question on the crowd for Louisville game...

[zls44]

To a viewer who watched both games last night it was a poor contrast to Allen Field House which looked packed for the starting line up announcements. Would also agree that XL sounded real quiet except for a couple of minutes during the first half run.

The little things.

Big boy programs get them right, including ticketing and crowd management.

Small time ones just try and sell as many tickets as possible for one set price and who cares about the rest.

Big boy programs also make sure the video feed for the video board is from one set source- be it in house, or the TV feed. They don't jump between both. Oh, and they don't use the same graphics for fifteen years.

These are just some of the little things they do to try and get people to enjoy and appreciate the in game experience and not just default to their 60 inch HDTV.

These things matter if you have the mentality that everything matters, if you chase perfection. That's what great organizations do.

They may not matter to you, but I guarantee they matter to the folks in charge at Louisville, at Kansas, at UNC, at Kentucky. It isn't about putting your best foot forward- its about making sure its the only foot your customers ever see.

 

[John]

We got to the XL @ about 6:45 and the lines were around the block at all entrances. It was excruciatingly slow entering the game as they only had a few doors open at each location. Just a terribly run arena ... people were pumped up to get into the game only to be bottlenecked at the entrance.

for some reason they were segregating men into one line and women into another for the pat-down, something I haven't seen before, so it must have been more than a run-of-the-mill pat down.

 

[upstater]

for some reason they were segregating men into one line and women into another for the pat-down, something I haven't seen before, so it must have been more than a run-of-the-mill pat down.

They do this at all sports events, because they have women patting down women, men patting down men.

 

[Robertelamin]

Ever since Newtown there have been pat downs and last night it took at least 20 minutes to get in. They didn't seem prepared for a big crowd. Also the online ticket transfer and printed ticket didn't work. The woman who tried to scan it was kind enough to let my co season ticket holder in though.

 

[Dove]

When it was my turn for the pat down the dude goes, "You been working out?"

Jeez, man.

 

[John]

because they have women patting down women.

some of my favorite videos are of stuff like that.

 

[Bezzz]

I don't get it. The dude at the door pats down my pants pockets and ignores my bulging chest where I'm either hiding a strap-on dynamite pack with remote detonator or a pair of binoculars (right answer). Yes, this is homeland security at it's best.

 

[Mano]

Crowd was great the entire night. I've been to some big games there and at one moment in the first half it was as loud as I've ever heard it. Seemed like everyone was getting out their Conference-Realignment/Tourney-ban/L'Ville-taking-our-ACC-spot frustration in one prolonged standing cheer. Gave me goosebumps. In the second half we were all just waiting for some fortuitous break in play to get going again, never seemed to happen even as we tried a couple times to get the guys going with a couple standing cheers.

Also the entrances were a total f-up. Just pathetic having only two doors open with two scanners and one guy patting people down. We waited a good 15 minutes and missed the first 4 minutes of the game. Like ZLS said, we should strive to put a top class experience out there with every game. AAA from the ground up, not treated like an after thought, especially with the #1 team in the county in the house on national television. You'd hope someone from UConn's administration is in the XL Center's ear about it.

 

[BoatShow]

As someone pointed out, the graphics on the jumbotron at XL are hilariously outdated. Like the "NOISE" one has been around since before Omar was born.

The best basketball crowd I've been a part of was ND at Gample in '09. In the student section, just great sustained energy/volume the whole game. Sadly missed the Texas game. Parts of the first half were as loud as I've ever heard an XL crowd.

 

[BoatShow]

I don't get it. The dude at the door pats down my pants pockets and ignores my bulging chest where I'm either hiding a strap-on dynamite pack with remote detonator or a pair of binoculars (right answer). Yes, this is homeland security at it's best.

Mine was really pathetic too. A light brush from my armpits to just below my pockets. I could have stashed anything from the knee down.

 

[RoderickSpode]

When it was my turn for the pat down the dude goes, "You been working out?"

Jeez, man.

 

[zls44]

As someone pointed out, the graphics on the jumbotron at XL are hilariously outdated. Like the "NOISE" one has been around since before Omar was born.

Exactly.

Look, this is simple. It's a massive state university. You outsource the replacement of the graphics to one of the classes working in video design or animation. Pick the three you like the most, give each of the kids a gift certificate from one of the corporate sponsors or a Husky prize pack or a couple of those plush court side seats to one of the dog Big East games that they won't be full for anyway.

Boom. Simple, done. You just updated your graphics package for the first time in fifteen years for the princely sum of a t-shirt and a draw-string bag. You also gave a class a project with real-life application for their talents, that will be used for a few years. Everyone's a winner.

Checkers. Ain't chess.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

As someone pointed out, the graphics on the jumbotron at XL are hilariously outdated. Like the "NOISE" one has been around since before Omar was born.

The best basketball crowd I've been a part of was ND at Gample in '09. In the student section, just great sustained energy/volume the whole game. Sadly missed the Texas game. Parts of the first half were as loud as I've ever heard an XL crowd.

Loudest crowd at the HCC/XL had to be:

1. Syracuse/GTown 1989-1990 UCONN kicks down the door of the Big East and takes their place at the table. Putting them together just because that is how every UCONN fan thinks of those games if you were lucky enough to be there.

2. UCONN/Kansas; No Ricky Moore and Kirk King- Suspeended for Flying the Friendly Skies for free-Hung with KU then ran out of gas.

These two are loudest crowds I remember at the HCC/XL for the past 30 plus jyears.

 

[bazzdog]

Loudest crowd at the HCC/XL had to be:

1. Syracuse/GTown 1989-1990 UCONN kicks down the door of the Big East and takes their place at the table. Putting them together just because that is how every UCONN fan thinks of those games if you were lucky enough to be there.

2. UCONN/Kansas; No Ricky Moore and Kirk King- Suspeended for Flying the Friendly Skies for free-Hung with KU then ran out of gas.

These two are loudest crowds I remember at the HCC/XL for the past 30 plus jyears.

THat G'town game was incredible. We jumped out to a 12-0 lead or so and the place was bedlam. The Dove said Alonzo!!

 

[uconnfan68]

I wonder what ESPN is doing to the sound; on TV it was dead quiet. Then you watch an older game on SNY and there's a ton of cheering.

Only get crowd noise from ACC games. I think it's in the bylaws.

 

[RayRay34]

Good crowd. I was in section 206 and place looked pretty filled. Got pretty loud in the first half. I did stand to cheer and the guy behind me told me to sit down. Unbelieveable.... we are up 10 against the #1 team in the country and I'm being asked to sit down

Come UCONN fans... you're better than that.

 

[FeedTheDove]

Watched a replay of it the other day and I was incredibly disappointed about the televised sound. It was not at ALL a reflection of how loud the game actually was. I could barely hear the students yelling when we were on defense, and we were loud. I could barely hear a U-C-O-N-N chant after DeAndres second dunk. Pretty pissed... made it seem like the place was dead silent.