Checking out some old-school facilities

*Disclaimer: If you're not interested in reading about sports facilities, this may not be the post for you. At least, not after the first two paragraphs.*

After spending a great three-plus days with RBG and her family in Maryland for Thanksgiving, we took the train up to Philadelphia on Sunday morning for three more days of vacation (me) and studying (her). I'll return to Houston, heat (relatively), and the working world later this week.

Thursday meant the girls went to see the new Twilight movie (I flat-out refused and stuck to my guns) while the guys watched the Lions stinking it up on TV. I watched a lot of football over the weekend (including the second half of the Giants' pathetic excuse for a game against Denver), both professional and college. We had official engagement pictures taken Friday, which was a hilarious exercise in itself.

--SPORTS MAJORITY BEGINS HERE--

Anyway, so we're in Philadelphia, and I met RBG at school for lunch today despite the falling rain. She hooked me up with an umbrella for the walk back, which prompted me to take a slightly different route back. I was about to hang a left and go back toward the bridge I needed to take when I saw a sign that said "Class of 1923 Ice Rink" (the sign didn't have a Wikipedia link, but you get the idea.) Well, there's nothing that gets me going quite like an ice rink, especially on the day before the N.J. high school season starts, so I made a detour.

The rink's upper level doors were conveniently located off the street, but they were all chained. Now my theory is that almost no athletic facility outside of the major-league ranks is inaccessible, so I was going to find a way in. I took a staircase down to a lower level and walked around three-quarters of the rink tugging on doors, dodging leftover zamboni snow, etc.

I was starting to give up when I stumbled upon a semi-decently-lit entrance. Turns out there was a public skate going on. With the ticket-taker on the telephone, I just eased my own way through the turnstile and had a chance to walk around the facility.

The place had a lot of character, which is a not-so-subtle way of saying I liked it even though it's not in great shape. The ice surface is tiny even by high-school standards, I could really only figure out one spot for a penalty box instead of two, and the press facilities were not much to look at. I love an arena with seats that go almost all the way from the ice to the ceiling and curve around behind both goals instead of remaining in straight lines. But to be honest, I was very surprised an Ivy League school had such a bad arena.

After doing a little research, I was just misinformed - Penn has not had varsity hockey since 1979. Both the Penn and Drexel club teams play there now, in addition to intramural and adult leagues. It would be a decent high school rink with some renovations, I think. Built in 1968, so it only got about 10 seasons of varsity hockey.

Having successfully navigated that hurdle, and invigorated by leaving the rink and feeling warm, wet air (relative to the rink) instead of being cold as before, I decided to keep going on my self-guided, non-prepared tour of Penn's athletic facilities. I had seen the hulking football stadium across the river, and I could see the famed Palestra nearby, so I set out to explore them both.

The Palestra is a well-known and well-respected college basketball venue, even though Penn and the Ivy League are no longer national powers. It reminded me of Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke) or Tudor Fieldhouse (Rice) with the brick exterior more reminiscent of a library than a basketball arena. Unfortunately, this is one place that was hard to get into. I tugged on most of the exterior doors, but unlike the old Autry, there did not seem to be a secret door always left open for athletes. So I wandered around to what seemed to be a rec-center entrance, where I was kindly and sympathetically informed that without a student ID, there was no way I could see the inside of the Palestra. Online, Penn gives this policy: "THERE ARE NO TOURS OF THE PALESTRA, but the public is welcome to visit during games" ... in other words, "Give us money!" Anyway, I found that stance a bit odd, given its supposed nickname as the Cathedral of College Basketball.

I didn't know much about The Palestra, but I like this Wikipedia paragraph explaining some of its history:

The building was completed in 1927 and named by Greek professor Dr. William N. Bates after the ancient Greek term palæstra, a rectangular enclosure attached to a gymnasium where athletes would compete in various sports in front of an audience. Penn's Palestra was built adjacent to and today is connected to Hutchinson Gymnasium.

The Palestra hosted its first basketball game on January 1, 1927. Pennsylvania defeated Yale 26-15 before a capacity crowd of 10,000, then the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game on the East Coast.

For many years, the building shared the same management as Madison Square Garden in New York City. Teams wishing to play at the Manhattan venue were often required also to schedule a game at the Palestra, which thereby hosted several very high-level sporting events that it might not otherwise have. Many professional games were played at the Palestra before the completion of the Spectrum in 1967. The Palestra's 50th Anniversary was celebrated on February 10, 1977.

So I was 1 for 2.

There was ongoing construction on Penn's football stadium, but football fields are so big that there's usually a way in. I wandered around the giant curve behind one end zone, passing a few Penn student-athletes on the way. I even saw a guy in a Delbarton Football jacket, but I wasn't in the mood to make new friends and I let him go without saying anything. I'm presuming it was this guy, the only Delbarton alumnus on the roster.

Franklin Field did turn out to be easier to get into, as I turned a corner and was able to simply walk onto the track and take in the surroundings. Wikipedia has a lot of interesting stuff on the history of the stadium - it was built mostly for the Penn Relays (a BFD track event on the East Coast if you haven't heard of them) but has hosted football, baseball, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, and the like, with even the Philadelphia Eagles playing there.

It's huge and old - ground was broken in 1895 and the current infrastructure was built in the 1920s - and historic and too large for the popularity of its own football team, so in many ways it reminded me of Rice. I think it has a bit more character in some ways - the upper deck, the old-school fieldhouse at one end, etc - and less in others, with the track (albeit a famous one) separating the fans from the game and a lot of evidence of multi-sport use. But it was pretty cool to see.

It still feels old, almost like the players will jog out in black and white and white men in top hats will watch from the stands. I like to think of Army-Navy games happening here, and this Wikipedia picture gives an idea:










Anyway, I didn't see the baseball field anywhere near, so I headed back to the apartment, but it certainly was an interesting look at athletic facilities that are even older than Rice's! Of course, they don't have athletic scholarships or the University of Texas to compete against. But still, these places were old!

Here's a really cool Franklin Field photo from the Penn Web site, with the Philadelphia skyline visible in the background: