Rebecca Rosner: Basketball, card games, and The Line

A mostly accurate transcription of the day I spent on The Line:

6:52 p.m.: I arrive at the Palestra, sleeping bag in tow, with the chorus of Mr. Big's 1991 hit To Be With You running through my head. For those of you with better taste in music than me, that's the one with the lyrics, "Waitin' on a line of greens and blues...." I'm not sure what exactly greens and blues are, but here I am, waitin' on a line. The Line. I'm a Penn basketball fan, but I've never done The Line. I'm with group 106: me, my boyfriend Alan and my friend Henry, ready for an insanely fun overnight at the Palestra. We stick on our red wristbands and set up camp.

8:30 p.m.: We've been playing cards for an hour and a half. I concentrate on perfecting my Hearts strategy and wonder when that insane fun is going to start.

8:34 p.m.: Two girls next to us seem confused about what they're doing here. Unlike the rest of The Line, who brought sleeping bags, air mattresses, laptops, chairs and the occasional TV and PlayStation, these two girls brought only themselves. One of them is on her cell phone, saying, "I don't know what a Line is, but we're sitting in it." Our group wonders if we should break the news that they'll have to be here for the next 22 hours. Nah, they'll figure it out.

8:50 p.m.: Our first Line check: we are the last group in The Line. That's what happens when you get your Line placement at 6:52. This means if we get caught leaving, we're sent to the end of The Line -- exactly where we are now. We immediately scheme to make a run to McDonald's tomorrow to taunt the other Line-ers.

9:36 p.m.: Three slices of free pizza and a Sierra Mist later, I overhear those girls next to us realize that The Line is a 24-hour thing. They can't decide whether or not to stay, and come up with the scientific idea to flip a coin to decide their fate. Apparently heads means they go.

10:45 p.m.: In a shooting contest, a guy named Bob hits more three-pointers than basketball star Tim Begley. This does not look promising.

11:06 p.m.: A cheerleader gets her skirt caught coming down from a formation, revealing her underwear to the entire Line. She's embarrassed, but people seem more interested in the Munchkin-eating contest.

11:15 p.m.: The activities announcer introduces all of the coaches, and concludes by saying, "And you all remember coach Dunphy from the Munchkin-eating contest." Oh yeah, that must be where I've seen him before.

11:57 p.m.: The Penn Band experiences some internal friction and splits into two groups for a mock showdown. Group two wins out by repeatedly playing the Hey Song. Apparently you just can't beat the Hey Song -- what could be wittier than telling another group, "Hey, you suck!"?

12:01 a.m.: Women's basketball player Monica Naltner fears she hasn't made the team after all when the rest of her teammates' names are announced and she remains on the bench.

1:14 a.m.: Midnight madness is over... what to do, what to do. Cards, anyone?

3:29 a.m.: Group 106 can pick our seats now. We choose the ones way back by the wall and get funny looks from The Line organizers. Hey, you try being a 5'1" girl who can't see the game when everyone stands up!

4:50 a.m.: All the lights go out. Thank goodness, I was beginning to wonder when we'd all get that restful night's sleep we were expecting from the Palestra floor.

8:45 a.m.: I wake up to go get a drink of water, and pass by two people under a blanket -- wait a second! Are they naked?

10:55 a.m.: Henry, who had the terribly unfortunate situation of sleeping less than 10 feet away from those people, confirms my suspicions: they have in fact violated the sanctity of the Palestra.

11:32 a.m.: A violent riot breaks out among The Line participants. No, actually we all just play cards again.

12:56 p.m.: We sneak out. Henry goes home to shower and Alan and I go to Hutchinson to practice basketball for today's 3-on-3 tournament.

1:45 p.m.: As we're leaving Hutch, a Line leader walks past us. It's a narrow escape -- we could've been caught and... sent to the end of The Line!

3 p.m.: The 3-on-3 tournament begins and I notice that I am the only girl participating. This would be fine, if I wasn't such a poor representation of a female athlete.

3:26 p.m.: The ball comes to me. I catch it, turn and toss it in the air. Swish! Jan Fikiel, you've got nothing on me!

4:34 p.m.: Free Abner's cheesesteaks. Henry eats all three of ours, gets another, and contemplates a fifth. We make plans for his entry in this year's Wing Bowl.

5:30 p.m.: What is this? They're handing out our tickets early? We've survived The Line, and all we have to show for it are last-row tickets, sore backs from sleeping on the ground and the ability to say, I did The Line. Woo hoo.

Rebecca Rosner is a senior English major from Lawrenceville, N.J.

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