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Updates to the Joel?

I was disappointed in the crowd as well. Nearly empty upstairs, downstairs was mostly full, but rarely loud. I hoped we could do better, it was a perfect time for a game.
 
When posters say that attendance will rise when the team is good, the caveat is *sustained* good performance. We can’t gain back in a season what we lost over a decade
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
When posters say that attendance will rise when the team is good, the caveat is *sustained* good performance. We can’t gain back in a season what we lost over a decade
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This.
 
TBH the students energy didn't seem to be so much buried as non-existent. Not sure placing them front and center immediately solves all issues here.

Also while daytime games are good for attendance, I think there tend to be a lot more small children present. Which is probably a net negative for a loud/raucous atmosphere perspective.
 
The Joel was never good for our team. It was a debacle in the mid 90s, the Paul era, and now. We always hid the students. Kids were playing hide and seek in the mountains of empty upstairs seats while Tim Duncan had a prolonged period of success.

The logic seems to be, hey it didn't work for the last 30 years but maybe it will work if we get 7-8 great years stacked up, even though it didn't before. So let's waste another generation and find out. It's bad logic.
 
This thread has had a good run since starting on 2-3-22. It's the same discussion that appeared on the last thread on this topic and once again DR has had an impact.

I have no opinion on the Joel. I've never attended a game at the Joel. Given my age, medical condition and location I doubt I will ever attend a game there or at a new facility.

For those of you that want a new facility, you are lacking one ingredient. Effective demand. Until you can pony up the money to improve on the Joel, this and future threads on this topic are merely an exercise in futility.

Please feel free to continue your complaints.
 
BlackjackMc said:
I've never attended a game at the Joel. Given my age, medical condition and location I doubt I will ever attend a game there or at a new facility.
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Joel discussion aside, i’m sorry to hear that. Have you been to Wake home games before ljvm was built?
 
13-1 at the Joel this year. 19 turnovers are reason for the 1 loss. DR, you are obsessed with the new arena idea. Given your visits to 100 different college arenas, and your influence in the athletic department, I don’t understand why you haven’t parked yourself outside of Currie’s office to make your views known to him and the powers that be at MSD. It would be great to have a new, smaller arena. But it seems obvious that WF doesn’t have the money to build a Quido Dome or a place on campus to put it.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Joel discussion aside, i’m sorry to hear that. Have you been to Wake home games before ljvm was built?
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Memorial Coliseum while I was a student. I've seen the Deacons play at Greensboro Coliseum, Reynolds Coliseum, Carmichael Auditorium, the Spectrum (Philadelphia) and the dump at Duke.
 
BlackjackMc said:
This thread has had a good run since starting on 2-3-22. It's the same discussion that appeared on the last thread on this topic and once again DR has had an impact.

I have no opinion on the Joel. I've never attended a game at the Joel. Given my age, medical condition and location I doubt I will ever attend a game there or at a new facility.

For those of you that want a new facility, you are lacking one ingredient. Effective demand. Until you can pony up the money to improve on the Joel, this and future threads on this topic are merely an exercise in futility.

Please feel free to continue your complaints.
Click to expand...

Everything is futile until you can buy your way out of it? Why talk about anything?
 
BlackjackMc said:
Memorial Coliseum while I was a student. I've seen the Deacons play at Greensboro Coliseum, Reynolds Coliseum, Carmichael Auditorium, the Spectrum (Philadelphia) and the dump at Duke.
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Why have you not made it to the Joel in the past 30 years? Is it a personal decision or just something you haven't been able to do? Just asking since you've been to several arenas in the area, but haven't managed to make it to LJVM.
 
OG&B article about Gore from 1956 is pretty funny. https://wakeforestmuseum.org/2016/02/25/gore-gym-once-best-in-state/

This picture is amazing. Knee pads! Also are those high top bowling shoes?

1940-team-w-murray-greason1.jpg
 
That pic better not have been taken during the national anthem.
 
Heading to Cameron tonight. Will report back with findings of what we need to build the perfect arena.
 
Good retort Arsene Wegner. I was expecting it.

The arenas I mentioned were all during my time as a student. Since graduation I have usually lived several hundred miles from Winston-Salem. Pedal to the metal was a minimum of seven hours one way.

My time in Wake Forest, NC was during the Bzdelick years. I refused to attend a game and show any level of support for Ron Wellman's mistakes. If you recall, I consistently maintained that until the fanbase showed the university their displeasure by refusing to attend basketball games, nothing would change. I lived that belief.

I never attended a game at Gore Gymnasium. I did participate in a brief pick-up game at Gore at 60+ years of age. Very brief. How the college put 2200 people in that facility for games is a mystery to me. It is tiny.
 
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I went to the UT/UK game last night at Thompson Boling. A few things that I noticed there that I did like and didn't like keeping this thread in mind while I was there:

First of all a quote I overheard going in the gate from a UT fan: "We are so lucky to have a football stadium and basketball arena on campus. If you go to USC, you have to drive to (one or the other)." Thought it was hilarious in my head knowing the debate of this thread lol.

Positives:
- They have several entrances and the process to enter super quick. (Granted, there's no vax mandates/mask mandates to navigate either)
This could also be a negative because unless you note the gate number you enter, and you're not super familiar with the area, they ALL look the same when you go to leave lol.
- The sound system sounded GREAT! As far as the music goes, it was hard to understand the PA announcer though.
- Traffic wasn't bad at all, but I think that had more to do with how long it took us to find our car/walk to it than it did traffic control :wtf:

Negatives:
- The outside of the building looks as bland as you can get. You would never know it was Tennessee's home venue by anything on the outside of the building.
- The upper part of the upper deck is waaay too high. The steps are uncomfortable small and steep. I didn't seat there last night, but I have before and trust me, if you have a 4 year old who has to go to the bathroom twice, wants a snack/drink, etc. it is way too inconvenient to sit there. Also, pack a telescope.
- I attended another game (Arizona) this season and parking was awesome! Parked at the football stadium, 5 min walk and was at the door. Last night, was a different story. The lot we parked in the last time was a permit only lot last night. Ended up having to pass 2 full public lots to get to a public lot 1.2 miles away. Note, we also arrived 1.5 hours before tipoff. So that put a damper on things, again attending with a 4 year old. (Too young to walk that far, way too heavy to carry that far)
- I only saw 2 sets of bathrooms. The set that was near our section was PACKED, so my son and I walked halfway around the arena to find another one and found one exactly halfway from the section we were sitting in. Nobody in line. In/Out in 2 minutes. But there needs to be more bathrooms for an arena that seats 21k+. And to be fair, maybe there were more, we just didn't come across any but those two.


Neutral:
- Student section was behind opponent's first half basket and were hyped the whole game. It was refreshing to see a student section that was loud and energetic for 2 hours.
- There were VERY few UK fans there. I know it was a mid week 9pm game, but I really expected a lot more of them. Probably 5% big blueians. I'm not sure how they managed that or if it was due to the timing of the game, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Thats all I can think of for now, but if you need me to draw up blueprints for the new Joel, just let me know :wiggle:
 
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