Palestra: wrestling of the mind
I played college basketball for Dartmouth for four years. That means I had ample opportunity to play in Penn's hallowed Palestra. All of the Ivy League schools had unique, distinctive gymnasia, and they remain sharply etched in my mind. But the Palestra was something else altogether, as though it belonged in a different league, a different world. Entering the vaulted space was intimidating enough by itself, but the fact that the bleachers (in)famously came right down to the edge of the floor, with no separation of the fans from the game, made it all the more nerve-wracking to play there, not to mention that the Penn teams were always extremely well coached and fiercely determined.
Since I do not know of any other sports arena in America that is called by such a classical, Greek sounding name, nor of any other that has such a distinguished history, it would be worth our while to inquire how it became so.
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