School does little for loyal sports fans

March is my favorite month of the year. At no other time do basketball fans from 65 schools across the country get the chance to gather together in celebration of their universities.

For some schools, it's really a party. For others like Penn, the NCAA basketball championship passes with little more than a murmur and a few turned heads.

It's really too bad that a school like Penn with such a rich tradition and vast resources makes such a half-hearted attempt at showing off its colors on the national stage. The people at Street & Smith's magazine might want to reconsider ranking the University No. 16 on its list of the 100 greatest basketball programs of all time given the little support the men's basketball team received from its school this month.

I was one of the scores of fans who made the trip to Dallas last weekend to see Penn play in the NCAA Tournament. In total, there were some 300 Quakers fans in attendance at the 20,000-seat American Airlines Center last Friday. But until I walked into the arena before the game, I really had no idea what to expect from the Penn contingent.

Since arriving in Dallas the day before, I had seen only a handful of Penn faithful at an open practice held at the arena. I certainly had not traveled from Philadelphia with any group because no such traveling party was organized. Neither were there any get-togethers in Texas for alumni and fans.

I'm not surprised, because the same thing happened at last year's NCAA Tournament in Cleveland. No fanfare, just a few dedicated fans showing up on their own and then going their separate ways. I'm also not surprised to see the University take a pass on promoting athletics -- that seems to be the Ivy League thing to do.

Contrast that with a few other teams that were playing in Dallas last weekend. A booster club for North Carolina State University organized trips and events for the week of the tournament. The same was true for the University of Memphis, which drew several thousand fans to Dallas, in part by driving three buses over that were sponsored by its athletic department. Thousands more came to support the University of Arkansas, thanks to the efforts of the school's Dallas alumni club.

But it was another team from Pennsylvania that really showed up its Ivy League cousin. Bucknell University, in the tournament for just the second time ever, had one of the most organized and vocal followings. More than 500 Bison fans showed up clad in orange waving "Go Bison!" signs that had been distributed.

Back in its hometown of Lewisburg, Pa., there were send-off rallies for the team, which won its first game against Arkansas and lost to Memphis on Sunday. But that didn't dampen the spirit of the fans; they came out for a parade through town to welcome the team back on Tuesday.

At Penn, most people probably didn't even know the tournament was happening or that their school was in it. That fits in with the general level of apathy around here -- those who are fans and do care are the ones who end up being hurt.

Several of them complained to me that the athletic department had done nothing more than sell them tickets to the game and wish them luck getting there. That's the kind of cold attitude we have come to expect from a University administration that would rather be debating racial politics in East Timor than watching its students on the field of competition.

Penn's athletes and fans deserve better than that.

Why not have packages organized for fans -- and especially students -- to travel to the tournament. The University of Montana did just that this year, offering transportation, tickets, two nights lodging and other festivities for $350.

Given its vast resources, Penn could even subsidize part of the cost. After all, the Ivy League will be getting a check from the NCAA for about $160,000 just because Penn played in the tournament. While the league keeps most of that money, whatever ends up in the University's hands ought to go toward making the tournament accessible for fans next year and beyond.

It's the least Penn could do to reward its most loyal fans for their support. I have met many of them traveling with the team throughout the country, from Hawaii to Dartmouth College, over the past few years, and they are as ardent supporters as you will find. Give them credit for cheering -- even if the rest of the school doesn't.

The issue is far bigger than just sports. Penn works so hard as an organization to get its name out there to people who have never heard of it. If only it paid that much attention to those who have worn its colors for years.

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