We Need a New Ambience at Moody

[MFFL02]

IF I win the lottery I will buy Darrell Arthur for four years!

[RGV Pony]

It's not very exciting at all. Students don't yell and the cheerleaders hardly cheer.

...take me back 10 yrs to the day, nothing is different. Same announcer, same everything. They have added some sound effects this year which happen at the wrong time all game.

Scoreboard is such a joke it's not even funny. My church gym has a better scoreboard.

Moody is 50 yrs old and just needs to be ravamped - we all know that. Practice courts with offices, wider concourse, new everything.

Funny you mention that. Saturday night it struck me that the last time I was at a home bball game, the football team was still playing games at the Cotton Bowl. You're not kidding about things being exactly the same...only the atmosphere has fallen off a notch or three. Good to see that it's still a cluster**** outside the willcall ticket booth. Imagine if there were 6 or 7000 at a game. As for widening the concourses, that would be the easiest...and most noticeable...upgrade to realize. Anyone who flies regularly has seen the difference made when concourses get widened (look at where the skylink lobbies are now, compared to before). And there's room to do it. Widen the concourses, replace the lighting, new scoreboard, touch up the upper seating bowl, reconfigure the lower and a new floor. That's it.

[EastStang]

A cozy arena is a plus if the students show up. Cameron Indoor is a dump. But when full of Duke students abusing the other team and coaches its a tough place for visitors to play. Moody can be that way as well, but the student's have to show up. Perhaps they need to install a WYFI system in the gym so all the students can text sit at Moody and not miss their text messages and can play their computer games as well on their laptops. I can see them now, "OMG, did you see what Amber is wearing tonight. Pink on yellow, what was she thinking?"

[HixsontoLeVias]

....I'm not a smart man, but...winnning might change the atmosphere a bit, don't ya think....all this wide isles, sky lights, gussied up this and that don't mean a thing with 2500 folks watching a 11-15 team....

[Pony_Fan]

....I'm not a smart man, but...winnning might change the atmosphere a bit, don't ya think....all this wide isles, sky lights, gussied up this and that don't mean a thing with 2500 folks watching a 11-15 team....

That is obvious, but changes need to be made.

[White Helmet]

For a new Ambience you could go with less ambivilence from students and administrators.

[abezontar]

It might also help if we actually marketed to the Dallas community, rather than just sit back and expect them to show up because we exist.

[Water Pony]

Surprise from Water Pony.

Build a New Moody with practice courts, which also would support Women's Volleyball. But we still need a new Natatorium too.

With the old Moody, insert a long course pool, 50 Meters by 25 yards (competitive lenghts), and a diving well and tower.

Does anyone remember that Perkins Natatorium used to be a gym? History repeats itself.

Yeah, baby.

[abezontar]

I say we renovate Moody, put the long course pool and diving well on one side of the court, and then sell tickets and let the kids play in the pool during games.

[smupony]

...did anyone else in the southside seats get tired of that damned strobe light going off almost every :30 seconds last night like I did? It was the light in the northwest corner of the coliseum. Will someone in operations maintenance please fix the damned thing before the next home game! I still have blue dots floating around in front of me today!

Update Moody...but don't EVER tear it down! It's historic and part of the campus' overall ambience. And...if it were torn down, you'd have to move the Mustang statues in front that face Airline Drive during the construction period. That sounds like something an Aggie would do. Build it, tear it down, build it again.

That flashing is from the game photographer...It is his remote flash...That flash creates the light he needs without having it on the floor to distract the players...All basketball photographers use this technoogy...I've noticed it and yes it can become annoying...

[Dukie]

Cameron Indoor is a dump.

EastStang, have you ever been to CIS? It's no dump. The last time a reasonable observer could have called it a dump was in the mid-80's before the first serious renovation, and now that Duke has poured millions into updating everything about it, widening the concourses, and moving out the coaches and other offices, it's state-of-the-art. All SMU really needs is a practice facility that can also house the coaches' offices and other random things that have long been housed in Moody, then widen the concourses and re-paint. Significant $$, sure, but not the megabucks some seem to think.

[EastStang]

No I admit, I haven't been recently. But its no Dean Smith Center, or Comcast Center either. Its an old gym with students close to the action. I'm glad they touched it up a bit.

[DiamondM]

I did not just hear you compare that cavernous laundromat of a dome to CIS. Small does not equal dump and large, ugly, light blue, and full of laundry announcing their 8th place finish in a 12 team tournament in 1962 does not equal state of the art. But, of course, I'm biased.

More to the point, Cameron still has some issues despite the many upgrades over the past 10-15 years. Unless there has been serious construction and demolition since 2002, concessions are still quite limited and shoved into corners. Moody's concessions could actually be considered an improvement over CIS. I think they may have fewer women's bathrooms than Moody, although they are quite posh. But all that is not important. If you're Duke, and the rest of the game atmosphere is great, few are going to complain about crowds in the concourse, slow concessionaires, and long walks to the facilities. We don't have that luxury. We HAVE to improve the facilities to make it a pleasant experience because a few ill-timed sound effects, crappy introductory music for the team, and silence that overpowers the squeak of sneakers just doesn't cut it. I will never understand why people here, including students, and even at times the spirit organizations, don't understand that when someone starts a cheer it is quite normal and encouraged to actually join in.

[CalallenStang]

Cameron Indoor is a dump.

EastStang, have you ever been to CIS? It's no dump. The last time a reasonable observer could have called it a dump was in the mid-80's before the first serious renovation, and now that Duke has poured millions into updating everything about it, widening the concourses, and moving out the coaches and other offices, it's state-of-the-art. All SMU really needs is a practice facility that can also house the coaches' offices and other random things that have long been housed in Moody, then widen the concourses and re-paint. Significant $$, sure, but not the megabucks some seem to think.

I've been to CIS. Heck, I've stood on the FLOOR at CIS. And while I would not call it a dump, I would say that it is pretty comparable to Moody (when both are empty). You could even say that Moody is BETTER than CIS...which one has air conditioning? It's not the one in Durham.

CIS is NOT "state-of-the-art," as you say it is, Dukie. What makes it such a great arena are the fans. If the Mustang Maniacs were anything close to the Cameron Crazies (and SMU's basketball program was anything close to Duke's) you would hear the sports announcers salivating over Moody just as much as they salivate over CIS.

Really quick...let's compare.

CIS:



Moody:


(not a great pic of Moody, but we've all been inside anyway)

[DickerJames]

Thanks for the pics Cameron, its uncanny how much the two arenas resemble each other. I notice the band occupies a small portion of the endzone bleachers with fans (sudents?) sitting next to them. Also, is that short blue wall in front of the sideline bleachers what allows students or paying fans to sit behind the visitor bench? If so that is an easy fix for us.