sacrifice that?
If it's the money factor, then why not let Drexel call it a "home game" every other year and let them keep some of the proceeds?
Also, It's not like the rivalry has been that one-sided in recent years. Penn's only 5-3 in the last eight years against the Dragons.
What do you think about the DAC hosting Penn every other year? Would this significantly decrease your chances of attending (ignoring the 10 a.m. start this year)?
Tags: basketball, drexel, Palestra
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October 1st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Zach,
Another interesting question is why these two teams, separated by just a few blocks, need to play during hours that should really be devoted to class. It's understandable that Penn athletes need to miss class to play in games at times -- it's part of the deal of being a DI athlete. But of all of the circumstances in which Penn basketball players would have to miss class, you would think a game between your neighbor wouldn't necessitate such complicated and intrusive scheduling. Being part of the ESPN marathon will surely give both schools great exposure and is probably a good thing on the whole. But that national exposure comes at the expense of local interest, and the interests of the game's participants. Hopefully Penn fans will turn out for the game, but I don't think that professors will accept the game as a valid excuse for cutting class...
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 am
Great point Andrew. I was surprised too that the one Ivy League team in this whole marathon was one of the schools that has to play during class time. (Actually, there's a chance Cornell could play as part of the marathon as well if they beat St. John's in the first round of the Preseason Nit.) Obviously the Drexel game isn't a league game, but I still believes it goes against what Penn and the Ancient Eight stand for.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
This is nothing but whining. As soon as Drexel completes the project to convert the 32nd Street Armory into a 5000 seat arena, Penn should play there every other year. In the meantime, why not play at Hutch? The DAC is a disgrace to high school basketball and frankly, Penn does not need Drexel as an opponent. Penn was the first city school to agree to play Drexel yearly and instead of a degree of gratitude, we get this whining. Granted, this is a kid writing in the Drexel paper, not Bruiser, so who really cares, but let Drexel create a first class facility (as St. Joe's is now doing) and we'll play there.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
As a Drexel student, I obviously love that the game will be played at the DAC. As an officer of the DAC Pack I also understand that student attendance is very important. Last year's match-up was the one of our most exciting games of the year, and many of my Penn friends said the same thing for you guys. I agree that the timing isn't optimal, but it's hard to argue with the exposure both schools will get.
Responding to the number of Penn students that will get in... I believe an entire end of the stands has been reserved for the Red and Blue Crew, and as for purchasing tickets, I'd imagine you're just as capable of buying tickets as we are. Although I think that there should be a rule that whichever school hosts, the tickets be split down the middle so that each school has the opportunity to deal out their half, and after a certain amount of availability the host school reclaims those not dealt out.
The whole situation will become a lot better once we move across the street into the Armory. While still not as big as the Palestra (which, let's be honest, does not show up that well on television) it will make things a lot more fair.
I think both schools really benefit from this game, and it's clearly marketable enough for ESPN to pick it up. Hopefully the Battle for 33rd Street goes on for a long time to come.
As for that writer in Drexel's paper that called you all pretentious... I used to work at that paper and know the sports writers, and they are idiots. That's blatant editorializing and most of their articles are just as bad. Very few people actually care what they have to say.