I doubt we will make it for a drink before the game - I am playing golf in the morning and heading straight to the game... We are spending the night, though, so will be hanging out afterward...
Tickets for Miami Game, Feb. 12
- Thread starter scooter84
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
I doubt we will make it for a drink before the game - I am playing golf in the morning and heading straight to the game... We are spending the night, though, so will be hanging out afterward...
sportsmed86
Well-known member
Fiddling Fish and Wisemen are catty corner from each other at N Trade and 8th, what is now called Industry Hill area. Axe throwing and Ramkat venue.
Trip report for anyone that cares:
We had a lot of traffic issues coming up and barely made the game - by the time we were actually in our seats we missed the first minute. We had great seats - Row G in 116 - $50 each from the Deacon site. To DR's point - pretty amazingly cheap for a big game. The environment was pretty good - the crowd was involved. But the place was a long, long way from full. The concession selection was good and beer prices were not outrageous.
One complaint - no cup holders at our sears. I don't know if that is the case everywhere in the arena, but it made it hard to stand and clap, etc. while drinking.
I won't belabor the game itself - that has been covered elsewhere - other than to say it was extremely disappointing. I think we demonstrated that we were the better team in both games against Miami this year and yet managed to lose both.
My bad mood after the game made it more difficult to manage a positive relationship with the wife! This was sort of a Valentine's celebration and we were spending the night so I had to cheer myself up quickly...
Then we go to the hotel to check in and the frustration starts... We're staying at the Embassy Suites downtown (mistake!) and when we get there cars are backed up out of the parking deck. Turns out some guy had parked his car blocking the entrance to the parking deck and exited the vehicle. 15 minutes later we're still sitting there. I finally went around to the other side of the deck and entered the wrong way and get parked. By this time it is after 5 and my wife wants to watch the Duke game, which started at 5 - so we are rushing. We had checked in online so my wife checked her phone but the digital key still hadn't been delivered. So I go to the front desk. First I complain about the car situation and they claim to know nothing about it though I know people said they went in to tell them. They couldn't explain why we didn't get the digital key. Then they tell us most of the elevators are out and the other ones are on "automatic" which I later figured out meant that they wandered up and down and did not respond to call buttons. And we were on the 8th floor - so that was special. I would end up walking up and down the stairs several times over the next few hours...
The hotel in general was pretty crappy - looks like they are starting to update it, and it needs it.
After waiting forever for the elevator, we make it to the room. The room is fine. We turn the TV on - no Duke game - it is on the ACC network and they don't get it. And the frustration gets worse... We head down to the lobby - no TV. We ask the front desk where we can go to watch it. It appears they have never heard of the ACC network but suggest we go across the street to the Marriott. We go over there and ask in the bar - nope, no ACC network - again, acting like no one has ever asked before. We ask for the nearest sports bar and you would have thought we asked her to do multi-variable calculus. She looks up some place called Bull's Tavern and says they might have it - we ask how to get there - no clue - "I don't live in Winston". (BTW, I know how to look up places on my own phone but had hoped for more knowledgeable input from someone who works in the area)
We had spotted the Small Batch Beer Co. near the hotel earlier so we walked there. Asked the bartender about watching the Duke game. He said "We don't do Duke in here" - that was awesome! At least someone is paying attention. But then he laughed and said they had it. We came in and sat down while he messed with the remote to change to the channel. After like 5 minutes he had to say, no, in fact they didn't get it. More frustration.
So we walked to Bull's Tavern on 4th street. It looks super sketch and was empty - I think it is a late night kinda place... So we kept looking. Interestingly, we ended up basically next door at Recreation Billiards. It was a little sketch but OK - we hung out at the bar. BTW, they had no clue what the ACCN was either and had to look it up to see what channel it was - but they did get it. Before we got in there the TVs were on random stuff.
At this point I have concluded that no one in Winston cares about ACC basketball at all - how are there bars in downtown Winston, home to a founding member of the ACC conference, that either don't carry the ACCN or don't even know what it is?
I will say that the bartenders at Recreation Billiards were friendly and the liquor and wine pours were generous...
The wife got to watch the second half of the game and Duke romped so she was happy. Now we are liquored up and need somewhere to eat. We found Quanto Basta online and it was close by and looked good. We called them and they were packed but took our name. By the time we walked there it was 7:45 and they said we had about a 20 minute wait - awesome! Things are looking up! The call ahead worked great - people that were checking in cold were told over an hour. We waited at the bar and got further liquored up.
When we ate, the food and service were both awesome - I would recommend this place. It wasn't that expensive either! The meatball appetizer and the caesar salad were both incredible! I got the pasta bolognese and it was excellent. The wife's eggplant parmesan was the low point - it was just pretty tasteless. Overall dinner was the highlight of the evening... Well, at least among things I can discuss here...
We had a lot of traffic issues coming up and barely made the game - by the time we were actually in our seats we missed the first minute. We had great seats - Row G in 116 - $50 each from the Deacon site. To DR's point - pretty amazingly cheap for a big game. The environment was pretty good - the crowd was involved. But the place was a long, long way from full. The concession selection was good and beer prices were not outrageous.
