OT:Seattle Hoops

[THE HCP]

At KEY Arena right now getting ready to work WNBA game for ESPN and am frustrated in many ways. (not sexually, brought Mrs. HCP up with me!) First off women should NOT try to play ball! They just walked off the bus and were acting all tough and mean muggin' our cameras! WHAT A JOKE! Also..... it sucks that the Sonics are no longer up here. Just walking around the court, I was thinking back to all the great games that took place here! I can only imagine the battles and what the I-5 rivalry would be like in the next 10 seasons! OH WELL! Back to the "sport" where your 2 guard can be coming off a screen shooting a 3 one day......... and on her back shooting out a baby the next!

Signed- Frustrated in Seattle...... HCP

 

[Rhal]

I don't mind the WNBA at all, some of those women can really play ball and all of them are probably better at it then me lol. I don't think they should allow women in the NBA like Stern hinted at, but thats mostly because of the quagmire I can see coming from it.

 

[THE HCP]

NO SHIT! Just saw a guy rockin' a Storm jersey!

 

[MrSelfDestruct]

As someone who has been to literally every arena in the league, is Key Arena really as bad as Clay Bennett made it out to be?

I know the times I went there it never struck me as a dump, it just wasn't as nice as the Rose Garden (although I'd venture to guess few arenas are).

 

[THE HCP]

I like it. A little small, but it was a great atmosphere. Kinda like a college arena. Not enough big suites. Older then the majority of NBA arenas, but cleaner and better maintained!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Did I see "Bing" on their jerseys?

EDIT: I did.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2010/04/21/2011665954.jpg

 

[Rhal]

Did I see "Bing" on their jerseys?

EDIT: I did.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2010/04/21/2011665954.jpg

The blondes smile creeps me out.

 

[The Professional Fan]

WNBA sucks big time.

I miss the Sonics a ton. So do the Blazers. Talk about ridiculous travel for our boys. You too, HCP. Gotta suck. But mostly, I just miss the Sonics. I can't imagine being a Sonic fan. I watch Softy on Comcast during the day, and man - Seattle sports fans are BEYOND bitter over the NBA. They can't even talk about the NBA. Very, very few of them would even consider being a Blazer fan. I like that. It gives the rivalry more cred. They still hate us up there. Even though they're dumb. They still call us the "Jailblazers." So, maybe they aren't the smartest fans, but I give them credit for not jumping on the Blazer bandwagon despite the fact we have Mr Sonic, Roy, Webster and Allen as our owner. Doesn't matter. Their hate for us remains.

 

[THE HCP]

Post game I saw 2 "shims" walk out holding hands and wearing team credentials. I was thinking how crazy it would be if KP and Nate walked out doing the same!

 

[jlprk]

I like the WNBA existing because I can respect women who work hard. I'd rather work with that type than with posturing women who jabber about gossip all day. You can tell I've worked with both types. I like hardworking women (but not the few nowadays who are also jealous of men).

HCP, what makes the Key seem older? It was built less than 15 years ago. Maybe it's less showy and electronic inside (built more cheaply), so it seems older.

 

[BGrantFan]

I like the WNBA existing because I can respect women who work hard. I'd rather work with that type than with posturing women who jabber about gossip all day. You can tell I've worked with both types. I like hardworking women (but not the few nowadays who are also jealous of men).

HCP, what makes the Key seem older? It was built less than 15 years ago. Maybe it's less showy and electronic inside (built more cheaply), so it seems older.

Key has tiny concourses and not nearly enough restrooms. It was renovated 15 years ago, but it still has many of the same dimensions going back to its Seattle Center days.

 

[jlprk]

It was built brand new 15 years ago. The dimensions are the same as its predecessor--it's on the same "footprint" as they call the piece of land. That explains the concourses but not the bathrooms.

 

[BGrantFan]

It was built brand new 15 years ago. The dimensions are the same as its predecessor--it's on the same "footprint" as they call the piece of land. That explains the concourses but not the bathrooms.

