Jason Gay says that basketball games should not be played in football stadiums, as the Gonzaga-North Carolina NCAA national championship was Monday night. The places are just too big for a sport that's better watched in a gymnasium. To prove it, Gay got a ticket in the next-to-last row for the March Madness finale and wrote about the experience:
It was high up. Incredibly high up. One row from the tippety-top of the University of Phoenix tuna can....
My seat for the title game was not the worst seat in the house, but I’m comfortable saying it was probably the second-worst. A certifiable nosebleed, a Bob Uecker special.....
To get there, I had to take escalators, and stairs upon stairs. I had to spend a week at basecamp on the 100 level in order to acclimate to the altitude, and then another week acclimating on the 300 level. OK, that’s not really true. But I believe the vendors were selling both popcorn and oxygen....
I want to stress something here. I don’t want to come across as an whiny elitist sportswriter snob, complaining about sitting in the cheap seats with real fans, who love the game, and spend their own money to be there. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a whiny elitist sportswriter snob, but for totally different reasons....
I just think this is really far away to watch a basketball game.
Read Gay's full piece here.