One complaint - no cup holders at our sears. I don't know if that is the case everywhere in the arena, but it made it hard to stand and clap, etc. while drinking.
I won't belabor the game itself - that has been covered elsewhere - other than to say it was extremely disappointing. I think we demonstrated that we were the better team in both games against Miami this year and yet managed to lose both.
My bad mood after the game made it more difficult to manage a positive relationship with the wife! This was sort of a Valentine's celebration and we were spending the night so I had to cheer myself up quickly...
Then we go to the hotel to check in and the frustration starts... We're staying at the Embassy Suites downtown (mistake!) and when we get there cars are backed up out of the parking deck. Turns out some guy had parked his car blocking the entrance to the parking deck and exited the vehicle. 15 minutes later we're still sitting there. I finally went around to the other side of the deck and entered the wrong way and get parked. By this time it is after 5 and my wife wants to watch the Duke game, which started at 5 - so we are rushing. We had checked in online so my wife checked her phone but the digital key still hadn't been delivered. So I go to the front desk. First I complain about the car situation and they claim to know nothing about it though I know people said they went in to tell them. They couldn't explain why we didn't get the digital key. Then they tell us most of the elevators are out and the other ones are on "automatic" which I later figured out meant that they wandered up and down and did not respond to call buttons. And we were on the 8th floor - so that was special. I would end up walking up and down the stairs several times over the next few hours...
The hotel in general was pretty crappy - looks like they are starting to update it, and it needs it.
After waiting forever for the elevator, we make it to the room. The room is fine. We turn the TV on - no Duke game - it is on the ACC network and they don't get it. And the frustration gets worse... We head down to the lobby - no TV. We ask the front desk where we can go to watch it. It appears they have never heard of the ACC network but suggest we go across the street to the Marriott. We go over there and ask in the bar - nope, no ACC network - again, acting like no one has ever asked before. We ask for the nearest sports bar and you would have thought we asked her to do multi-variable calculus. She looks up some place called Bull's Tavern and says they might have it - we ask how to get there - no clue - "I don't live in Winston". (BTW, I know how to look up places on my own phone but had hoped for more knowledgeable input from someone who works in the area)
We had spotted the Small Batch Beer Co. near the hotel earlier so we walked there. Asked the bartender about watching the Duke game. He said "We don't do Duke in here" - that was awesome! At least someone is paying attention. But then he laughed and said they had it. We came in and sat down while he messed with the remote to change to the channel. After like 5 minutes he had to say, no, in fact they didn't get it. More frustration.
So we walked to Bull's Tavern on 4th street. It looks super sketch and was empty - I think it is a late night kinda place... So we kept looking. Interestingly, we ended up basically next door at Recreation Billiards. It was a little sketch but OK - we hung out at the bar. BTW, they had no clue what the ACCN was either and had to look it up to see what channel it was - but they did get it. Before we got in there the TVs were on random stuff.
At this point I have concluded that no one in Winston cares about ACC basketball at all - how are there bars in downtown Winston, home to a founding member of the ACC conference, that either don't carry the ACCN or don't even know what it is?
I will say that the bartenders at Recreation Billiards were friendly and the liquor and wine pours were generous...
The wife got to watch the second half of the game and Duke romped so she was happy. Now we are liquored up and need somewhere to eat. We found Quanto Basta online and it was close by and looked good. We called them and they were packed but took our name. By the time we walked there it was 7:45 and they said we had about a 20 minute wait - awesome! Things are looking up! The call ahead worked great - people that were checking in cold were told over an hour. We waited at the bar and got further liquored up.
When we ate, the food and service were both awesome - I would recommend this place. It wasn't that expensive either! The meatball appetizer and the caesar salad were both incredible! I got the pasta bolognese and it was excellent. The wife's eggplant parmesan was the low point - it was just pretty tasteless. Overall dinner was the highlight of the evening... Well, at least among things I can discuss here...
DownEastDeac
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 2,904
- Reaction score
- 704
Yep, Embassy Suites is a dump. Last time we stayed at the new Marriott boutique thingy a few doors down from Foothills and it was very nice.
A great place to watch a ballgame is the upstairs bar at Jeffrey Adams. Nice view of 4th Street, and the bartenders are very accommodating of people ware just there for a drink and not dinner.
donaldross
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,474
- Reaction score
- 90
The problems with the Joel really surface when we are good.
(1) People actually visit.
(2) The reality hits that being good doesn't solve the problem. Literally choir practice there in the 2nd half when the team really needed the energy. The students' energy was simply not felt since they were buried.
Folks around here always talk about how "the place was packed during the Prosser years." Just like they will say years from now, when that Alondes was there the Joel was rocking. People either (1) weren't there or (2) forget.
