Two Cameron Weaknesses
Both could be so much better than they are
Cameron Indoor Stadium has come a long way. In the old days, it was a much more spartan arena. Instead of wood paneling, there was a metal blue rail around the top and relatively thin wood below that.
There are also a lot of banners, retired jerseys and signs of immense achievement around the rafters, including five national championships, all of which is amazing.
Add in the Hall of Fame addition, the new plaza out front and the Nike store, and the environment is vastly improved from what it used to be, not that it was bad then. It’s always been a blast.
There are two things we want to mention and one looks back and the other looks forward.
Looking back: honestly, can we give up the cheer sheets? Oppo research is fine, but planning the cheers ahead of time just kind of takes the spontaneity out of it. Here are some great spontaneous cheers from the past:
- One, two, three, four! Shaq can’t play this game no more!
- In-Hale! Ex-Hale!
- You Shot The Sheriff! You Shot The Sheriff!
The first one was when Shaquille O’ Neal fouled out. The second was when UNC’s Steve Hale had a collapsed lung. And the final one was when a dreadlocked opponent went to the line. He laughed so hard he had to step away and recompose himself. It was unbelievably funny. Bob Marley would have loved it.
Bonus cheer: when Jim Valvano protested a call, the Crazies chanted Sit! Sit! Sit! So, proving he knew how to win them over, he sat on the floor.
Then they chanted Roll Over! Roll Over! Roll Over!
And proving he knew when to stop, he declined.
They still loved him for it.
All of those things were off the cuff and that’s when Cameron is great. We love the research but pre-planned cheers are kind of lame. They’re still better than Arizona’s awful U! Of! A! U! Of! A! U! Of! A! cheer/sedative, which is at least 40 years old, possibly more, but it’s not what Cameron should be. Cameron should be Mardi Gras for basketball and that means spontaneity.
In the present: WiFi for crowds is difficult. We get it. But in Cameron it’s almost impossible, and, well, it’s 2023. It should, and could, be better.
There is a valid reason to not have great WiFi, and that’s so you pay attention to the damn game instead of your phone. Makes perfect sense. But there are at least a couple of reasons why you might want to use your phone.
To keep up with stats.
To keep up with situations outside the gym that might need monitoring...work, family, whatever. You may need to know something important.
Okay, and the third is to keep up with other scores. If UNC is going down hard, people will want to know about it.
Right now, it’s almost impossible to get WiFi in Cameron and at times it’s just easier to hope/pray for a decent cell signal.
This is probably not a huge priority but it’s one element that’s keeping Cameron from being all that it could be. We just wish it was better, particularly for those who may have some sort of critical family situation they need to monitor.