Matt Meltzer: Sports mean more than I thought

Here is an anecdote I am not proud to tell.

As a freshman I vigorously debated with my roommate, Ben Kowitt, the value of admitting athletes to Penn, and I was the one who stubbornly believed that athletes did not have special or worthwhile role at Penn.

However, something changed that year. Perhaps that change occurred when I watched my first game in the Palestra, when the Quakers took on Devin Harris and Wisconsin. Perhaps I began to appreciate athletes differently when I saw Friedrich Ebede sitting in Van Pelt studying much harder than I was. Maybe it was my own thrill of scrambling with the band before 20,000 fans at Franklin Field for Homecoming.

Regardless of when the tipping point occurred, I am now a tremendous proponent of the value and significance of an athletic program to any university, and particularly to Penn.

I have attended hundreds of athletic events from New Haven to New York and Lexington to Dallas with the DP, the band, and as a fan.

Athletics creates opportunities to enjoy the passion of the student body and the larger Penn community. I will always remember three old men wearing plaid pants and blue blazers cheering for the Quakers at Dartmouth. It is a position I hope to find myself in one day.

Athletics can also be a tremendous tool for creating community in a larger setting.

With an undergraduate population of 10,000 students, there are only rare occasions for individual classes to gather, let alone the student body. In the Palestra, thousands of students can simultaneously cheer for the Quaker five. There is no better social circle than visiting friends in section 115.

Moreover, athletics should be reveled in just as we celebrate dance groups, a cappella groups, debate teams and academic award winners. Competition and the desire to perform any task at a high level is admirable. Penn and Ivy athletes have no more incentive to practice than I have incentive to write. I will always be impressed by their examples of dedication and achievement.

Despite the fact that I never earned a varsity letter, Penn athletics defined the nature of the Penn community and the Penn spirit for me. The fields and courts of Penn are where many of my friendships and memories were born. I will never forget the Penn-Princeton basketball comeback in 2005, and will forever treasure the chance to sing the Red and the Blue hundreds of times.

Lastly, I want to take the opportunity to thank you, my readers. Thank you for taking the time to read my articles and columns. And although every column only lists one author, no work is a solitary effort. Thank you to the team of athletes, coaches, support staff, writers and editors who have worked with me over the years for every article I have written.

Matt Meltzer is a 2007 College graduate from Glen Rock, N.J. His e-mail address is meltzerm@sas.upenn.edu.

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