The Coliseum at WVU is one of the loudest college basketball arenas in the US and I experienced it first-hand a few times this year. The last time I was at the game, I glanced up and saw the roof. Maybe the pattern on the roof has something to do with the reverberations of the screaming voices. Either way, if you stare at it too long you get disoriented and dizzy. Trust me, I know from experience!
The scoreboard at most basketball arenas is a huge box-like contraption that hangs over the court (see below). From my perch in the stands, the whole thing did not instill much confidence. Imagine running around like ants on the floor, knowing that above your head is this huge gravity-defying monstrosity that is held in place by just a few cables that stretch up to the roof.
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It is amazing how well they have designed these arenas though. Still have fond memories of Fleet Center with my (erudite) 6-year-old appreciating the finer points of the game and shouting "Defense" when appropriate, while the 3-year-old at her first NBA game was happy to be there amidst all the action and with nobody asking her to be quiet!
And thank heavens for these jumbotrons - else one would need opera-glasses to view the games from some of the nose-bleed seats up in the higher reaches...
In a sense the Coliseum is an anachronism, a throwback to a less commercial, more low-income-fan-friendly time.
* It is still called the Coliseum, and not some kooky name such as the Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field (as our football stadium is now called in return for a few million bucks from the eponymous gentleman).
* There are no corporate boxes.
*It seats only about 15,000. And the students (the ones who REALLY make all the noise) can sit courtside (on a first-come-first occupies basis) and one side of the court is set aside for them. And while the nose-bleed sections are not ones for those who are acrphobic, the view of the players and the court is quite clear - much clearer than I have experienced at some NBA arenas.
Though, I fear, it is a matter of time before they tear it down and change its identity...especially after the way John Beilein coached teams have caught the eye of a larger nationwide audience of late.
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