Sad news

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I unfortunately have to interrupt all of the good discussion about marketing, the line, recruits etc., to bring some sad news.

At today's local football coaches luncheon, Jonathan Tannenwald was told that Dan "Coach Lake" Staffieri is in bad health and there's a chance he will not return to the sidelines at all this year.

Staffieri's official title is "game-day coordinator" which boils down to the emotional leader of the team. During every game he wears the 12 Ivy championship rings he's won in his 32 years at Penn as he leads the student section in cheers such as "Ivy what?", "Champs!" and "How you doing? Oh very well!"

The Villanova game this past Saturday felt weird without him. It's a real shame he wasn't there, since the jam-packed student section would've gone crazy with him leading the chants. (On that note, I'd like to apologize for joking that he didn't attend since it was past his bedtime. Obviously if I had known the real reason I wouldn't have made that comment.)

From all of us here at the DP, let's hope this Penn legend recovers.