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I was fortunate enough to be in the SF Bay area today and able to get tickets for my wife and I for the game.
After hearing and reading conversations here about USF and their gym, I felt a little prepared for what we were going to experience. But unless you actually go to a game at USF, I don't think anything will prepare you.
We arrived to the game about 2 hours prior to tip-off. I didn't time the drive from Sonoma very well and we arrived a bit early. The early arrival was okay, though, as we were able to get a decent, free, parking space and we had time for my wife to grab a Starbucks. We walked through the campus a bit and that was okay.
At 11:30 we got in the will-call line and got our tickets and went in. Now, when people on here mentioned the USF gym as being small, they weren't kidding. I have no idea how many people were there, but 4,500 is definately a stretch. The building is pretty run down and reminisant of an aged high school gym. We were in the reserved upper section of the bleachers and our feet stuck to the floor due to consession spills over time. I was able to see their wall of fame, where a bust of Bill Russle hung. That was pretty nice to see and for a minute i was able to picture what it would have been like to see him and those strong USF teams play.
Our seats were decent, but we were just three rows up from the pathway that the crowd walked on to get to their seats. This posed a bit of a problem as it was often-times hard to see the game... kinda like when/if someone keeps walking back and forth in front of your TV set as a game is playing. The atmosphere felt nothing like any college hoops game I had ever been to.
But then the game started. And the boys on the court changed this perception a bit. The gym became louder and louder, Libbey began making his horrible calls, and THIS WAS COLLEGE BASKETBALL!
But the most surreal part of this experience was this:
USF outsourced their security to a company who's employees where yellow jackets with CSC Crowd Security on their back. In our section, one of these employees, who's looks like Borat from The Ali G show, was actually taunting Gonzaga fans. He was yelling things like GU Sucks, Adam Morrison ain't here no more. You guys suck. Spokane Sucks. San Francisco!
At halftime I contemplated letting another security person know about his actions, but did not.
So on to the second half, where Ali G starts at it again, this time more intense. And now he's standing on the pathway in front of many of us, watching the game, taunting the players with you guys suck, go back home, etc., etc. So I yell his way "Hey, get out of the way or go buy a ticket." And a fan next to us is asking him to get out of the way as well.
He turns and says (this is not a joke) "What?!? I'm security here, I can do what I want! I'm securoty" So now there are more than just a couple of GU fans getting back at this guy, who thinks his yellow jacket affords him to do whatever he damned well pleases.
Just then, a young woman whom I guessed to be on the USF staff cuts in and tells the guy he's got to go. And then he starts arguing with her! So the GU fans are a bit hot and this gal starts apologizing, saying that they outsource the security for this game, etc., etc. I'm sorry. Very Sorry, sir.
Anyway, he gets removed and the game goes into OT and the Zags roll 'em in the extra period. We leave the gym and on our way out I see Bouldin coming through to get to the visitor's locker room and give him a high-five on a great game... with all the surrealness aside, a pretty good ending to a good, hard faught WCC contest.
After hearing and reading conversations here about USF and their gym, I felt a little prepared for what we were going to experience. But unless you actually go to a game at USF, I don't think anything will prepare you.
We arrived to the game about 2 hours prior to tip-off. I didn't time the drive from Sonoma very well and we arrived a bit early. The early arrival was okay, though, as we were able to get a decent, free, parking space and we had time for my wife to grab a Starbucks. We walked through the campus a bit and that was okay.
At 11:30 we got in the will-call line and got our tickets and went in. Now, when people on here mentioned the USF gym as being small, they weren't kidding. I have no idea how many people were there, but 4,500 is definately a stretch. The building is pretty run down and reminisant of an aged high school gym. We were in the reserved upper section of the bleachers and our feet stuck to the floor due to consession spills over time. I was able to see their wall of fame, where a bust of Bill Russle hung. That was pretty nice to see and for a minute i was able to picture what it would have been like to see him and those strong USF teams play.
Our seats were decent, but we were just three rows up from the pathway that the crowd walked on to get to their seats. This posed a bit of a problem as it was often-times hard to see the game... kinda like when/if someone keeps walking back and forth in front of your TV set as a game is playing. The atmosphere felt nothing like any college hoops game I had ever been to.
But then the game started. And the boys on the court changed this perception a bit. The gym became louder and louder, Libbey began making his horrible calls, and THIS WAS COLLEGE BASKETBALL!
But the most surreal part of this experience was this:
USF outsourced their security to a company who's employees where yellow jackets with CSC Crowd Security on their back. In our section, one of these employees, who's looks like Borat from The Ali G show, was actually taunting Gonzaga fans. He was yelling things like GU Sucks, Adam Morrison ain't here no more. You guys suck. Spokane Sucks. San Francisco!
At halftime I contemplated letting another security person know about his actions, but did not.
So on to the second half, where Ali G starts at it again, this time more intense. And now he's standing on the pathway in front of many of us, watching the game, taunting the players with you guys suck, go back home, etc., etc. So I yell his way "Hey, get out of the way or go buy a ticket." And a fan next to us is asking him to get out of the way as well.
He turns and says (this is not a joke) "What?!? I'm security here, I can do what I want! I'm securoty" So now there are more than just a couple of GU fans getting back at this guy, who thinks his yellow jacket affords him to do whatever he damned well pleases.
Just then, a young woman whom I guessed to be on the USF staff cuts in and tells the guy he's got to go. And then he starts arguing with her! So the GU fans are a bit hot and this gal starts apologizing, saying that they outsource the security for this game, etc., etc. I'm sorry. Very Sorry, sir.
Anyway, he gets removed and the game goes into OT and the Zags roll 'em in the extra period. We leave the gym and on our way out I see Bouldin coming through to get to the visitor's locker room and give him a high-five on a great game... with all the surrealness aside, a pretty good ending to a good, hard faught WCC contest.
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