penn relays photo journal: this is the end

The 114th Penn Relays is history. I already can't wait til next year, but let's have one last look...





Now, of course, it's time for this:

a penn relays funny

So I'm sitting next to an old-timer while typing away and listening to a press conference following the USA vs. the World women's 4 x 100. After one of the women said the team "had good chemistry," the old-timer leaned over to me and said, in a way only old-timers can say, "Chemistry? They shouldn't use that word in track and field. Marion Jones had chemistry." Indeed she did. And we all know what happened to her.

penn relays photo journal: around and about

The fans -- especially the Jamaicans -- go wild during the USA vs. the World women's sprint medley relay. If you've been to any big sporting event, you've heard noise. But you've never heard noise like this...

So.
Effing.
Cool.



A view of the stands from the paddock area:



When batons get exchanged, as in this heat of the high school boys 4 x 400, it's M-A-D-N-E-S-S:



A view of Woo Corner from the opposite side of the stadium:



Woo Corner, from another angle:



So you're hungry for a Jamaican beef patty? Better get in line...



A view of press row, from the front of press row:

penn relays photo journal: some random stuff

What's cool about track and field is how, when broken down, it's sport at its purest: sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers who possess speed and balanced strength, frail-looking distance runners with remarkable endurance, and throwers who are just big and beefy -- and that's just the women (ba-dum-CHING!). Anyway, here's a bunch of big high school dudes waiting to throw the discus on the fields just below the train tracks. Just 'cause.



So many athletes, so few places to stay loose or to warm up: many run through the city streets, zig-zagging around puzzled pedestrians, while others come here, to Penn's old baseball field beneath the train tracks:



The Jamaicans are coming! The Jamaicans are coming!

penn relays photo journal: day three begins

Ah, Saturday at the Penn Relays -- what just might be the best day of the year. Today's the day Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Pittsburgh's own Lauryn Williams and many other Olympic-caliber runners will compete, and the joint will be packed and amped up like crazy. The skies are gray, which means it might rain, but The Show Must Go On, rain or shine. To kick things off, here's a photo (taken from the end of the Walnut Street Bridge) of the Palestra, located just next to Franklin Field. The Palestra, to me, is one of the most sacred structures in the city -- a simple gymnasium that doubles as a veritable museum of Philly college hoops. In other words, a House of Awesome.



Much to watch. More to come...

penn relays photo journal: it ain't always pretty

Plenty of athletes here give it their all. Some literally so, like this poor guy who had just come off the track following the college men's distance medley relay:

penn relays photo journal: protests?

It wouldn't be an event on an Ivy League campus without a good old-fashioned protest, right? This was taken this afternoon on 33rd Street, just across the street from Franklin Field:



Upon closer inspection, however, it was discovered these student-agitators were in fact raising money to fight malaria. Oops. My bad. Though I still reserve the right to make fun of them for making signs that were impossible to read from more than two feet away.

penn relays photo journal: moving around the stadium

A view from the famous Woo Corner, right at the final turn before the homestretch:



From the life of kings' seat on press row, a view of Michigan crossing the finish line just in front of Tennessee to defend its title in the college women's Championship of America 4 x 1,500:



More to come...

penn relays photo journal: day two begins

At 9:04 a.m., hundreds of athletes wait outside the Palestra to check in:



And if you care to read the appreciation of the Penn Relays I wrote for today's editions of The Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer of Doylestown, click here.

Or don't.

More to come...

penn relays photo journal: just a thought

Of all the cool things to see and hear here, among the best is when the public address announcer reads off a list of college teams competing in the same heat. The late Jack O'Reilly, a thin little old man with a booming baritone, totally blew me away the first time I heard him do it a few years back. (The New York Times once described O'Reilly's voice as having "crisp, rich tones [that] evoke images of royalty.") Today, Burton T. Richie, who now handles the duties for most of the big college races, read off the list of the first group of college women's 4 x 100s, and it just sounded cool:

Georgia Tech, Georgetown, Florida Atlantic, Penn, Cornell, Harvard, LSU, UConn, Coastal Carolina...

Only at the Penn Relays.

penn relays photo journal: back on the infield

The scoreboard is pretty cool:



4x400s, as seen from just next to the long jump pit:



More to come...

penn relays photo journal: some views outside the stadium

They contest the javelin outside the stadium here, on a field just below the South Street Bridge. Dig how all of the officials wear red hats, white button-downs, striped ties and yellow khakis. When it's colder out, they even sport blue blazers. Like olden times -- classy and important-looking. And way cool.



The walk back from the javelin pit takes you right along the Schuylkill Expressway and provides a gorgeous view of the Center City skyline. A better photographer might have snapped this without the backs of those signposts being in the way. But I'm not a better photographer.



Just outside the stadium, it's a carnival of people and humming activity. All day long.



More to come...

penn relays photo journal: and so it begins

The 114th running of the Penn Relays began today at ol' Franklin Field in West Philly, and the life of kings was there to take in the awesome. Rather than try (with futility) to put this town's greatest annual sports spectacle into words, I've instead decided to pass along exclusive cell phone photos, at least as often as time permits (riveting, I know). According to an organizer, there are approximately 4,000 relay teams, 2,500 individual competitors, 900 high schools and 240 colleges registered to compete this year. And come Saturday, when 50,000 people will pack this place, the Olympic-caliber athletes will blaze across the track as folks in the stands -- including thousands of raucous Jamaicans -- wave flags, chant and scream as if they were at a rock concert. The Penn Relays has everything: history, tradition, great crowds and a wonderful setting. You really have to see it to believe it, even if you care not a wit about track and field.

The day is just beginning. The weather is perfect. To be here on a morning like this makes you feel like God is in a good mood.



The madcap paddock area, where the runners are literally herded before they take the track. The races begin early and go all day, with clockwork precision. Somehow, they find a way to keep it all organized.



More to come...