Atmosphere at K-State

[Blueconn]

Daughter and I were in our seats about 15 minutes before tip-off.

From Kansas City it's a 2 hour straight shot heading west on I-70. Off the highway into Manhattan and 5 more minutes to their convenient, close- by parking lots. Very short walk into facility. In spite of the crowd size the entire process was smooth and fast.

Bramlage is an ideal basketball facility. The steep angle layout means that even the highest seat keeps you acceptably close to the floor and that people in the row directly in front don't block the view at all. Smart. Everything is shiny clean.

Best of all is that probably at least 65% of the 12,500 seats are padded and have seat backs and armrests !

The electronics are loud and dazzling (the age we live in) but they are very smart about lighting during the game. It gets turned way down in the seating area. Nice. Every single staff person was smiling, cheerful, and just plain nice.

We lingered afterward and went down to court level. Saw Danny ! Also encountered 2 older guys wearing bright UConn gear and we chatted. One "yep" and one "dang" told us we weren't visiting with fans from the Land of Steady Habits. Said they were long-time Husky fans because "Geno's girls play the game right." Also that they had actually done a road trip to Gampel and expected cold treatment in Connecticut because "Ya'know, it's the Northeast. But all the people were great." We laughed when a young woman turned around and said "we'd drive all day to get a chance to see Geno."

Oh yeh, we won.

 

[Kibitzer]

Daughter and I were in our seats about 15 minutes before tip-off.

From Kansas City it's a 2 hour straight shot heading west on I-70. Off the highway into Manhattan and 5 more minutes to their convenient, close- by parking lots. Very short walk into facility. In spite of the crowd size the entire process was smooth and fast.

Bramlage is an ideal basketball facility. The steep angle layout means that even the highest seat keeps you acceptably close to the floor and that people in the row directly in front don't block the view at all. Smart. Everything is shiny clean.

Best of all is that probably at least 65% of the 12,500 seats are padded and have seat backs and armrests !

The electronics are loud and dazzling (the age we live in) but they are very smart about lighting during the game. It gets turned way down in the seating area. Nice. Every single staff person was smiling, cheerful, and just plain nice.

We lingered afterward and went down to court level. Saw Danny ! Also encountered 2 older guys wearing bright UConn gear and we chatted. One "yep" and one "dang" told us we weren't visiting with fans from the Land of Steady Habits. Said they were long-time Husky fans because "Geno's girls play the game right." Also that they had actually done a road trip to Gampel and expected cold treatment in Connecticut because "Ya'know, it's the Northeast. But all the people were great." We laughed when a young woman turned around and said "we'd drive all day to get a chance to see Geno."

Oh yeh, we won.

Hmm. Let's see. Just driving from Hartford to Gampel is a bitch. Narrow 195, then a torturous drive through the campus to the parking garage. (I'll skip the fees for tix and parking.) Once inside the arena, a lousy selection of inconvenient concession stands and unpleasant rest rooms provide little relief from the deafening music and bench seats. Then the privilege of watching the incomparable UConn Huskies! YAY!

Game over and the real ordeal begins! Long lines at the elevators. Delay after delay after delay getting of campus and back to slow-moving 195. Then, free at last! I-84!

Measure the cost in terms of time and money, then consider the SNY alternative. Guess what!

 

[UcMiami]

Hmm. Let's see. Just driving from Hartford to Gampel is a bitch. Narrow 195, then a torturous drive through the campus to the parking garage. (I'll skip the fees for tix and parking.) Once inside the arena, a lousy selection of inconvenient concession stands and unpleasant rest rooms provide little relief from the deafening music and bench seats. Then the privilege of watching the incomparable UConn Huskies! YAY!

Game over and the real ordeal begins! Long lines at the elevators. Delay after delay after delay getting of campus and back to slow-moving 195. Then, free at last! I-84!

Measure the cost in terms of time and money, then consider the SNY alternative. Guess what!

