College football played at historic venue just minutes from Drexel
Shawn Gauby
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Sports
Beyond that, the Penn fans have the most bizarre tradition I have ever seen. Before I entered, I was offered to purchase a loaf of already toasted bread. Confused, I replied that I already have my lunch, pointing to a Wawa bag containing a hoagie. Inside the arena, I noticed a couple guys working an industrial sized toaster, cranking out toast for eager Penn fans. I was further confused by that because if these students can afford to attend an Ivy League school, they can surely afford to feed themselves. Eventually, I asked around and realized what was going on.
Way back in the day, students would literally make a toast to the success of Penn Athletics after the third quarter of all football games, but when prohibition hit in 1920, this overt act of alcohol consumption became illegal. The student population did not want to lose this tradition, so they chose to toast to Penn in a different way, by throwing toast onto the field. Immediately after the third quarter ended, sure enough, everyone started to throw toast all over the track surrounding the playing surface. Fortunately, toast does not have much in the way of mass so unless you throw the slices perfectly like a Frisbee, they cannot reach the player benches. None of this was cleaned up before the end of the game, but I did hear a rumor involving a street sweeper that comes in after games to take care of all the wasted food.
If weird, antiquated traditions are not your thing, there was an excellent football game to watch. Things looked ugly for Penn in the early going as Bulldog tailback Mike McLeod scored on a 46-yard run to give Yale an early 7-0 lead, but the Quakers hung tough. Penn pieced together a couple of drives while their defense suffocated Yale's passing game to eventually take a 10-7 lead after three quarters. However, Yale mustered one more drive deep into Penn territory, and they connected on a field goal to tie the game at the end of regulation.
Overtime was when the real fun started. Yale struck quickly with another touchdown by McLeod to make it 17-10 Bulldogs. A few plays later, Penn faced a fourth down and long, and quarterback Bryan Walker botched the pass. The Quakers caught quite a lucky break as defensive pass interference was called on the play, and Penn was given a fresh set of downs. They eventually scored to send the game to a second overtime.
Way back in the day, students would literally make a toast to the success of Penn Athletics after the third quarter of all football games, but when prohibition hit in 1920, this overt act of alcohol consumption became illegal. The student population did not want to lose this tradition, so they chose to toast to Penn in a different way, by throwing toast onto the field. Immediately after the third quarter ended, sure enough, everyone started to throw toast all over the track surrounding the playing surface. Fortunately, toast does not have much in the way of mass so unless you throw the slices perfectly like a Frisbee, they cannot reach the player benches. None of this was cleaned up before the end of the game, but I did hear a rumor involving a street sweeper that comes in after games to take care of all the wasted food.
If weird, antiquated traditions are not your thing, there was an excellent football game to watch. Things looked ugly for Penn in the early going as Bulldog tailback Mike McLeod scored on a 46-yard run to give Yale an early 7-0 lead, but the Quakers hung tough. Penn pieced together a couple of drives while their defense suffocated Yale's passing game to eventually take a 10-7 lead after three quarters. However, Yale mustered one more drive deep into Penn territory, and they connected on a field goal to tie the game at the end of regulation.
Overtime was when the real fun started. Yale struck quickly with another touchdown by McLeod to make it 17-10 Bulldogs. A few plays later, Penn faced a fourth down and long, and quarterback Bryan Walker botched the pass. The Quakers caught quite a lucky break as defensive pass interference was called on the play, and Penn was given a fresh set of downs. They eventually scored to send the game to a second overtime.
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