Let's be clear now, the place was not packed during Alondes' year. It was half full for big games like this one--even on that coveted Saturday afternoon spot. There were 4K empty seats for both the Duke and UNC games. We have great fans. We just don't have 14K of them. Or even 10K. And we never did--folks can disagree with that. But they can't disagree with what they just saw. For you young folks, when you hear someone rant about how great it was "during Alondes' year at Wake back in the day" you'll know how to better put in context those liars telling you it was great "back when we had CP3."
(1) People actually visit.
(2) The reality hits that being good doesn't solve the problem. Literally choir practice there in the 2nd half when the team really needed the energy. The students' energy was simply not felt since they were buried.
Folks around here always talk about how "the place was packed during the Prosser years." Just like they will say years from now, when that Alondes was there the Joel was rocking. People either (1) weren't there or (2) forget.
Let's be clear now, the place was not packed during Alondes' year. It was half full for big games like this one--even on that coveted Saturday afternoon spot. There were 4K empty seats for both the Duke and UNC games. We have great fans. We just don't have 14K of them. Or even 10K. And we never did--folks can disagree with that. But they can't disagree with what they just saw. For you young folks, when you hear someone rant about how great it was "during Alondes' year at Wake back in the day" you'll know how to better put in context those liars telling you it was great "back when we had CP3."
deacdixieboy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
- Messages
- 14,243
- Reaction score
- 6,899
You're kidding yourself if you don't think the Joel was packed and rocking during the Prosser years.
morrison2951
Well-known member
I call BS.
I believe that my hearing loss started during the Odom years when we boat raced kansas and blew the roof off the Joel and then came Prosser and CP3 to finish it off!
Colonel Angus
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2011
- Messages
- 3,719
- Reaction score
- 558
I call BS.
I believe that my hearing loss started during the Odom years when we boat raced kansas and blew the roof off the Joel and then came Prosser and CP3 to finish it off!
I was at that Kansas game in Odom's last season (Dec 2000, I think without looking it up???) and there were maybe 10k at the most in the building. The upper bowl was a ghost town.
cheeseheads12
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2015
- Messages
- 6,978
- Reaction score
- 1,066
Then how do you explain us getting 25-30K into Groves for a football game?
It is going to take more than just one good year to bring people back to the Joel. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but Ronnie boy damaged the program so badly that I don't know if or when we will see the support like we had in the "good ole days."
deacdixieboy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
- Messages
- 14,243
- Reaction score
- 6,899
As much as I disagree with DR, the football comp doesn't hold a lot of weight. There are 6-7 home games compared to ~20 and 99% of those games are on weekends compared to maybe half. In addition, they are outside in generally nice weather, people make them an event with tailgating, and, for this year, COVID didn't really impact outdoor events.
donaldross
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,474
- Reaction score
- 90
Speaking of smart, Duke University is scalping tickets for tomorrow's game directly on stubhub. The heightened money is going directly into improving their basketball team.
We should do that too. Just because Duke is making money, does not mean we should not be doing so. I know you people don't like to copy Duke or their wins, but copying is good. It's America after all!
We should do that too. Just because Duke is making money, does not mean we should not be doing so. I know you people don't like to copy Duke or their wins, but copying is good. It's America after all!
Buttermaker
Well-known member
Dude, unnecessary... People on this board are finally coming around to your belief we need a smaller arena. Maybe it's time to lose the "you all suck and are part of the cause of Wake's current situation" schtick.
donaldross
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,474
- Reaction score
- 90
Making change is never pleasant. The attempts to do so kindly failed decades ago. This really is our own fault. Until people believe and understand this, there will be no change.
Sucking for 6 decades requires full involvement by the alums. We must change that so the next generation isn’t pointing the finger at us.
Hiring Buzz and Manning was a mistake. Sticking with them for far too long was far worse. The same can be said about the Joel Coliseum. We must terminate this civic venue and start over.
Sucking for 6 decades requires full involvement by the alums. We must change that so the next generation isn’t pointing the finger at us.
Hiring Buzz and Manning was a mistake. Sticking with them for far too long was far worse. The same can be said about the Joel Coliseum. We must terminate this civic venue and start over.
What tickets are they scalping? I thought every seat in there was either a student ticket, a season ticket, or a courtside VIP for recruits and the like?
DeacDaddy
Hoping Against Hope
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2011
- Messages
- 8,972
- Reaction score
- 2,124
It is true that my chief concerns about growing older are fallouts from the increasing political divide, how the next generation will blame me for what I did or didn’t do regarding the Joel, and long term care costs.
donaldross
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,474
- Reaction score
- 90
In other words, your jest is that our basketball team isn't that important to you. A large majority of our alums agree with you. We do not make it a priority. The results are inevitable.
Many people on the board have always thought we would be better off with a smaller arena. This idea is not unique to DR. And, if anything, others are "coming around" to the idea despite DR's support of it, not because of it. He insists on antagonizing, exaggerating and taking extreme positions.
DeacDaddy
Hoping Against Hope
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2011
- Messages
- 8,972
- Reaction score
- 2,124
I jest because this is a message board and I’m having fun with someone who has some really good points but can’t seem to make them without employing extreme hyperbole.