And just think about us locals who have to deal with that for every home game at the bottom of our driveway! About an hour before and an hour after the game one doesn't dare venture out. Men's and Women's and soccer is drawing every larger crowds as well. Really wish they could move the sports venues to corner of 195/44 or 32/44 - the state owns most of that land already and it would keep the traffic away from the biggest bottle necks and speed the egress from games at the conclusion - fewer lights one you get to the edge of town. Oh, well.

 

[BroadwayVa]

And just think about us locals who have to deal with that for every home game at the bottom of our driveway! About an hour before and an hour after the game one doesn't dare venture out. Men's and Women's and soccer is drawing every larger crowds as well. Really wish they could move the sports venues to corner of 195/44 or 32/44 - the state owns most of that land already and it would keep the traffic away from the biggest bottle necks and speed the egress from games at the conclusion - fewer lights one you get to the edge of town. Oh, well.

I made that trip from Tolland twice a day---not awful --game days--not good. Smart people, apparently like you, wait out the extra traffic before and after and it's easier. The only real problem is the idiot in front of you skidding 40 feet to a stop to pick up a coed physically charming. How accidents happen---I'll never skid 40 feet again!!

 

[BroadwayVa]

Daughter and I were in our seats about 15 minutes before tip-off.

From Kansas City it's a 2 hour straight shot heading west on I-70. Off the highway into Manhattan and 5 more minutes to their convenient, close- by parking lots. Very short walk into facility. In spite of the crowd size the entire process was smooth and fast.

Bramlage is an ideal basketball facility. The steep angle layout means that even the highest seat keeps you acceptably close to the floor and that people in the row directly in front don't block the view at all. Smart. Everything is shiny clean.

Best of all is that probably at least 65% of the 12,500 seats are padded and have seat backs and armrests !

The electronics are loud and dazzling (the age we live in) but they are very smart about lighting during the game. It gets turned way down in the seating area. Nice. Every single staff person was smiling, cheerful, and just plain nice.

We lingered afterward and went down to court level. Saw Danny ! Also encountered 2 older guys wearing bright UConn gear and we chatted. One "yep" and one "dang" told us we weren't visiting with fans from the Land of Steady Habits. Said they were long-time Husky fans because "Geno's girls play the game right." Also that they had actually done a road trip to Gampel and expected cold treatment in Connecticut because "Ya'know, it's the Northeast. But all the people were great." We laughed when a young woman turned around and said "we'd drive all day to get a chance to see Geno."

Oh yeh, we won.

Super nice people you and those you met!! But you never mentioned the 5 dollar tickets to the game!! The seating sounds great.

 

[Plebe]

Daughter and I were in our seats about 15 minutes before tip-off.

We lingered afterward and went down to court level. Saw Danny ! Also encountered 2 older guys wearing bright UConn gear and we chatted. One "yep" and one "dang" told us we weren't visiting with fans from the Land of Steady Habits. Said they were long-time Husky fans because "Geno's girls play the game right." Also that they had actually done a road trip to Gampel and expected cold treatment in Connecticut because "Ya'know, it's the Northeast. But all the people were great." We laughed when a young woman turned around and said "we'd drive all day to get a chance to see Geno."

Oh yeh, we won.

Thanks for sharing this story. That last paragraph reminds me of myself, a Texas boy born and raised, with absolutely no ties, cultural or familial, to the Northeast. I've always hated the Yankees and the Patriots. But I've loved UConn women's basketball the same way I always loved Roger Federer's tennis. It's playing the right way, and redefining what's possible in the sport.

(And the fact that I never cared for Pat Summitt or Tennessee probably helped )

 

[Gus Mahler]

Thanks for sharing this story. That last paragraph reminds me of myself, a Texas boy born and raised, with absolutely no ties, cultural or familial, to the Northeast. I've always hated the Yankees and the Patriots. But I've loved UConn women's basketball the same way I always loved Roger Federer's tennis. It's playing the right way, and redefining what's possible in the sport.

(And the fact that I never cared for Pat Summitt or Tennessee probably helped )

 

[Blueconn]

Super nice people you and those you met!! But you never mentioned the 5 dollar tickets to the game!! The seating sounds great.

We asked for best remaining seats about 3 weeks ahead and paid $12 per. Parking very near Bramlage was $5.