GoGoRaleigh's Dana McCall fired off an excellent rebuttal to Caulton Tudor's meandering piece on the RBC Center, Wolfpack basketball and Herb Sendek (?) with his piece entitled "RBC Center Filling Fine."
Is Mickey McCarthy back from the dead? Today’s News & Observer Sports section features a hit-piece on the RBC Center by Caulton Tudor. The article implies that NCSU’s basketball attendance in the RBC Center is so poor, that NCSU should have stayed in Reynolds. It offers historical recounts by Tom Fetzer, Herb Sendek, and perennial Play-In-Game mastermind Les Robinson. When the RBC Center was merely a proposed project, each said that the planned building was too big, and NCSU basketball would suffer. Unfortunately the arguments put forth by these three as well as Tudor, ignore key factors and give weight to irrelevant ones.Perhaps the best part of the piece is where he counters Tudor's blatant inclusion of second-hand quotes from Herb Sendek with this:
So why did average attendance during Sendek’s tenure fall so far short of the capacity of his ideal building? Probably because of Herb’s inability to recruit more than a handful of potential NBA players, his persistent scheduling of irrelevant non-conference foes, and the playing style of his teams. Upon Sendek’s departure his supporters said that Herb will finally go “somewhere he is appreciated”. Really? If Arizona State is that place, then why did only 7,948 bother to show up for last week’s game against Baylor? Why did only 6,800 people show up for the Arkansas-Pine-Bluff game just after the team had taken Duke to the bitter end on national television? Those numbers would make Reynolds look cavernous. On TV, his 14,000-seat arena looked absurd.
Glad someone's finally paying attention to this subject. ;)
ReplyDeleteDana is a guy.
ReplyDeleteDana is a dude, FYI. (also a most excellent dentist!)
ReplyDeleteYep, I caught it right before I published it, after writing it assuming Dana was a woman. I went back, changed (what I thought were) all the instances of she, her, and whatnot but missed they very first one.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most comment traffic I've gotten in a while, though...maybe I should mistake dentists for chicks more often. ;)
SHE'S A HE!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteJust making sure you knew that.
Great rebuttal to a definite hit piece from Tudor.
ReplyDeleteEven a Carolina fan that I work with said he saw that and wondered what the point was?
Let's keep this thing going. I bet I can hit a baker's dozen by 5:00.
ReplyDeleteI think you should somehow be able to craft a joke about Herb Sendek's offense and root canals.
ReplyDeleteTBK: Yeah, Dana is a UNC grad. When the UNC dentists are flocking to your cause, you know the article in question is off-base.
ReplyDeleteHere come's comment dix!
ReplyDelete10 reasons I HATE the move to RBC.
ReplyDelete1. We have a stadium named after a Canadian bank. Yeah, it got bought out, but still, it is ridiculous.
2. They didn't move the noise meter.
3. Quiet atmosphere that has just as much to do with the cavernous space and abundance of cloth seating as it does with attendance.
4. Students are farther from the floor.
5. Students have fewer seats (at least they did when the change over was made) than Reynolds. It even had fewer than Cameron Indoor!
6. Obnoxious company ads all the time.
7. The Canadian flag is more prominent than the #44 jersey.
8. There are seats where you can't even see the national championship banner.
9. Off campus.
10. We play second fiddle to a hockey team in our most important teams' stadium!
11. Starting with the move to ESA/RBC, students were no longer allowed to pick up chairs and waive them.
I couldn't keep myself to 10. Ugh. I hated the move then and I hate it now.
ESA is "just another new stadium". It has no real atmosphere. And, coupled with a lack of winning and the fiasco that destroyed campouts, severely hurt the b-ball program's aura around campus.
We used to have the louder, bigger, brick version of Cameron Indoor... which is lauded as being the best place to watch a game. Had we left it for the Camden Yards of new basketball stadiums that was primarily ours and retained the elements of charm from the old stadium (noise meter), then I would be happy. Instead we went for the plainest nice stadium we could possibly build, selling out to a pro team that would take over the whole darn building (except we fly our flags outside in the parking lot).
