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I'm from CT born and raised and have been to UConn games since I was a kid. So last night’s Gampel game had a weird feel for me since I took a job down south this week, and for the first time ever I’m uncertain about when I’ll get back. In any event, now that my hangover is almost gone I wanted to share some of my thoughts of the last 4 (5) years of my Gampel experience.
First of all it's impossible to talk about Gampel without first mentioning the lack of roads and lanes going in and out. Obviously we complain about fans leaving early because it looks bad. But bottom line the traffic after games is ridiculous considering how small the arena is. People leaving early looks bad for the school, looks bad on TV, and it bothers the players even if they don't publicly admit it. But there's no denying the time it saves cause of how bad the roads are. If we even had an average outlet from campus I don't think this would be a problem but it's so bad that I can at least understand why people do it. (Still everyone who does is a )
Also our marketing is a complete joke. If you look at our overall product (3 time National Champs, player of the year candidate, guys all over the NBA) and then you look at the way we market it its embarrassing. I've seen the Subway Shuffle 50 times over the last few years and I don't think anyone in the building has ever got it wrong, they have interpretive dances during timeouts that get no crowd reaction, and we’ve been known to break out the Dance Cam when the opponent is on a 10-2 run and the place is dead. Two years ago they screwed up the freaking banner reveal at the season opener and it got stuck. This is coming off a national championship, how does that even happen? A couple years ago we had an epic 300 violin orchestra pregame video that gave the whole building chills, so they switched the music around to Rihanna the next year and it hasn’t been the same since.
But despite all these flaws there is still something special about the UConn basketball experience. Pregaming and postgaming at Teds, Strike it Up blasting after halftime, the ovation Ollie gets everytime he walks in...the highs drown out the lows for sure. We’ve had to deal with so much over the past few years--there’s no way any program in the country has had as many emotional swings--that it’s only intensified students’ attachment to the program. UConn is still learning how to be a “big-time” school, and the kids of our basketball-era alumni aren’t in college yet. Once we bring in the next generation I think a lot of these problems start to fade.
One final thought: We really need to charge students more for tickets and give them a section in at least some of the lower bowl courtside. This would turns student tickets into legitimate assets, as well as weed less interested fans out of the lottery since they have to put more money down before they can sell for profit. People that actually want to go to the games will then end up making sure they go, and more casual fans will become invested in the program. Simply put if you have great seats you’ll go to more games, become more emotionally invested, and want to continue that after you leave. As a soon-to-be-alumni, I would rather sit farther away in an elite atmosphere than close up in a half-empty morgue, and most of my peers agree. So let’s change this .
Anyways, it’s been an amazing experience to be immersed in this team. The bond between the basketball program and our university is pretty special, and I hope both sides continue to feed off each other so future Huskies can have as good a time as this wave did. I'm gonna miss this place.
Now let’s make a run...
First of all it's impossible to talk about Gampel without first mentioning the lack of roads and lanes going in and out. Obviously we complain about fans leaving early because it looks bad. But bottom line the traffic after games is ridiculous considering how small the arena is. People leaving early looks bad for the school, looks bad on TV, and it bothers the players even if they don't publicly admit it. But there's no denying the time it saves cause of how bad the roads are. If we even had an average outlet from campus I don't think this would be a problem but it's so bad that I can at least understand why people do it. (Still everyone who does is a )
Also our marketing is a complete joke. If you look at our overall product (3 time National Champs, player of the year candidate, guys all over the NBA) and then you look at the way we market it its embarrassing. I've seen the Subway Shuffle 50 times over the last few years and I don't think anyone in the building has ever got it wrong, they have interpretive dances during timeouts that get no crowd reaction, and we’ve been known to break out the Dance Cam when the opponent is on a 10-2 run and the place is dead. Two years ago they screwed up the freaking banner reveal at the season opener and it got stuck. This is coming off a national championship, how does that even happen? A couple years ago we had an epic 300 violin orchestra pregame video that gave the whole building chills, so they switched the music around to Rihanna the next year and it hasn’t been the same since.
But despite all these flaws there is still something special about the UConn basketball experience. Pregaming and postgaming at Teds, Strike it Up blasting after halftime, the ovation Ollie gets everytime he walks in...the highs drown out the lows for sure. We’ve had to deal with so much over the past few years--there’s no way any program in the country has had as many emotional swings--that it’s only intensified students’ attachment to the program. UConn is still learning how to be a “big-time” school, and the kids of our basketball-era alumni aren’t in college yet. Once we bring in the next generation I think a lot of these problems start to fade.
One final thought: We really need to charge students more for tickets and give them a section in at least some of the lower bowl courtside. This would turns student tickets into legitimate assets, as well as weed less interested fans out of the lottery since they have to put more money down before they can sell for profit. People that actually want to go to the games will then end up making sure they go, and more casual fans will become invested in the program. Simply put if you have great seats you’ll go to more games, become more emotionally invested, and want to continue that after you leave. As a soon-to-be-alumni, I would rather sit farther away in an elite atmosphere than close up in a half-empty morgue, and most of my peers agree. So let’s change this .
Anyways, it’s been an amazing experience to be immersed in this team. The bond between the basketball program and our university is pretty special, and I hope both sides continue to feed off each other so future Huskies can have as good a time as this wave did. I'm gonna miss this place.
Now let’s make a run...
