You want a hockey atmosphere for Wolfpack basketball, Lee?

You reap what you sew. How many times have we heard that expression? I remember back in the fall of 1994, when I first arrived on N.C. State's campus. A lot of things happened that year, both in the real world, and in my own personal one. Oh to be an 18 year old kid again!! Anyway, the thing I remember most about that year was camping out for tickets to the home tilt against Carolina.

I got two tickets, one for me, and for my (now former) brother in law. He was a UNC fan. We sat in the "end zone" about midway up the student section. You could not have sat down during that game if you wanted to. It was crazy. The atmosphere was phenomenal. The noise level was insane. Lakista McCuller hit 3 after 3, and Rasheed and the boys took the big upset.

Fast forward to sophomore year. The game was Duke. We camped out once more, and got the absolute best seats in the house. Front row, midcourt. It was nuts. The crowd was about as raucous as you can get. All 12,500 people in the building went crazy the entire game, which Duke won. But it's the student section, surrounding the floor, and so close you could almost reach out and touch the hardwood, that made it what it was. Of course, that was in Reynolds.

I'll never forget those games in Reynolds. I went to as many games as I could, and now I cherish those memories like no other. Yes, our team stunk. We were in the midst of the Les years, and the lack of talent was tremendous. You wouldn't have known it, though, if you only observed the crowd. You would have thought State was the best team in the land. That's how we carried ourselves. That's how we cheered for our team, with chants that carried the crowd, and didn't get lost in the rafters. That's what this team needs to recover.

Here is what I think we should do. We need to rethink the entire home schedule. We need to rethink the entire revenue streaming process. We need to rethink the season ticket process. Throw it all away. Our current system is now obsolete, if my plan takes effect.

Each year, we play the other Big 4 schools in Reynolds. I know, I know. 6,000 less seats. That's a lot of lost ticket sales, and a lot of lost concession sales. Charge a $10 premium, per game, per seat, for these contests. No one will mind paying the extra money to get to watch these games in Reynolds. The student tickets are give aways already, so they don't matter. Then, with the remaining ACC games, you alternate each year what games will be in Reynolds, and what games will be in the RBC Center. Maybe one out of 4 years each school gets played in Reynolds. All non-conference games are played at the RBC Center. Only ACC schools should have the honor of hitting those floors.

We would be the first school to recognize that moving to a new arena was a mistake as far as atmosphere is concerned. To me, it's not worth the extra money to give up the experience that was Reynolds. I love the RBC Center, it's a great place to watch a game. It will never be Reynolds, though. You don't get that nostalgic feeling when you enter the RBC Center. You don't see DT, Googs, or even Todd Fuller's ghost gliding down the court. It will take time to build that, I know. My question, however, is whether or not it's worth it.

So, Mr. Fowler, if you want to get that "hockey" atmosphere for your precious Wolfpack basketball games, you are going to have to do two things. One, you have to build a winning team, which is going to take time. I think Lowe will do a good job, no reason to think that he will not. The fact that he is scratching that awful "no-ffense" that Herb ran will be a big boost. It's hard to get into a game if your falling asleep. It's not going to happen overnight, though. In the interim, play some home games at Reynolds. Yes, it will drop overall revenue, but look at what it could gain you. You can't measure the intangibles that having these kids play in Reynolds would provide.

More to come.....

Busy week for me....

so I haven't been able to post like I would like to. I have a few things I want to address, though, so I'll tap into them a little bit here, and hopefully expand on them later.

It's all my fault that the Canes didn't wrap it up last night. We had visitors at work, that I had to help entertain, and thus my usual activities suffered. No new pucks in the freezer, no kielbasa over the fence, and no win for the Canes. I'll dig deeper into that later.

The Mets are going to win the World Series. More to come.

Tiger, and why he is about to go on a tear.

The NBA. Could I possibly care any less?

NC State basketball, and how to get that feel that Fowler so badly wants. You'll like this one, but the money grubbers at State will not.

Ryan Smyth, and why he should have been pummeled last night.

Okay, that's all I can think of right now as far as topics I want to hit on. I'll hopefully start to fill these up later on today.

Another tragic story of an athlete being stupid.