And did I complain about the noise meter?
Quiet atmosphere? are you kidding. The RBC was rated the loudest building in the NHL. It's not the building. seriously, it's NOT the building.
ReplyDeletewhy is it okay to have Carter-Finely off campus, but not basketball? I don't get it. Do you want to still be paying at Riddick Field, too?
but i miss the noise meter, too (even if it was fake).
Isn't being rated the loudest building in the NHL comparable to being rated "thinest fat chick"?
ReplyDeleteit's better than being labeled a "wine and cheese" crowd.
ReplyDeleteand fat chicks need love, too.
Just win on a consistent basis and all this goes away... when the product on the court begins to match the product from the 70's and 80's then new lasting memories will be created. Right now the building's only lasting moments are the Stanley Cup year for the Canes in '06 and a few memorable wins over Carolina, Wake, and Duke.
ReplyDeleteA bigger question and solution to the problem would be to aggressively try to upgrade the OOC home schedule to include more than just one or two marquee match ups. People are tired of paying money for season tix to see joe blow state university with a rpi killer of 356 limp into the RBC. Upgrade that to a mid major from the Ohio Valley Conference or a major BCS team and it would improve attendance and prepare us for conference play. I think the schedule this year has done a good job of that.
Just win baby
ReplyDeleteexactly right...whenever UNC goes thru down trodden years if ever...they will struggle to get there building full as well
ReplyDeleteStating the obvious here--we have played too many Cal Poly's and not enought UCLA's to draw a crowd and and have been either too boring or terrible to watch otherwise.
ReplyDeleteSlackZac, I have been to hockey games in the ESA. And yes, they are louder than the basketball games. But, they don't come close to comparing with Reynolds or Cameron.
ReplyDeleteAs for playing in Riddick vs. CF... there aren't as many downsides to CF as there are for the ESA. To start with, football plays significantly fewer games, and are all-day events, which is in stark contrast to basketball. Thus, I am in favor of CF as opposed to Riddick.
As for the noise meter, the old one wasn't fake. It made no claim to measure decibels. But, it did measure actual noise level as judged by someone. The new one is just a video like the ones used by every other stadium in the world.
And that is my core issue with the ESA. It is the Fulton County Stadium of arenas as opposed to being the Camden Yards or Three River Stadium of arenas. It has no character. It has no unique atmosphere. It doesn't even feel like a college stadium. And, it is depressing. You walk in to see Hurricanes memorabilia all over the place. Even the NC State merchandise sales are relegated to secondary areas.
I was psyched for the ESA when I went to the first game. But, after experiencing the first game, all hopes were dashed. I have hated the move to ESA ever since.
I do like going to concerts there though. Its a great building for the NHL and for concerts.
But, as the arena for a college basketball programs with one of the richest histories in the country, it fails miserably.
"I have been to hockey games in the ESA. And yes, they are louder than the basketball games. But, they don't come close to comparing with Reynolds or Cameron."
ReplyDeleteI've been to both. Nothing will ever compare to being in the playoffs during the 2006 run. nothing. it was so loud i almost couldn't stand it. The loudest I can recall at Reyolds was when we played Duke when Coach V made his speech before the game. That first half was raucous. the 2nd half sucked however. And that wasn't even close to the same decibel level.
I can't argue with the "atmosphere" aspect though. We do share it with an NHL franchise and that's just something we'll have to live with. but I think winning will solve everything. NC State has had no success since it's moved. If we can win some important games there and hang some banners, it will become more like a home for basketball. The Hurricanes have had success there and that's why it seems more like a "hockey arena" right now.
I think the RBC is an awesome place to watch both basketball and hockey. The NCAA agrees, since they've scheduled tournament games there. NC State just needs to give everyone a reason to finally see it as one.
and it sounds to me like you've made up your mind about the RBC. that's a shame. i hope you can change your mind about it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there were people who felt the same way about Riddick. "How can you move the football team to someplace so far away? no one will ever want to go there! it's in the middle of a cow pasture for goodness sakes!!"
that attitude has obviously changed... so maybe there's still hope for the RBC.