Things to Do Before I Die: Watch a Basketball Game at The Palestra

One of the (very) few colleges that recruited me to play football when I was in high school was The University of Pennsylvania. Of course, for a big-time prospect like me, being "recruited" meant that they sent me a letter, an assistant coach shook my hand at school, I sent them a film, and then I never heard from them again.

Still, I was a senior in high school the year that Penn went to the Final Four. Their football coaching staff hadn't dropped me like a bad habit yet, so I remember rooting for them. I guess it was about that time that I started to hear about the magic of The Palestra, an 80-year old, 8,700 seat arena that serves as the home court not only for Penn, but hosts all of the games between any of Philadelphia's Big Five basketball programs (Penn, LaSalle, St. Joe's, Villanova and Temple).

If you want to get a sense for why The Palestra is so special, read this interview with a woman who played basketball for Penn and made a documentary about it called The Palestra: Cathedral of College Basketball.

I've actually been by The Palestra many times. I've got a bunch of relatives who attended St. Joe's, and they've been there many times for games. I've never attended a game there, but it's definitely on my "before I die" list.