It wasn't, though. The roof uses the same structure with some modern reinforcements. The primary change was lowering the court to increase seating capacity, but saying it was built "brand new" is simply not accurate.

 

[THE HCP]

Brother this arena is from the 60's. Back when they renovated, they kept the shell and concorse, they just dug deeper and lowered the court. It has the same feel as the MC. The concourses are about half the size as the RG.

 

[mobes23]

Yeah, it's small. The day it re-opened, it was one of the smallest arenas in the NBA. Nice feel to it, but really, really, really small. They also screwed up the restrooms and overcompensated to the benefit of the ladies. Dudes would be standing in huge lines, vying for way too few fixtures. I considered using a sink, but never acted on it.

Clayton Bennett and his OKC screw offs did a lot of things wrong, but I think they were right about it not being an NBA arena.

 

[Blazed Mania 52]

At KEY Arena right now getting ready to work WNBA game for ESPN and am frustrated in many ways. (not sexually, brought Mrs. HCP up with me!) First off women should NOT try to play ball! They just walked off the bus and were acting all tough and mean muggin' our cameras! WHAT A JOKE! Also..... it sucks that the Sonics are no longer up here. Just walking around the court, I was thinking back to all the great games that took place here! I can only imagine the battles and what the I-5 rivalry would be like in the next 10 seasons! OH WELL! Back to the "sport" where your 2 guard can be coming off a screen shooting a 3 one day......... and on her back shooting out a baby the next!

Signed- Frustrated in Seattle...... HCP

U sexist ass. I enjoy watching women brick lay ups, as much as I like to see male NBA players stink it up, but gender shouldn't be a concern.

 

[THE HCP]

It's bad ball, plain and simple.

 

[jlprk]

Key Arena was built brand new. The Coliseum was 100% torn down except for the 4 corner truss structures holding up the brand new roof. Wikipedia and others are wrong to call it a renovation, but the contractors said in articles at the time that it was all new. Some new parts may look similar, but I saw the 10-story high mountain of garbage when they tore down the Coliseum. They didn't take care to make things salvageable. It was a helter-skelter chaos of giant splinters.

Ford Center is only 5-6 years younger than Key Arena, and is no more adequate, yet Bennett required Seattle to build a half-billion arena, but not OKC.

 

[BGrantFan]

Key Arena was built brand new. The Coliseum was 100% torn down except for the 4 corner truss structures holding up the brand new roof. Wikipedia and others are wrong to call it a renovation, but the contractors said in articles at the time that it was all new. Some new parts may look similar, but I saw the 10-story high mountain of garbage when they tore down the Coliseum. They didn't take care to make things salvageable. It was a helter-skelter chaos of giant splinters.

Ford Center is only 5-6 years younger than Key Arena, and is no more adequate, yet Bennett required Seattle to build a half-billion arena, but not OKC.

You're wrong, but whatever. Believe what you want to believe.

 

[mobes23]

Keep in mind the lease arrangement that the Sonics had with Seattle was apparently much worse than the one the Thunder got in OKC. The bottomline dollarwise was also apparently pretty different. I don't know details, but Seattle sports talk radio has repeatedly said that the Sonics lease was one of the worst in the NBA.

Got to admit, I have gone to some Storm games and I enjoy it (does this mean I am about to be kicked off the board? Or worse, quoted on someone's sigfile?) Different style of game and you have to adjust your expectations, but it's a good time too. You just can't plan on it being the same as the NBA. In some ways, it reminds me of the NBA in the 70's -- more access to the players. There's less of the rockstar thing that NBA players have now. That all said, when the Sonics were still in play I heard a lot of Storm fans say they didn't care if the Sonics left. That attitude sucked and I've not been to a Storm game since the Sonics left.

 

[Ed O]

I live about four blocks from the Key (I could sense HCP's presence) and I doubt I'd consider going to a WNBA game. There are a lot of fans in the city, but there are a lot of fans of the Sounders, too... there's no accounting for why Seattle is such a freak show of a sports city.

