Yes, March Madness has officially kicked off folks (we can put aside Danny Sass's contention that the Madness begins later in the month--clearly it begins with the first day of March, the whole month is madness baby! as Dickie V might say). And while Michigan looks to come closer to an NCAA Tournament bid that has eluded them for 11 years in thier final regualar-season game at Minnesota on Saturday, much debate continues these days over the Wolverines' home venue, Crisler Arena. 
Unfortunately I was unable to attend a recent class excursion to the previous game against Minnesota on Feb. 19, but my memory serves up enough to say about the arena without a recent visit. If you know me, first things first: it's spelled C-R-I-S-L-E-R people!! Too many times in my career here at UM have I seen it spelled like the downward-spiraling automaker, Chrysler. Fritz Crisler is one of the great pioneers of this university, and his name should certainly not be overlooked--especially since many of us may have never heard of Michigan if not for Crisler's contributions! Remember those winged helmets?
As for the gameday experience lately at Crisler Arena, I am likely agreeing with most when I say it is no Cameron Indoor Stadium. Now I'm not one to sit here and whine about the speaker system (which is poor) or the lighting (which is poorer), but I'll tell you one thing I will make a fuss about--that being the win-loss record of recent squads. And to me, I feel this is the tell-all reason behind such complaints about Crisler. Put it this way, if UM had been consistently winning and appearing in March's Big Dance, nobody would care what shape the arena is in or about its numerous shortcomings. I'm from the school of thought that winning is everything, and in this case Michigan hasn't done that, so other non-important issues are being put on the table.
No, Crisler Arena is not one of the country's more illuminated, excited, or unique venues to visit--actually quite the opposite--but then again, neither is its product. I could write that all aspects of the Crisler experience need to be improved, and they likely could with a few tweaks here and there, but the bottomline is that it has been the absence of a winning product that has allowed fan eyes to wander and find various 'problems' with UM's home atmosphere. But in reality these are no real problems. Crisler has a roof, it has a court--let's play ball! Who cares about the pep band and the student section and concessions and game entertainment? All those things will improve with the team's performance, not the other way around. Just think, that's why recent efforts to improve these areas of Crisler have failed--the product is simply not there! Without winning on the court, bolstering arena atmosphere is a steep challenge by itself and maintaining any improvements even harder.
1 comment:
Tell me about it! C R I S L E R is still my last name and I laugh when people refer to me being Lee Iacoca's grand daughter! Even though Fritz was my grandfather, he was a great innovator for the game of football as a whole. Thank you for remembering him as such. So refreshing to find comments like yours online about Fritz.
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