Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

(03-26-2015 02:22 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

It would accommodate your 300 fans just fine, it has 2 concession stands and 2 bathrooms

(03-26-2015 11:42 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:31 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:14 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Notice the 25 feet of empty space between first row and court, this isn't the blackham you remember, the place is a dump and I'm being polite. Nothing as ever as good as you remember it. The teams and the crowds made that place, we will have neither tonight.

So.... Does that mean you aren't going?

No, I'll be there like always... Like after Katrina, like in the dome for every game. Probably spend half the game in line either for beer or waiting for the bathroom like everyone else will be. Of all this talk locally how great it was, we will have a lackluster crowd just like we did after Katrina. There is a reason they let farm animals take a **** wherever they want in this place.

so just to clarify... you aren't a fan of this place?

(03-26-2015 02:56 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:42 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:31 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:14 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Notice the 25 feet of empty space between first row and court, this isn't the blackham you remember, the place is a dump and I'm being polite. Nothing as ever as good as you remember it. The teams and the crowds made that place, we will have neither tonight.

So.... Does that mean you aren't going?

No, I'll be there like always... Like after Katrina, like in the dome for every game. Probably spend half the game in line either for beer or waiting for the bathroom like everyone else will be. Of all this talk locally how great it was, we will have a lackluster crowd just like we did after Katrina. There is a reason they let farm animals take a **** wherever they want in this place.

so just to clarify... you aren't a fan of this place?

Haha.. To watch a rodeo, it's alright. Just tired of hearing about it like it some glorious place. It's not, the teams back then were amazing and the crowds were shoulder to shoulder... That's what made it. Otherwise it's a shthole as far as accommodating crowds nightly. You will literally spend half the game either trying to buy a beer or piss it out. Do I think it's kinda cool for this 1 gane situation? Yeah... Ok I can buy that. People have been calling in about the good ole days all week on local sports radio... Last time we played games here after Katrina it sucked... Bad. The seating configuration is no longer what it was back in the day, they aren't on the court anymore. The same thing people complain about in the cajundome is that's it's not intimate enough.. Well blackham isn't either anymore and the Facility sucks. In fact, last weekend the cajundome held a rodeo because blackham could no longer accommodate it. In a perfect world we would tear it down a build a new basketball only arena that would hold about 6-7k max with seats on top the court.

(03-26-2015 10:27 AM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(03-25-2015 04:19 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote:  Blackham Coliseum was fun in its day but I would rather this game being played in the Cajundome unless the Cajundome was booked and the only way we could host was to use Blackham

It doesn't give the opposing team a good impression of our prgram

I think the Cajundome is under renovations.

If it is packed like it was in some of the games I remember, it doesn't matter what it looks like. The fans made the difference. I always liked the place because it was an old school, in your face arena wyith a definite home court advantage. Push it for what it is...a throw back.

I remember 10,000+ attendance. I had the privilege of being in that number a few times over the years. Take a look at a couple of the home attendance figures in the second column of the 3rd page from the official final stats for 1978, just a few years after the "death penalty".

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFAr...ayette.pdf

It truly did seem like people were hanging from the rafters. In addition to an intense home crowd, we used to have three or four buses take fans over from Beaumont and a lot of people who just drove over. The same thing probably happened from Lake Charles. Even so, we were in the definite minority of an arena filled with rabid Ragin' Cajun fans. My first trip to Blackham gave me a lasting impression of the appropriate team name, "Ragin' Cajuns"...just a place filled with a lot of folks who loved the game of basketball and showed true support for their teams.

Take a look at the list of players. Even though they were on the other side, I enjoyed watching players like Andrew Toney, Kevin Figaro, and Dion Rainey,

I was at the Lamar game when they had 10,000+ people. It was one of the loudest intense games. Lamar always had players that could shoot the ball. Good thing they didn't have the 3pt shot.

The Southland conference had some major rivalries back then. Every Lamar, McNeese St, and La Tech game was intense. Tech had their Go to Hell USL chant.

We use to have a lighted decibel meter hanging. We would holler so loud to try and peak in down the poll till the red lights at the bottom would light up.

I remember when the PA Announcer would be introducing the opposing teams lineup, all the USL fans would have a newspaper pretending to be reading it to ignore the teams lineup and then he would ssay here is USL's lineup and everybody would rumple up the newspaper and throw it on the court.

What other school had Budman as their mascot. One of the funniest thngs was when we were pplaying McNeese and before the game both teams mascots were on the court. McNeese had a cowboy in one of those big cartoon suits with the big head and I believe we had Mr. Cajun a6t that time with the big head. The Cowboy kept tanting Mr. Cajun and they began fighting at mid-court. Where else can you see these 2 big cartoon head mascots fighting. It was actually hilarious!

What people don't understand that it wasn't the building that made Blackham but the crowds and teams that was there. The way they had the seating would put you almost on the court. The building itself wss embarrassing. We use to call it the Cow Palace because out back they had where they would keep the cows for the rodeos. You could smell the cow when you were inside. Smoking was permitted, so you would have this big cloud of smoke towsrds the top

(03-26-2015 12:06 PM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 11:14 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Notice the 25 feet of empty space between first row and court, this isn't the blackham you remember, the place is a dump and I'm being polite. Nothing as ever as good as you remember it. The teams and the crowds made that place, we will have neither tonight.

+1

That's what I remember. It was definitely all about the teams and the crowds. Even back in the "good old days", Blackham would have not been exceptional without the teams and the crowds. The building on its own is a fuzzy memory. On the other hand, the energy from the crowds is still a very vivid memory.

("...would not have been exceptional.." is not intended as a slam on Blackham. Heck, we were playing in a 4,200 McDonald Gym until 1981 (up to 5,000 for a few closed circuit tv added games if the fire marshals weren't around ).

In those 25 ft used to be wooden bleachers that the students would get so loud almost sitting on the court. During timeouts the opposing team would have to pull their chairs on the court to be able to hear the coach and get away from the football team who sat behind their bench

(03-26-2015 02:24 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:22 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

It would accommodate your 300 fans just fine, it has 2 concession stands and 2 bathrooms

I went to Southern not State.

(03-27-2015 01:06 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:24 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:22 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

It would accommodate your 300 fans just fine, it has 2 concession stands and 2 bathrooms

I went to Southern not State.

Wouldn't the comment be even more applicable for you guys?

(03-27-2015 01:20 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 01:06 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:24 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:22 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

It would accommodate your 300 fans just fine, it has 2 concession stands and 2 bathrooms

I went to Southern not State.

Wouldn't the comment be even more applicable for you guys?

Not typically, although they outdrew us last year. We were still ahead of them this year last I checked, but it was close so it may have changed.

(03-27-2015 01:35 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 01:20 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 01:06 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:24 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 02:22 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Ship Blackham over here if you're done with it. It looks like we could use it.

It would accommodate your 300 fans just fine, it has 2 concession stands and 2 bathrooms

I went to Southern not State.

Wouldn't the comment be even more applicable for you guys?

Not typically, although they outdrew us last year. We were still ahead of them this year last I checked, but it was close so it may have changed.

It was close, but they outdrew you guys by around 100/game.