A NEW Dean Dome ???

BobLee
October25/ 2013

Might the ABC mob’s #1 wet dream actually come true….. sorta?  Could “the rafters” be coming down?  VERY preliminary discussion has begun for A New  Dean Dome.  We’ll share some fascinating fodder with you.

The knee-jerk media covers the Fall Classic…… and with  falling leaves come broken hearts amid the color & pageantry. ……..

It is VERY preliminary but discussion has begun regarding the facility future of UNC Basketball….. what to do about the outmoded monolith of Skippa (Bowles) & Dean’s Dome ???  And you thought the only issue facing Tar Heel basketball was which meaningless games to sit PJ for.

Two quite different plans are being floated…..

(1) Keep the current legendary building but….. “gut the upper level”, reducing the current 20,000 seats to 16,000 and create  (Taa Daa) Corporate Suites in the vacated space.   Various other renovations would take place with the concourses et al.  The pee-walls?  Will they keep “the pee-walls”?

(2) Vacate the current legendary building altogether and relocate to a “less large” but “fancier” facility on Franklin Street on the current site of Granville Towers / University Square.  The University owns that property (betcha didn’t know that) and purchasing the necessary adjacent property would be simple enough.

Mucho “what abouts” surround THAT whizbang idea.

NOTE:  Any rumor that “Dickie” would be in ANY way involved in any discussion have already been squelched….. according to a post-it-note found stuck to Page 16 of the Jim Martin Report.  MUST be so.  Rumors that Dickie IS involved in rolling out ObamaCare are, however, probably all too true.

Will a focus group of 12 year old “urban youth with hop & game” be consulted to be sure THEY like the proposed facilty?  Sure, why not!

I put the odds at 99% for a version of #1.  I officially don’t care other than the oodles of ooey gooey column fodder discussion of either plan or a Plan C or D would generate.

The BobLee Plan involves a retractable dome over Kenan with a BkBall floor placed next to The Blue Zone.  I’m currently building a scale mini-model out of popscicle sticks and legos.

I’ve never cared for the current building and have routinely turned down freebies that were not “lower level” – with a parking pass – and with someone whose company I enjoy.

When Skippa and Dean and Little Johnny were designing the legendary edifice there were only two similar facilities in the country – Rupp Arena and The Delta Center in Utah.   Assumptions were made about long term usage and away they went raising donor $$$$…. on the euphoric heels (pun intended) of the 1982 Michael’s Jumper vs Georgetown.

The #1 assumption that quickly proved erroneous was that the building would be a regional hub for concerts, circuses, et al.   More better facilities in Greensboro and Charlotte quickly kiboshed that ill-conceived notion.   Without that projected event revenue, Ye Olde Dome became “a ward of the state” requiring a substantial annual tax-payer operating subsidy…… as every sniping ABCer is taught at birth.

Oops #2 was bestowing Eternal Rights to lower level seating for all of Skippa’s deep-pocket pals who anted-up.   UNC is now in to the 3rd generation of granddaddy’s donation.

I don’t fault Skippa and Dean and Little Johnny for their decisions 30 years ago.   Hindsight is the weapon of choice for cynics who lack bold vision.   Of course the line between “bold visionary” and “crackpot” is often smudged.   Refer to my plan above for The Kenan Dome …..

Personally I cannot imagine a LESS opportune time to begin such discussion.  The athletics v academics cloud over UNC-CH ain’t going away any time soon.   Roy’s tenure as UNC BkB coach is, to be kind, “murky”.

Is there anything “Roy being Roy” could say or do that would leave UNC officials no choice but to take him down with a tranquilizer dart and cart him off to “an undisclosed location” to live out his life playing solitaire with a deck of 51.  If there is such a circumstance I have complete faith in Roy saying or doing it.

UNC Basketball WILL exist in a post-Roy World for sure….. but even the most optimistic vision of that world says prepare to hold your nose and yearn forlornly for “the good ol Pre-Julius days”.   Many already do that.

The foreseeable future of Big Time College Basketball says “it’s in a PJ-CJ Death Spiral” now.  That is only going to escalate.   “Winning at the highest level” has become more and more a matter of shamefully wooing the less toxic PJ-types and hoping you get a year or so of on-court heroics from them before they go BOOM and create yet another institutional poop-stain.

The socio-cultural chasm between the gladiators and the spectators is already wider than Kim Kardashian’s butt or The Straits of Hormuz, whichever is wider.  Will the grandsons of Skippa’s friends ante up to fawn over such a bizarre Clockwork Orange world?   I certainly won’t but I didn’t the first time.

And there is the ever-growing threat of HDTV and bazillions of competing sports networks encouraging you to stay away from expensive visits to cavernous arenas and to watch the games in the uncomplicated comfort of your Man-Cave.

This discussion is just beginning…… soooo many knees to jerk and foolish opines to come.

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Somewhat related….. it is October 25.   I can name THREE ACC basketball players – PJ, McAdoo and, I assume, there is still at least one Plumlee at Duke.   I cannot name ONE State player although I am sure they are all incredibly fine young men, paragons of academic virtue and every mother’s dream.   Right BK?

I still cannot name 50% of the ACC BkB coaches.   And…. I do not feel any compulsion whatsoever to better familiarize myself with the coming season.   Color me disinterested.   Sure, I’ll pick up some factoids along the way and I’ll probably watch “most” of the 2-3 “Big Games” that will DOMINATE the local sports media for their Warhol moments.

I’m not criticizing any of you who remain mesmerized by this annual Rite of Winter.  I’ve simply chosen to move on with my personal “give a damn” list.  I made my decision long before PJ got pulled-over.

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Late Wednesday night and thru the day Thursday alls I could read/hear was how:

“It’s All Over….. Red Sox have it in the bag….. Invoke the 10-run rule….”

THEN from 8 PM Thursday until around 11:30 PM….. it all somehow changed.  Now alls you read/hear is:

“The Cardinals Kiddie Korps of Great Young Pitchers may dominate MLB for the next decade!….. It’s All Over….. Hang another banner in the shadow of The Arch….. harness The Clydesdales for The Victory Parade….”

Flip – Flop – Flip – Flop …….

Another sad commentary of how the national sports media plays to a knee-jerk “board monkey” audience.   I’ve noted on numerous occasions how sports reporting no longer “reports” or researches.   They simply check their twitter feeds for whatever the mob is screeching about in the moment….. and then throw raw meat speculation at said mob.  Yum yum…. eat it up.

Can you imagine aliens from another galaxy looking in and enduring Erin Andrews doing a post-game on-field interview ???  Aaaarrgghhhh.

Your FB coach goes “three & out” in the first series of the first game in early September and “the death watch” officially begins.   Fire_____.com goes up and some nitwit buys a billboard.

Yeah.  I know you get tired of me telling you what a putrid cancer this “board monkey” mentality has become.   But if I didn’t, you might become one yourself….. if you haven’t already.   Sigh…. sob….. sniff.

Week Whatever of Big Time College FB…. and “the Haves” are starting to play one another.  That is sure to mean scary days ahead for temporarily popular coaches who are one bad Saturday from “being Dabo-ed”.

Colin Cowherd just reported:  Nick Saban publicly criticizes Bama fans …. for LEAVING EARLY! ….. so SEC now acting like ACC.  Yeee Haaaa!

Our radio guests on Saturday (1:30 on 97.9) are two student activists in promoting UNC School Spirit.   Be nice BobLee….. be nice……  Moi?  I’m always nice.   ☺

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