Amy Potter: Love your Quakers

Every once in a while, I think back on the whole college application process, and I'm disgusted with myself.

As an avid sports fan, I could have done a lot better.

Knocking the Palestra or Franklin Field is sacreligious, but despite Penn's incomparable venues, something is lacking on campus.

On Saturday afternoons, the Penn football team draws an average crowd of 13,013. At other top Division I-AA programs -- like Jackson State and Montana -- crowds swell above 20,000 on a regular basis. And I won't even get into Division I-A attendance.

Even though most Penn students couldn't tell you the football team's record right now, or even list off the squad's top starters, I've come to realize that there is something worthwhile in Ivy sports.

That something has been apparent on campus all week. Maybe it's the Discover Tailgate crew handing out free merchandise, or the fact that Penn students are actually planning to congregate for the game this weekend.

ESPN College Gameday will be setting up camp on the east sidelines of Franklin Field this weekend, reason enough to at least show up to the game. Penn men's basketball may garner national attention on occasion, and it isn't all that out of the ordinary, but when the Penn football team accomplishes the same feat, it's a big deal.

This may not be Notre Dame football -- that's for sure -- but it's unique and it's Penn's own.

No other school's students spend time before games searching through sparse cabinets for loaves of bread.

Having these traditions is something that Penn players and fans should be proud of and should show off this weekend on national television.

After all, we Ivy League sports fans have a lot to prove.

This past summer, the Council of Ivy Presidents ruled that Ivy League sports needed to downscale. They cut back the number of football recruits per year and the amount of coaches allowed on the payroll. In addition, the Presidents mandated a seven-week rest period, forbidding any form of practice during that time.

If there ever was a time to show off school spirit, it is this weekend.

When Saturday rolls around, Penn fans have an opportunity that no one else at this school has ever experienced.

They have the chance to show -- to a national television audience -- that although Ivy League football may not have any national championships implications, it does have a pretty remarkable feel.

There's something in knowing that every player on the field is out there because he loves football. Only on a rare occasion -- like Harvard's Carl Morris, the target of Penn's ire this weekend -- are Ivy players attracting the attention of pro-scouts. Ivy athletes also never receive any scholarship money for their services.

At Penn's practice on Wednesday evening, apprehension was in the air. With reporters from The New York Times and The Washington Post on the sidelines, Penn's coaches screamed at the squad with extra enthusiasm.

The Quakers are excited for this weekend's matchup. They are excited to prove to ESPN, and anyone watching, that Ivy League football may not command national respect, but it's still for real.

The Penn football team has a chance to make a name for itself this weekend, but in order to do so, it will need the support from Penn's fans.

So if any of you wish --on a Saturday afternoon -- that you had gone to a big school with intense school spirit, I have news for you. This is your weekend to be a part of college football at its finest.

Oh, and if you're lucky, you may be heaving goalposts in the Schuylkill at the end of the game.

Yet another reason to love Penn football.

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