{After writing all this down, I realized that I got carried away and had written a book. I'm unapologetic -- if you don't like the dribble I usually post, skip this, you probably won't like it either.}
I wanted to capture a few thoughts on my first season following and attending CU basketball. I've stated before I don't consider myself an expert at the X's and O's of basketball -- this thread/post is about the gameday experience at Coors, not about the team's play. I really think you guys have a great thing going with CU basketball ("Tadball") -- I posted several weeks ago that I followed CU closer this season than my other teams (VT and Wisconsin). I knew I had turned a corner before tip of the UCLA home game when I correctly predicted the starting lineup (first game after Dinwiddie and Fletcher injuries).
First, I love the Coors Event Center! I totally dig the single-level architecture with the big, open concourse all around that allows you to watch the action while waiting in line for concessions or <shun> walking to the exit early. I know some of you complained about the exterior architecture not being cohesive with the rest of campus, but hell, it could be far, far worse. A single level arena will never have the "big time feel" of the Dean-dome or McKale center, but I am not convinced that Coors hurts CU recruiting in the Pac. If I was Boyle (not yet familiar enough to call him by his Christian name), one of my recruiting tools would be showing wide-view still shots of the crowds at home and away games against conference opponents, highlighting the disparity in number of seats occupied (UCLA home vs away would be compelling).
One negative about the CEC: traffic flow in and out of the men's room is less than optimal. Traffic bottlenecks at the sinks, hand drying stations and exits. I'm old enough that these trips take a while already, I don't need further challenges in getting back to my seat before the action starts.
Multiple free parking options within reasonable walking distance help make CU games a very attractive entertainment option. I read b**ching on AB about the wait to get out of campus parking after the games but didn't have problems the two times I parked on campus. Side story -- I once waited (no exaggeration) 75 minutes to get off the top floor of a parking garage after a VT loss at North Carolina, with another couple in the car (they were Tar Heels, of course). We had run out of conversation about half time and the waiting period in the car was incredibly painful.
I picked up on the CU cheers pretty quickly. Not too difficult given that the words "Colorado", "Go", and "Buffs" make up about 75% of the syllables that are longer than one letter. Also, the cheer that goes "D-fence, D-fence" -- we had a similar one back at VT, so that one I learned easily. I also learned that participating in the cheer where you spell "C-O-L-O-R-A-D-O" is best avoided if you're a transplant and less than 100% sober (embarrassing, especially with cheerleaders holding cue cards).
Attendance at CU home games is better than AB'ers give credit for. Last time I looked, we were second best in the Pac, but from the view-point of "percent of arena capacity filled", I think 2013-14 CU attendance can hang with about anyone in the nation. Yes, attendance waned after the injuries but it never dropped below 'respectable' (says the guy whose alma matter drew ~6k per game this year). Considering the plethora of entertainment options in the Boulder area, and Coloradoans' passion for outdoor activities, Buff fans are doing just fine with the home draw at hoops games. The attendance highlight of the year, IMO, was the Georgia game: Saturday night, snowing, students on break, unranked non-conf opponent, absurd number of awesome live music options and a near sell-out for the game -- I was very impressed.
The video presented before team intros with player highlights is about 4x as long as it needs to be. Multiple times, I found myself standing, pumped up, ready to cheer for the starters as they're introduced, and waiting... waiting... waiting.... awkwardly for the video to end with my hands at my sides. Don't try to be the NBA -- shorten the intro and have the student band play something live.
I picked up on the tradition of "stand until Buffs score" at my first game! Not impressive unless you know just how slow I can be getting that sort of stuff. Cool tradition though, if someone wants to give the history/back story, I'm interested.
Side note: when John Elway shows up at CU games, he watches the game and doesn't spend the whole game looking at his phone. This occurred to me following look-ins at Richard Sherman during the Stanford game.
The C-Unit was both praised and damned on this board during the season. No, they're not the Cameron Crazies or the Grateful Red, but considering CU's position in basketball history, I think the C-Unit did their job. Next year I intend to make it over to the student section before tip to see for myself how that organization is seeding the student seats (and find out just what a "BuffChip" is). I know Duke students make this practice into a very organized and well researched endeavor, putting an opposition scouting report "cheat sheet" on every seat in the section so the Crazies sound knowledgeable in their cheers -- this adds to the perception that Duke fans have so much basketball intellect.
