The Rose Garden is 100 times better than the MC. I went to many games at the MC including the NBA Finals, but basically that place is a dump.
When a new arena is built, it is then that we will find out what qualities it does not have. I really do not see anything unique though that could not be incorporated into a new building 20 years from now.
Not really my question though. Of course it's "better" facilities wise, space and comfort. I was more curious about how people felt about it as our home arena and part of the city and part of your life. Does it have a special place in your heart yet or will it ever? I think the one fella makes a good point about whats on the inside re the fans and atmosphere. Maybe the old building felt like it belonged to the fans and the RG feels like it belongs to the sponsors and is just a big corporate pig with absurd sound effects, ads on every square inch of space and people around you telling you to sit down. Not totally the arenas fault. probably more of a sports problem in general.
Its still one of the loudest arenas in the nation for NBA basketball. Not much corporate bullshit either.
Yeah, I suppose when the Blazers were bad, it was pretty empty at times...so fans are really quite bandwagon.
so...basically the summary of this thread is that yuppie scum must die and the Blazers games should look like a Grateful Dead concert, but rowdier.
that arena still was pretty full when the Blazers we mediocre at best from 95-98 or so. I think the empty seats had a lot to do with disgust with the teams image and antics. Even though I was still there for those times, as I'm sure a lot in here were.
lol I get that a lot... probably cause I was posting over on O-live since I was a sophomore in High School so I would have been like 16.. so I have been around a while. Also cause I'm so bad-ass and mature! lol jk. I thought you were older too lol. Maybe we have the John Strong syndrome where people think we are older just from what they know of us in our sports talking lives. hehe
I like the RG a lot. It's home to the Blazers so it feels like home to me. It gets crazy in there which I love. I'll never forget the game 6th blowout of Dallas after we were down 0-3 in the series, but came back for 3 straight wins! The RG will always be special to me after that. I went to a few games at the MC. The last game I attended was the final game we ever played at MC. We loss to the Suns and Barkley had 50 points.
Much truth in this. The MC will always mean more to me than the RG. The early years of the Blazers, the state high-school play-offs, the Far West Classic, the NCAA regionals, the NBA draft....too many good memories there to ever forget.
I think the demographics and behavior of sports fans everywhere probably follows a similar trend over this time period... I'd love to see a demographics survey of the fans in the upper vs lower level...
Thank Stern for the bland sameness. As soon as a city has a stadium that nonconforms, it's--Bring in an Oklahoman to save the league from anything different, and badmouth the perfectly good arena!!