New Feinstein Article

[lichoya68]

and my favorite sportswriters restaurant?? any body know

[The Stig]

In the Womens' NCAA Tournament, Duke (a #1 seed) lost to Michigan State on Michigan State's home court. How does that happen?

[mchoya]

Mar 24, 2009 17:29:16 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

Isn't South Carolina still barred from hosting NCAA games because of the state flag controversy?

What ultimately makes a difference is that the NCAA Tournament got more popular, necessitating better arenas and bigger cities/metro areas. There's been a trend towards more NBA arenas in bigger cities and less college venues/small town coliseums...not necessarily a trend I enjoy.

Georgetown played some tournament games in the mid-90s in Richmond and Tallahassee...that ain't happening again for those cities. IMO, the "growth areas" for non-North Carolina eastern venues are:

1. Florida -- Jacksonville is getting another go-round next season, Miami is back in the mix, Tampa has a quality venue in the rotation, and Orlando SHOULD be back if they'd ever replace that dump the Magic play in. Nobody's gonna say "Florida in March? Naaaah, I'm too happy here in my parka."

2. The NYC area -- You've got to think the Prudential Center in Newark will eventually get a nod as the successor to the Continental Airlines Arena/Izod Center (good luck with that urban development...neighborhood around that place makes late 90s/early 00s Chinatown look like an Epcot Center exhibit). And of course, one of the goals of MSG renovation is to give the NCAAs a shot--I can't decide whether this will be the greatest thing ever, or somehow cheapen the venue/the BET.

The odd venue that shows up next year is Providence. I know it hosted in the past, but even post-mini renovation when I went last season, it didn't strike me as a NCAA kind of place...though it is like a scaled down NBA arena, so maybe it'll work in an intimate kind of way. Bad news though--chances are you'll see UConn or Syracuse there.

How often can you host a pod?

Some places for southern expansion other than the ones FL mentioned include:
1) The Sommet Center in Nashville. They used to be a site, but were removed because their scoreboard was of low quality. They replaced it with a newer one that resembles VC's, so they have that going for them.
2) The new UL arena that will open in 2010. It will hold 22,000 people.
3) If South Carolina drops the Confederate flag, the Colonial Life Arena is an option.

[Buckets]

This article directly addresses the Columbia arena issue and vaguely discusses a few things that have been touched upon in this thread. www.thestate.com/local/story/724982.html

Can anyone enlighten me as to why DC doesn't get NCAA games more regularly? I know we just had one last year but the last time before that was 2002 -- just seems like the city has the arena, etc. to host more often. It can't be that hard to get the Wiz and Caps out for two days.

[kellycpcm]

The crowd in Greensboro was 80% UNC in the afternoon and 60% baby blue Thursday night. The two sections of Dukies cheered against UNC in the afrternoon and the 60% baby blue cheered against the Dukie in the evening. On Saturday, it was 75% UNC, 20% Duke. "Let's go Texas" was the cheer for the last 5 minutes of the Duke game Duke doesn't have any where as many fans as UNC anywhere they go.

[JimmyHoya]

Mar 25, 2009 1:24:33 GMT -5 Buckets said:

This article directly addresses the Columbia arena issue and vaguely discusses a few things that have been touched upon in this thread. www.thestate.com/local/story/724982.html

Can anyone enlighten me as to why DC doesn't get NCAA games more regularly? I know we just had one last year but the last time before that was 2002 -- just seems like the city has the arena, etc. to host more often. It can't be that hard to get the Wiz and Caps out for two days.

2002, 2005* and last year.

[TBird41]

Mar 25, 2009 1:24:33 GMT -5 Buckets said:

This article directly addresses the Columbia arena issue and vaguely discusses a few things that have been touched upon in this thread. www.thestate.com/local/story/724982.html

Can anyone enlighten me as to why DC doesn't get NCAA games more regularly? I know we just had one last year but the last time before that was 2002 -- just seems like the city has the arena, etc. to host more often. It can't be that hard to get the Wiz and Caps out for two days.

Well, it's four days, two of which are the weekend. And DC had the first weekend last year and the second weekend in 2006 (remember Mason?)

[tlphoya]

Mar 24, 2009 18:21:55 GMT -5 lichoya68 said:

and my favorite sportswriters restaurant?? any body know

Never got off the ground. I don't recall why but there is no bum restaurant on the table anymore.

That really would've been a fun roadtrip.

[Buckets]

Mar 25, 2009 9:03:37 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

Mar 25, 2009 1:24:33 GMT -5 Buckets said:

This article directly addresses the Columbia arena issue and vaguely discusses a few things that have been touched upon in this thread. www.thestate.com/local/story/724982.html

Can anyone enlighten me as to why DC doesn't get NCAA games more regularly? I know we just had one last year but the last time before that was 2002 -- just seems like the city has the arena, etc. to host more often. It can't be that hard to get the Wiz and Caps out for two days.

Well, it's four days, two of which are the weekend. And DC had the first weekend last year and the second weekend in 2006 (remember Mason?)

Yeah, was looking through pods and completely forgot about that whole pesky regionals thing. Still, one first two rounds and one regional from the eight years between 2003-10 seems a little low for DC, especially considering how often NC hosts.

Also, it's only two days. Either Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday. Just doesn't seem like it would be that hard to pull off.

[Gold Hoya]

I'm sure =BUM would prefer Patriot Center

[lichoya68]

what about his freaking restaurant did it fail or never open if so TOO BAD yup ;D ;D ;D