There's no reason I want to see the Storm fail--in fact, I'm happy for the fans that bring their daughters or whatever--but it doesn't appeal to me at all. I know they are all significantly better players than I ever was (let alone what I am now) but... so what? I am bigger than many of them and I probably can (still!) outjump many of them. They are more skilled, and I give them that, but I don't find the ground-bound nature of the game thrilling in the least.

It has nothing to do with the fact that they're women nor that there is a heavier concentration of homosexual flavor to the whole experience... it's just a boring brand of basketball to me.

Ed O.

 

[THE HCP]

Key Arena was built brand new. The Coliseum was 100% torn down except for the 4 corner truss structures holding up the brand new roof. Wikipedia and others are wrong to call it a renovation, but the contractors said in articles at the time that it was all new. Some new parts may look similar, but I saw the 10-story high mountain of garbage when they tore down the Coliseum. They didn't take care to make things salvageable. It was a helter-skelter chaos of giant splinters.

Ford Center is only 5-6 years younger than Key Arena, and is no more adequate, yet Bennett required Seattle to build a half-billion arena, but not OKC.

You're set on your opinion aren't you? Oh well. OKC's arena is first rate! Gorgeous building in a brutally ugly town. Sorry brother, but you are very wrong about KEY. They just gutted the court area, that's it.

 

[jlprk]

I need to find the old articles. I used to have a couple in which the contractors said that nothing of any size had been re-used. I used to use them to argue with Okies on the ESPN Sonic board. They said Ford Center was new and Key was 45 years old.

Seattle sports talk radio has repeatedly said that the Sonics lease was one of the worst in the NBA...when the Sonics were still in play I heard a lot of Storm fans say they didn't care if the Sonics left. That attitude sucked and I've not been to a Storm game since the Sonics left.

The "worst" in the NBA is from the owners' point of view, not the taxpayers. It's the only one not subsidized. Wikipedia says, "KeyArena is the first publicly financed arena in the area fully supported by earned income from the building."

Non-basketball fans didn't care about the team, and after the owners started threatening to leave if they didn't get more tax money, even many Sonic fans became former Sonic fans, even before the team left. At the end, everyone, not just Storm fans, were saying they didn't care whether Bennett left.

 

[mobes23]

"Worst" pretty well covers it. It was so bad that it played a big role in making the main tenant leave. If it was a bargain to taxpayers, then I guess it was a bargain in the same way the Kingdome was. Cheap on the front end, but with a shelf life of 10-15 years. That doesn't cut it for public projects of that size and scope.

For what it's worth, I remember when they were renovating it and it was a hole covered by the huge support beams that are still there. It was essentially all new, but the problem was it was fit into the same footprint. Small inside, tiny concourses and not anything like a state of the art arena. Quaint, comfortable, but not up to date. It's a great place for the Storm and Seattle U, but not the NBA.

By the way, it cracks me up every time someone wonders out loud why Seattle keeps getting passed over for NCAA tournament games. The sub par arena pretty well covers it.

The last painful part of the whole thing was when the stupid politicians couldn't make it work with Ballmer's group ready to pay $200MM for a new arena. Huge money coming from the private sector and they biffed it.

 

[jlprk]

For what it's worth, I remember when they were renovating it and it was a hole covered by the huge support beams that are still there. It was essentially all new

At least someone agrees with me that it was all brand new (except for 1 giant girder left standing at each of 4 corners to support the new roof). Many websites (including Wikipedia) have it wrong and loosely use the words renovation or refurbishment.

 

[THE HCP]

At least someone agrees with me that it was all brand new (except for 1 giant girder left standing at each of 4 corners to support the new roof). Many websites (including Wikipedia) have it wrong and loosely use the words renovation or refurbishment.

You won't give up will you fams?

 

[jlprk]

Hey, what's it to ya, you puto?

 

[jlprk]

Didn't I once ask you what puto means and neither of us knew? All I know is that it's the ultimate insult among Hispanics.

 

[THE HCP]

Puta mean whore! You just called me a male whore.

 

[THE HCP]

Pinche puta =Fuckin' bitch! I like that one actually!