Sunday, February 13, 2005
A legend in need of replacing
Finally visited Pauley pavilion to watch the Cats spank the Bruins. The Cats seemed to toy with the Bruins in the first half & then finally after Lute got pissed went on a 19-0 run & then coasted to victory from there.
Impressions of Pauley?
Incredibly small - far smaller than the 12,681 crowd would seem. Believe there's only 2 bathrooms & 2 inside concession (some concessions outside) & 2 teenie tiny souvenir stands. Hard to believe that so many great Basketball championships came from such a small, almost high schoolish arena. Very small place with plenty of exits for leaving, but limited ability to move around. Incredible the contrast to Rupp Arena built only 10 years later; Rupp seats 23,600 and sits inside a Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Lexington - truly an impressive arena. Amazing the UCLA never updated or enlarged or expanded Pauley during its glory days of the 60-70's. Heard talk a few years back about replacing it, but obviously nothing came of it.
Odd how poor LA is for sports stadiums. Rose Bowl is ancient and uncomfortable - bench type seating with minimal leg room & takes forever to walk up the ramp during the Rose Bowl. Dodger stadium is really showing its age - looked decrepit when we visited last year & what's up with the outer parking not having overhead walkways so you don't have run across two roads of traffic. The Coliseum makes you feel like you're in the next county if you're sitting in the famous end zone. Only Staples can be considered state-of-the-art, and its only been in existence for ~5 years.
On the up side, I can't see the city ever coughing up the big dough that NFL wants & so many other cities have given to the NFL, so maybe having such 2nd & 3rd rate sports facilities is just a sign of LA's confidence in itself & its refusal to kowtow to the various sports leagues.
Impressions of Pauley?
Incredibly small - far smaller than the 12,681 crowd would seem. Believe there's only 2 bathrooms & 2 inside concession (some concessions outside) & 2 teenie tiny souvenir stands. Hard to believe that so many great Basketball championships came from such a small, almost high schoolish arena. Very small place with plenty of exits for leaving, but limited ability to move around. Incredible the contrast to Rupp Arena built only 10 years later; Rupp seats 23,600 and sits inside a Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Lexington - truly an impressive arena. Amazing the UCLA never updated or enlarged or expanded Pauley during its glory days of the 60-70's. Heard talk a few years back about replacing it, but obviously nothing came of it.
Odd how poor LA is for sports stadiums. Rose Bowl is ancient and uncomfortable - bench type seating with minimal leg room & takes forever to walk up the ramp during the Rose Bowl. Dodger stadium is really showing its age - looked decrepit when we visited last year & what's up with the outer parking not having overhead walkways so you don't have run across two roads of traffic. The Coliseum makes you feel like you're in the next county if you're sitting in the famous end zone. Only Staples can be considered state-of-the-art, and its only been in existence for ~5 years.
On the up side, I can't see the city ever coughing up the big dough that NFL wants & so many other cities have given to the NFL, so maybe having such 2nd & 3rd rate sports facilities is just a sign of LA's confidence in itself & its refusal to kowtow to the various sports leagues.