Noted on other threads, but the C-Unit got better and better with the fight song as the year went on. I actually caught myself singing/humming the CU fight song to myself while walking back to my car after the ASU game: "shoulder to shoulder, we will fight fight fight...". Jamming the Allman Brothers takes care of that, though.
The CU band is respectable, but of my three teams, Wisconsin's wins the battle of the bands (Jump Around is a shi**y song but a cool tradition). Only criticism that I have of CU's band is the Led Zeppelin medley -- I love Zeppelin, hate medleys -- please play a whole song! I was at a Virginia Cavaliers game a couple years ago and their band busted out Kashmir (I tried to hate on it, but I just couldn't) -- if anyone knows someone in the CU band, pass this along, I'm sure they were hoping for advice from a transplanted redneck with no formal musical training.
The Tuba Dance. Maybe not my favorite part of game day and I started to say more, but VT fans do the Hokie Pokie at our home games and we are aren't in a position to criticize another school's song and dance traditions. Except for NC State -- they play Duran Duran's Hungry Like a Wolf after a football win -- I'll make fun of that every time, even while looking retarded shaking my leg all about.
Posted before, but stating again as it could come in handy for some of you guys -- wearing another team's colors at Coors will keep you off the kiss-cam!
Back East, at football and basketball games, schools sell soft drinks in "collectible" plastic cups featuring team graphics. I was kinda bummed that my collection of cups stopped growing after moving out here and had moments during a few games wondering why the university was passing on a marketing opportunity (not something that CU passes on very often, from my experience as a parent). Then I actually paid attention to the video board during a timeout where they played a video featuring recycling/composting efforts on campus. This caused me to remember that I'm in Boulder and I guess that distributing drinks in non-compostable cups is probably illegal (what's the expression, "25 square miles surrounded by reality"?).
The lineup cards. I've never been to a regular season college hoops game that handed out lineup sheets/cards as well done as those at CU. Never mind the graphics on the front, which are usually first class (OSU game featuring the Spirit Squad seniors still sticks out), I'm most impressed with the back content and even started making a point to show up early enough to read the card. Impressive that the info isn't just a data dump -- it's intelligent prose, written by someone who apparently follows the team week to week, does their research and summarizes exactly what a fan needs to know to get the most out of the game. Granted, the info is a day old (e.g. at the UW game there was no mention of Gordon's injury), but that's very understandable. I'm the kind of geek who likes to read the online game previews before the games, especially if I'm attending, but the lineup card really replaced the need for that. If anyone knows the party responsible for those, please let me know -- they deserve some praise. Of course, you hippies should realize that trees died to make those cards...
CU fans. No issues -- most everyone at the games seems cool and welcoming. People act civilly, even standing in line waiting to get through security and out of the bitter cold. I don't recall ever sitting next to fans at a CU game where I felt an urge to get away (which probably means I was the guy that everyone else wanted to get away from). CU didn't get a ton of visiting fans, but from what I saw, the few that showed were treated well enough, despite the CU reputation (maybe encouraged on AB) of being disrespectful towards opposing fans and teams. W/R/T home team loyalty, I never saw the CEC crowd "turn on the team"; despite reports to the contrary, I don't believe I ever heard the CU crowd boo at the CU team (reference Utah game discussion, IIRC). I never heard heckling at a CU game that called out opposing players. Following an opponent injury, CU fans always seemed respectful by standing and clapping as the hurt player hobbles off the court. Some heckling of the ref's, but nothing beyond what I've heard at every other college hoops venue (except Duke, oddly enough). Most of you that I talked with are incredibly passionate about the Buffs, knowledgeable about the team, and seem to be great sports fans. I envy those of you who were around for the 1990 football season.
Last thought, I wish I had gotten this excited about CU hoops earlier in the year and made the road trips to CSU and AFA: I miss rooting for my teams while in enemy territory. After the UA home game (which I didn't make), I actually considered (for about 9 seconds) making the trip to Salt Lake City and realized our closest conference road trip is ~8 hours! That's too far for a regular season hoops game, by my standards (I've driven 8 hours for football though). I hope the Buffs have some road-tripable games next year, but I guess AFA and CSU will be at Coors, so not sure. First order searching didn't yield anything about contracts CU has for future hoops seasons, if anyone has a link, please post (maybe UNC or DU, even New Mexico I'd consider).
