Stegeman Symbiosis

I'd like to come back to an ingredient from the meatloaf, more specifically a point raised by Exile. Stegeman is struggling under it's new identity as a soldout, or nearly soldout venue. And while I agree with my favorite misplaced southerner, I can relate to what's going on at the campus arena on game nights.


Two points:


1. I've only been to two games this season, but they were both at or near capacity crowds. The audience goes from deafeningly volatile to deafeningly silent. The students in the UGA Speedo Guy's section and Rocky's section are unbelievably distracting and quiet at the right times. It seems like the rest of us (yes, I'm including myself) just kind get caught watching what's going on and waiting for something to force us out of our seats.


2. Another problem I see is that there are many parts of the upper level that when you sit there you feel separated from the action, distant. This is a problem in many arenas, unlike in Sanford there's a feeling of solitude (for lack of a better word) and an uneasiness about interrupting what's going on down on the floor. Hard to adequately explain and now that I've typed it out twice and retried, I'm pretty sure I'm doing a crappy job. But if you've been in both Sanford and Stegeman, you probably get it.


Anyway, both of these need to be addressed in the next few hours. Tonight's a big BIG game and the two problems listed above aren't just Stegeman issues, plenty of other teams face similar problems and overcome it by doing one thing...winning.


And to win, the team has to continue to play above the boards...and the fans have to make it harder for the other team to do so. Tonight it's Xavier. If given the choice of taking one of two friends, please take the louder of the two.