Philadelphia, PA - The Penn Quaker

10/20/07 - University of Pennsylvania - Franklin Field

At first glance, this may seem like a strange destination for a Saturday in the fall. After all, there is major college football going on everywhere. Baseball playoffs were still going strong. So what, you may ask, brought us to Philly for an Ivy League football game? Why, art, flying food and one of the creepiest looking guys you'll ever meet, of course.

As the planning began for a destination for our anniversary weekend, the Mrs. suggested Philadelphia, PA. Good cultural experiences and delicious foods were enough to sell me on the trip so she took care of the travel arrangements and I snuck a peek at the local sports schedule. We arrived Friday morning and detoured to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Now I'm not going to fill space here trying to act like I'm some sort of cultured art buff. Frankly, I don't know my Sergio Asti from a hole in the ground. But, c'mon, these are the steps from Rocky! OK, truthfully, I don't mind art. We walked through the museum for about 4 hours, had a somewhat overpriced lunch, and wandered down those famous steps to the see the Rocky statue, which now has a permanent home near their base, and I had a good time. We saw a few Picassos, a bunch of medieval weapons and some nudity. Art lover or not, that's a full day.

After checking into the hotel, we grabbed a local magazine (you know, the ones sitting on the coffee table in your room when you arrive) and looked for a good restaurant. Deciding to try something new, we went for Israeli cuisine and took a cab ride to a little hole in the wall place just off of South Street. Seeing as how neither of us had a clue what we were ordering, we opted for the sampler. What they brought us was a gigantic plate for two filled with cultural favorites from their menu. I wish that I could tell you what I ate because the vast majority of it was really good. After struggling to find room for desert, we walked South Street for a little people watching. Although enjoyable, after a day of Renoir and tabouli, it was time to switch the focus back to something a little more familiar - college football.

Franklin Field was built in 1895 and although its most famous events (such as the 1960 NFL Championship and FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech) are probably in the rear-view mirror, it still serves as a nice home for an Ivy League football game. Tickets were available at the gates and we got to our seats in time to see the marching band perform "Drink a Highball" during their pregame field show. During the song, the band marched into the formation of giant Martini glass and as those students representing the level of liquid slowly marched towards "empty", the music became sloppier as if the band was becoming drunk themselves. Ah, those clever Ivy Leaguers.

We used halftime as our opportunity to head down to the field and meet up with the Quaker himself. He is downright creepy. I mean, seriously, I wouldn't blame a 5 year old for needing therapy if this guy snuck up on him. Fortunately for us, he was nice enough to come over and pose for a picture with Mrs. Mascot Hunter. You'll also notice that she finally secured a set of thundersticks, something that many stadiums have banned and that she had been wanting for years. At the end of the third quarter, the band again struck up "Drink a Highball", only this time during the phrase "toast to dear old Penn", the student section hurls toast onto the field. It was surreal. One piece made it to the twenty yard line. One piece hit me in the back of the head. If you look carefully at the picture, you'll notice the sky seems full of little specs. That would be flying toast. They even have a toast zamboni (modified street sweeper) to clean up the debris. The game was fun and would be a good option for a family with young kids. After all, the tickets are cheap, seating is plentiful and they get to throw food. Just make sure they keep a safe distance from the Quaker.

We rounded out our stay with a walk around Penn's Landing (not very exciting) and a trip to see the Liberty Bell. After an authentic cheesesteak we decided that we had hit our limit for culture and calories and headed home.