Dan McQuade: Penn's best football tradition

There's the third-quarter throwing of toast. There's "The Red and Blue." And there's the post-score singing of "Hang Jeff Davis."

Perhaps the best Penn football tradition of all, however, is the post-Ivy League Championship celebration.

Whenever the Quakers clinch the Ivy League title at home, Penn fans rush the field, tear down the western goalpost and add it to the pollution in the Schuylkill River by tossing it off the South Street Bridge.

Hurrah for the Red and the Blue.

There's something about students attempting to tear down a goalpost that always creates something memorable, whether good or bad.

Sometimes, it's amusing. In 1997, fans at Boston University's last home football game ever were stopped from tearing down the goalposts. As if they needed them for the next game.

Other times, it's downright frightening, such as in 1999 when a Brown student lost a portion of his finger after fans celebrated the Bears' Ivy League title.

Just last weekend, University of Connecticut Police used pepper spray on fans trying to tear down the posts after a victory over Kent State.

Disaster was avoided at Penn in 1998, when the Quakers routed Harvard at Franklin Field to clinch the Ancient Eight title.

The fans' attempt to get the goalpost into the river was met with much opposition from the University police.

Several thousand students rushed past officers clad in riot gear and took out the east goalpost after police blocked off the west one.

The students then rammed the posts through the gates of Franklin Field -- which had been locked by security -- and stopped traffic for several minutes before getting the post into the river.

Several students suffered only minor injuries, but things could have been a lot worse.

Attendance at 1998's game against Harvard was only 14,909. Expect a much larger crowd this year, especially with ESPN GameDay making an appearance outside Franklin Field.

The case may be that the concern for tradition does not outweigh the greater concern for injury to anyone participating in the goalpost celebrations. But that doesn't matter -- if Penn wins on Saturday, thousands of fans are going to rush the field and try and take down a goalpost, regardless of the risk of injury or any attempt by the University to deter them.

Fans gave a half-hearted effort after a victory over Harvard in 2000, but that wasn't to clinch the Ivy title, so the throngs of students gave up fairly quickly. Still, police stopped students that day from using ropes to help get the goalposts down, cutting them with little or no warning.

But if Penn clinches at least a share of the league crown on Saturday, things could get ugly. Officials need to put a plan in place so that the traditional celebration can go on without injuries or arrests.

They need to avoid a situation like in 1998.

While by the end of the celebration, University Police coordinated the throwing of the goalpost into the river, initially students were prevented from taking down the goalpost at all.

The University needs to facilitate the celebration, not impede it. Students simply trying to show their Penn pride shouldn't have to worry about clashing with University administration and police.

Otherwise, Penn will have a lot more trouble on its hands than if it facilitated the celebration. The University could not possibly want injured and arrested students, or the black eye that schools like UConn are now facing -- especially with the ESPN crew here to capture it all for a national audience.

Hurrah for the Red and the Blue, indeed.

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