Okay, two of them, actually. First, let's address JJ Redick. Dude, you are about to be a first round draft pick, why are you driving drunk? Okay, from the reports, you only blew a .11, which really isn't bad. JJ could have had three beers, and he may be screwed there. And seeing as he has a reputation of being able to put them down, as we all could in college, he probably really was good to drive. I honestly mean that, and believe it's possible. It's my main issue with the DWI laws that put so much weight on your blood/alcohol level. Look, my dad weighs like 276 pounds, while I load up a measly 165. I can drink like 8 beers and still be pretty much in control of myself. Would I drive after 8 beers, no. Not because I am worried it's not safe, but because I know I would blow through the roof. My dad, on the other hand, can drink two beers, and be tipsy as all get out. See what I am saying? However, JJ made a very dumb mistake. You never, and the Great One means EVER pull a uey before a check point. You just lost any hope of talking your way out of it, dude. Stupid ass. When I was JJ's age, yes, I drank and drove quite a bit, and I'm not ashamed to say so. I was lucky to get through those years clean as a whistle, however. I was also smart enough to look out for what I was doing, and make the right moves. It's no coincidence. I have friends who were busted for passing out behind the wheel. Not while driving, while parked, but they were still dumb enough to do it. Me? Never caught. I was a 22 year old dumbass, for crying out loud, but I won't be a hypocrite now, and kill him for doing what I did hundreds of times. I will kill him for being stupid, though. A uey? Are you fucking serious? How did this dumbass make it through Duke? I want a full investigation launched into THAT!!

Then we have Big Ben. Dude, I am so sorry for what you are going through now. Would a helmet have helped him out, you're damned right. Would it have saved him all of this? Eh, I don't know, but it couldn't have hurt. He learned his lesson the hard way, though, and my thoughts are with him. I won't kill him for this, but if it were to happen a 2nd time, I would throttle him. Remember, he's a 22 year old kid, who just won the Super Bowl, and is set for life. Of course he feels invincible. Wouldn't all of us? Best of luck to him and his.

Joe Buck, I didn't know you had it in you.

Great article from Joe Buck. Here's the link to "I'm a Caniac"

Group of Death claims first victim.

Looks like the Americans got spanked, judging from the score. A closer look into the stats, though, shows a well-balanced effort that maybe just didn't go their way today. Time of possesion is usually a good stat in soccer, and the US had a 54% edge, last I looked. Oh well, would have been nice to see the game, but work is work. I would love to hear someone who watched the game's take on the performance.

Mexico 3, Iran 1!!

I was worried there, for a little while, that Iran was going to pull a point out of their asses. Is it just me, or is everyone else hoping that Iran loses every game by at least 2 goals?

Anyone else like how the commentators mentioned all the old stone buildings that Hitler used to preach from, and how they got chills when they saw them? They wondered if the Iranians got the same chills. My guess is no, they got chills, but not the same chills. They probably got chills of joy from all the Jewish people slaughtered by Hitler, as they would probably like to do the same to them. Oh, wait, they don't think the Holocaust even happened. What did they say? The millions of Jews who are missing simply left, and didn't return. Nice way of putting it, jackasses.

Go anyone playing Iran!!!!

Game 3 - Spoilers!!!

So Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals went to the Oilers, just as I expected it to. I didn't expect the Canes to still be in the game like they were, and I didn't expect it to be a crap goal that sealed it either. Of course, they should have been up 2 - 0 a long time before that....

Extremely bad effort by the refs. Note to Magoo (I know that's not how you spell it), you are not supposed to decide the outcome of any game, let alone a Stanley Cup Finals game. What the hell was he doing last night? He blew so many calls, for both teams, it was retarded. Would I say that Edmonton got the benefit of most of those calls, yes, but they are the home team, with the storied history.

It was good to see Aaron Ward play well again. Seems like he has had a bad run lately, but last night he looked good to me. The more I watch Commodore play, the more I really like having him on our team. Now, if we could just get a good, physical defenseman, who can really bring the wood, we will be straight. That's really the only thing I think this team is lacking. When Cole is back next year, with Staal and hopefully Ladd on the same line, it will be sick.

It's the World Cup Baby!!!

Oh yes, it's that time of year, er, it's that time of the 4th year that marks the start of the World Cup. While I have spent many an hour playing soccer (I was a 4 year starter for a very crappy high school varsity team, and then I played in CASL leagues for a few years), I have never been big on watching it. Either in person, or on TV. However, the World Cup is different. I absolutely love the World Cup.

I'm not fortunate enough to have HD at home, so I would love to hear if it makes a difference for soccer. There is a huge increase in viewing quality for hockey, so it makes sense to me that it would be the same for soccer.

So, my pick is the obvious one. Brazil. Ronaldo is good, but Ronaldinho is just nuts. Gonna be fun to watch them play together. Germany is always tough, but I don't see anyone beating team Brazil. Brazil opens play on Tuesday against Croatia, and the US opens up on Monday against the Czech Republic.

By the way, this is the best team the US has ever sent to the World Cup, so it will be interesting to see how they fare.

Why I do what I do, on the blog

There were several reasons that I started my blog. It's hard to put your finger on the main one, though. I guess I just really enjoy writing about sports, and giving my opinions on them. Do I think my opinions are better than anyone else's? Not for the most part. I recognize that I don't know everything about anything, and I'll try to make sure that I don't act like I do. We are both here for the same reasons, after all. All I ask is that you know what you are talking about, or be willing to learn. I know that I am, so please feel free to correct me on anything that I am wrong about.