I wanted to capture a few thoughts on my first season following and attending CU basketball. I've stated before I don't consider myself an expert at the X's and O's of basketball -- this thread/post is about the gameday experience at Coors, not about the team's play. I really think you guys have a great thing going with CU basketball ("Tadball") -- I posted several weeks ago that I followed CU closer this season than my other teams (VT and Wisconsin). I knew I had turned a corner before tip of the UCLA home game when I correctly predicted the starting lineup (first game after Dinwiddie and Fletcher injuries).
First, I love the Coors Event Center! I totally dig the single-level architecture with the big, open concourse all around that allows you to watch the action while waiting in line for concessions or <shun> walking to the exit early. I know some of you complained about the exterior architecture not being cohesive with the rest of campus, but hell, it could be far, far worse. A single level arena will never have the "big time feel" of the Dean-dome or McKale center, but I am not convinced that Coors hurts CU recruiting in the Pac. If I was Boyle (not yet familiar enough to call him by his Christian name), one of my recruiting tools would be showing wide-view still shots of the crowds at home and away games against conference opponents, highlighting the disparity in number of seats occupied (UCLA home vs away would be compelling).
One negative about the CEC: traffic flow in and out of the men's room is less than optimal. Traffic bottlenecks at the sinks, hand drying stations and exits. I'm old enough that these trips take a while already, I don't need further challenges in getting back to my seat before the action starts.
Multiple free parking options within reasonable walking distance help make CU games a very attractive entertainment option. I read b**ching on AB about the wait to get out of campus parking after the games but didn't have problems the two times I parked on campus. Side story -- I once waited (no exaggeration) 75 minutes to get off the top floor of a parking garage after a VT loss at North Carolina, with another couple in the car (they were Tar Heels, of course). We had run out of conversation about half time and the waiting period in the car was incredibly painful.
I picked up on the CU cheers pretty quickly. Not too difficult given that the words "Colorado", "Go", and "Buffs" make up about 75% of the syllables that are longer than one letter. Also, the cheer that goes "D-fence, D-fence" -- we had a similar one back at VT, so that one I learned easily. I also learned that participating in the cheer where you spell "C-O-L-O-R-A-D-O" is best avoided if you're a transplant and less than 100% sober (embarrassing, especially with cheerleaders holding cue cards).
Attendance at CU home games is better than AB'ers give credit for. Last time I looked, we were second best in the Pac, but from the view-point of "percent of arena capacity filled", I think 2013-14 CU attendance can hang with about anyone in the nation. Yes, attendance waned after the injuries but it never dropped below 'respectable' (says the guy whose alma matter drew ~6k per game this year). Considering the plethora of entertainment options in the Boulder area, and Coloradoans' passion for outdoor activities, Buff fans are doing just fine with the home draw at hoops games. The attendance highlight of the year, IMO, was the Georgia game: Saturday night, snowing, students on break, unranked non-conf opponent, absurd number of awesome live music options and a near sell-out for the game -- I was very impressed.
The video presented before team intros with player highlights is about 4x as long as it needs to be. Multiple times, I found myself standing, pumped up, ready to cheer for the starters as they're introduced, and waiting... waiting... waiting.... awkwardly for the video to end with my hands at my sides. Don't try to be the NBA -- shorten the intro and have the student band play something live.
I picked up on the tradition of "stand until Buffs score" at my first game! Not impressive unless you know just how slow I can be getting that sort of stuff. Cool tradition though, if someone wants to give the history/back story, I'm interested.
Side note: when John Elway shows up at CU games, he watches the game and doesn't spend the whole game looking at his phone. This occurred to me following look-ins at Richard Sherman during the Stanford game.
The C-Unit was both praised and damned on this board during the season. No, they're not the Cameron Crazies or the Grateful Red, but considering CU's position in basketball history, I think the C-Unit did their job. Next year I intend to make it over to the student section before tip to see for myself how that organization is seeding the student seats (and find out just what a "BuffChip" is). I know Duke students make this practice into a very organized and well researched endeavor, putting an opposition scouting report "cheat sheet" on every seat in the section so the Crazies sound knowledgeable in their cheers -- this adds to the perception that Duke fans have so much basketball intellect.
