Arena #117: The Palestra - Pennsylvania vs. Lafayette

Fifth game in five days brought me to one of my remaining two bucket list venues; the Palestra in Philly for a matchup between the Pennsylvania Quakers and the Lafayette Leopards.  When one thinks of college basketball history, three venues probably come to mind immediately: Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas, Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke, and the Palestra.  I myself would add Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler to that list as well.  Anyhow, since this was my first visit to Philly, a visit to the Palestra was a must, even if the game being attended was likely going to be subpar.  It’s amazing the feeling you get walking into such a venue with so much history and that was before checking out all the history displayed on the walls and in cases throughout the concourse!  As for the game itself, it wasn’t one of the more competitive affairs I’ve ever seen, but was fun to see the Quakers lighting it up from 3 early and often throughout the contest.  It was also awesome to have scored some pretty affordable second row seats at such an historic venue, but wasn’t too surprising when the crowd probably numbered in the hundreds on a Tuesday night for this contest... 

Outside the historic Palestra

Decades of history captured on the walls throughout the concourse

Spacious, but cozy seating bowl with banners honoring all the Philly Big 5 schools

Pregame introductions inside the historic Palestra

Lafayette taking it to the hoop and getting rejected!