Merriam-Webster defines atmosphere as a “surrounding influence or environment.”
Working from that definition, the recently concluded Ivy League Tournament was a huge success.
With 2,633 occupying the 2,800-seat John J. Lee Amphitheater, the fans were treated to some very special games which created quite an atmosphere.
Attorney Ed Walsh from New Haven, a Yale fan for years, noted that, “Since Bill Bradley I haven’t seen the atmosphere at a basketball game here like this. It is a Yale-Harvard football atmosphere.”
Aimee Monroe, mother of Yale point guard Eric Monroe, made the trip from California and said, “Great energy. Full of tradition.The way college basketball should be.”
Ultimate women’s basketball guru Mel Greenberg, the founder of the first women’s top 25 poll, was impressed with everything about the event and was spot on by saying that,”Having Penn and Princeton, we had what we would have had in a playoff if there had not been a tournament.’
Yale and Penn fans came out in droves and there were scalpers on the street for the Sunday finals. That rarely, if ever happens with Ivy basketball.
The Yale and Ivy staffs did a magnificent job in turning a Yale building into a truly neutral facility, from the huge logo on the floor to the pictures of Ivy players past on the walls.
The torch has been passed to Harvard and Lavietes Pavilion to replicate the action in 2020.
Thanks for a great perspective
Mr. Walsh has great knowledge on all matters.
I did not realize 2500 fans could sound like 15000. Fun place this weekend for sure.
Sounds like a great atmosphere. I’ll bet at least 2,500 people were there just to see rhe legend, Ed Walsh. Also, I though Richard Kent, a women’s basketball expert, should have been quoted in this article.