Noted on other threads, but the C-Unit got better and better with the fight song as the year went on. I actually caught myself singing/humming the CU fight song to myself while walking back to my car after the ASU game: "shoulder to shoulder, we will fight fight fight...". Jamming the Allman Brothers takes care of that, though.
The CU band is respectable, but of my three teams, Wisconsin's wins the battle of the bands (Jump Around is a shi**y song but a cool tradition). Only criticism that I have of CU's band is the Led Zeppelin medley -- I love Zeppelin, hate medleys -- please play a whole song! I was at a Virginia Cavaliers game a couple years ago and their band busted out Kashmir (I tried to hate on it, but I just couldn't) -- if anyone knows someone in the CU band, pass this along, I'm sure they were hoping for advice from a transplanted redneck with no formal musical training.
The Tuba Dance. Maybe not my favorite part of game day and I started to say more, but VT fans do the Hokie Pokie at our home games and we are aren't in a position to criticize another school's song and dance traditions. Except for NC State -- they play Duran Duran's Hungry Like a Wolf after a football win -- I'll make fun of that every time, even while looking retarded shaking my leg all about.
Posted before, but stating again as it could come in handy for some of you guys -- wearing another team's colors at Coors will keep you off the kiss-cam!
Back East, at football and basketball games, schools sell soft drinks in "collectible" plastic cups featuring team graphics. I was kinda bummed that my collection of cups stopped growing after moving out here and had moments during a few games wondering why the university was passing on a marketing opportunity (not something that CU passes on very often, from my experience as a parent). Then I actually paid attention to the video board during a timeout where they played a video featuring recycling/composting efforts on campus. This caused me to remember that I'm in Boulder and I guess that distributing drinks in non-compostable cups is probably illegal (what's the expression, "25 square miles surrounded by reality"?).
The lineup cards. I've never been to a regular season college hoops game that handed out lineup sheets/cards as well done as those at CU. Never mind the graphics on the front, which are usually first class (OSU game featuring the Spirit Squad seniors still sticks out), I'm most impressed with the back content and even started making a point to show up early enough to read the card. Impressive that the info isn't just a data dump -- it's intelligent prose, written by someone who apparently follows the team week to week, does their research and summarizes exactly what a fan needs to know to get the most out of the game. Granted, the info is a day old (e.g. at the UW game there was no mention of Gordon's injury), but that's very understandable. I'm the kind of geek who likes to read the online game previews before the games, especially if I'm attending, but the lineup card really replaced the need for that. If anyone knows the party responsible for those, please let me know -- they deserve some praise. Of course, you hippies should realize that trees died to make those cards...
CU fans. No issues -- most everyone at the games seems cool and welcoming. People act civilly, even standing in line waiting to get through security and out of the bitter cold. I don't recall ever sitting next to fans at a CU game where I felt an urge to get away (which probably means I was the guy that everyone else wanted to get away from). CU didn't get a ton of visiting fans, but from what I saw, the few that showed were treated well enough, despite the CU reputation (maybe encouraged on AB) of being disrespectful towards opposing fans and teams. W/R/T home team loyalty, I never saw the CEC crowd "turn on the team"; despite reports to the contrary, I don't believe I ever heard the CU crowd boo at the CU team (reference Utah game discussion, IIRC). I never heard heckling at a CU game that called out opposing players. Following an opponent injury, CU fans always seemed respectful by standing and clapping as the hurt player hobbles off the court. Some heckling of the ref's, but nothing beyond what I've heard at every other college hoops venue (except Duke, oddly enough). Most of you that I talked with are incredibly passionate about the Buffs, knowledgeable about the team, and seem to be great sports fans. I envy those of you who were around for the 1990 football season.
Last thought, I wish I had gotten this excited about CU hoops earlier in the year and made the road trips to CSU and AFA: I miss rooting for my teams while in enemy territory. After the UA home game (which I didn't make), I actually considered (for about 9 seconds) making the trip to Salt Lake City and realized our closest conference road trip is ~8 hours! That's too far for a regular season hoops game, by my standards (I've driven 8 hours for football though). I hope the Buffs have some road-tripable games next year, but I guess AFA and CSU will be at Coors, so not sure. First order searching didn't yield anything about contracts CU has for future hoops seasons, if anyone has a link, please post (maybe UNC or DU, even New Mexico I'd consider).
