But this column is not about my being right. Well, not
completely. It's about what it was like to be in the Stadium for the games.
Except for the long shorts, everything that's great about
college basketball has been great for generations. It's played by kids who
sometimes are poised and sometimes make mistakes that kids make. Many fans
actually know the players on the teams. Anyone who has even a remote connection
with the school and team is allowed to go crazy for a little while. The
cheerleaders do the same cheers they've always done in the same outfits they've
always worn. The games are close. You can see the players shout with joy and cry
with despair.
Unfortunately, a great many people who were at the games
this weekend didn't get to see many of these things that are such an important
part of college basketball. They were too far away. The place was just way too
big. The AT&T Stadium (formerly Cowboy Stadium) isn't a typical basketball
gym. About 79,000 people were there for each of the three games. 79,000 for a
basketball game! It's not exactly Hinkle
Fieldhouse. Gene Hackman would have had a hell of a time convincing his team
that it's no different from their gym at home.
In other words, every single resident of Storrs, Connecticut
– the home of UConn – could have brought four friends along, and they all could
have fit into the Stadium. And there still would have been room for Yukon
Jack's Hilltop Grill and the Storrs Museum of Puppetry.
Do you like flat screen TVs? They've got one in the Stadium
that is 160 by 72 feet. If you go to Best Buy to purchase one of these,
remember that the size is measured diagonally.
They sold the seats at the very top of the arena. You didn't
need an usher to help you to those seats. You needed a Sherpa. What could those
fans possibly see from up there? They couldn't see the dunks, the blocks, or
the steals. They couldn't see the expressions on the faces of the players and
coaches. Furthermore, there should be an NCAA rule that states no seats may be
sold that are so far away from the court that fans can't distinguish between
the cheerleaders and the players. Presidents Bush and Clinton were there, but I
doubt if those with bad seats could even see them on the Giant TV. So thousands
of fans missed the very things that are great about college basketball.
If they hadn't read and believed my correct prediction,
(which once again, may be found at http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/24513222/heres-the-most-scientific-way-to-pick-a-final-four-winner
), they might not have found out who won the game until they got home.
Before Wisconsin's semifinal (but after practicing at
AT&T), Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky said, "It's an insane venue. It kind
of feels like you're outside…"
Why do they hold these games in such a cavernous place with
so many awful seats? For the same reason that they charge five bucks for a
bottle of water. Greed.
There's an old saying that goes, "Everything is bigger
in Texas." However, it would've been much bigger of the NCAA if they had
played these games in a smaller place.
Just as a postscript, one of the times that they cut to the two
former Presidents on the oversized screen, I'm pretty sure I read Bush's lips
asking Clinton, "Where is Lloyd sitting?" I could be wrong
about that. Then again, I could be right. It's happened before.
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