Slinging in the rain

Greetings from Franklin Field, where Yale and Penn are about to play a football game in this spectacular weather.

This morning I was at the Palestra, which is something I haven't been able to say in a while. It wass pouring rain outside, but it was as warm and toasty as ever in there.

I went to watch the Penn basketball team's open scrimmage, which was notable for the debut of freshman guard Malcolm Washington. Yes, he's the son of Denzel Washington.

I also had an eye on guard Darren Smith, who is finally back on the court after a nearly two-year-long injury layoff. He looks healthy, and if he stays that way he will give the Quakers a big boost defensively.

After the scrimmage, I spoke to Penn coach Glen Miller about the state of his team. You should know that he said "things were great great last year" with a knowing smile on his face when I asked him how about how the the team is doing temperamentally.

I also asked Miller about Washington, and he said the Los Angeles native "has an opportunity to make the team."

"Our roster is not final right now," Miller said. "He needs to be an energy guy, a sparkplug guy, and I think to this point in the pre-season he's done that."

You can hear the rest of the interview in the audio player below.

This afternoon, the Penn football is honoring the 1959 Ivy League championship team, and former Penn and Eagles star Chuck Bednarik did a book signing before the game.

I was able to get a few minutes for a video interview with Bednarik, and I'll be putting that together tonight. I'll let you know when it arrives. I'll also check in during the game for a live chat, so be sure to come back here at around 3:30.

Speaking of video features, you've probably noticed that my piece from Big East Media Day hasn't arrived yet. I just finished editing it last night after wrestling with a new computer for the last few days. I'll post it Monday.

There aren't many big college football games on the national landscape this weekend, so we'll skip the Spectacle of the Week poll. The candidates would probably have been Penn State at Michigan, Tennessee at Alabama and TCU at BYU.

The last of those hosted College GameDay this morning, which is notable because ESPN doesn't have any rights to Mountain West football. But it is the only game today between teams ranked in the BCS. It will air on Versus, and it was pretty sly of Chris Fowler to say that it's worth it for you to find the channel.