Arena Wars: Cameron Indoor vs. Dean Smith Center
Poll
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Each week we pit two arenas and fans against each. Could be arenas of rival teams, arenas with similar characteristics or arenas that are simply historically significant. Then it's put up to vote and you decide which arena has the greatest home-court advantage.
Next week we'll pit all the weekly winners against each other in one final showdown, but before then we have one final battle royale left and it's only fitting it features arguably the biggest rivalry in college basketball -- Duke vs. North Carolina.
For a program with Duke's success and reputation, it's hard to believe they play in an arena that only seats 9,300. But the students and fans who pack Cameron Indoor Stadium, affectionately known as the Cameron Crazies, are as rabid as they come. It has become tradition for students to set up tents outside the stadium weeks before a big game (read: UNC) to ensure their place inside for the festivities. The Blue Devils are 737-150 in Cameron Indoor since its opening in 1940.
By comparison, North Carolina's Dean E. Smith Center, named for the Tar Heels' longtime former coach, is a behemoth that seats 21,750. Opened in 1986, it replaced an arena similar in size to Cameron Indoor, 10,000-seat Carmichael Auditorium. They've had little trouble filling the seats, annually ranking among the nation's attendance leaders. The Tar Heels have posted a record of 279-51 in the Dean Dome.
If you've visited either of this week's featured arenas, chip in with your experiences in the message board below.
| Cameron Indoor Stadium -- home of the Duke Blue Devils | ||||||||||||
The stadium cost $400,000 to build, eventually paid for by the football team's trips to the Rose and Sugar bowls. Over the next few decades, some of the greatest to ever play the game passed through its doors. Names like Jordan, Thompson, Bias, Duncan, Laettner, Worthy and Hill have competed in this grand cathedral. The sidelines have been roamed by countless coaching legends: Smith, Williams, Driesell and Valvano to name a few. None have been better, though, than Mike Krzyzewski, Duke head basketball coach for the past 28 seasons. Under Coach K, Duke's dominance has been unparalleled, leading the university to rename the floor Coach K Court, honoring his 500th win at Duke in 2001.
The tradition began in 1986 in anticipation of Duke's annual contest with North Carolina and has been a Cameron staple ever since. As early as December, fans begin setting up their tents in hope of getting a coveted ticket to the big game. Sometimes as many as 12 students will call a tent home at one time. Krzyzewskiville is part of the culture at Duke, as the majority of its students will spend a night in a tent eventually.
Cameron Indoor Stadium might be best known for its inhabitants. The Cameron Crazies have called Durham home for years now and strike fear in Duke's opponents. With bodies covered in blue and white, constant jumping up and down as well as well-orchestrated chants, the Cameron Crazies are Cameron Indoor Stadium. -- Duke Fan |
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| Dean E. Smith Center -- home of the North Carolina Tar Heels | ||||||||||||
The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, named after the legendary Tar Heels coach, has been the home of the North Carolina Tar Heels since 1986 and seats an amazing 21,750-plus fans within its walls. The Tar Heels hold a record of 279-51 (.845) in the Dean Dome and have gone undefeated in the building three times in the past 23 years. Opposing players routinely talk about the awe they feel each time they walk out on to the floor, their heads tilted back and eyes wide, staring at the rafters. From end to end, the building bellows heritage and success with banners from multiple ACC regular-season championships (34), ACC tournament championships (25), Final Fours (18), and national championships (5) hanging from the rafters -- so many that even in this gargantuan space, the program is running out of room in which to commemorate its successes.
While in the past, the crowd in the Dean Dome might have had a "wine and cheese" reputation, in recent years it has become younger and more energetic, creating one of the premier atmospheres in college basketball. When the Tar Heels knocked off No. 1 UConn in 2004, coach Jim Calhoun said, "I don't know what they are talking about because there was no 'wine and cheese' crowd here today." In 2006, after the Heels took down the eventual national title runner-up Ohio State Buckeyes, coach Thad Matta said, "I think I've never been in a building that was as loud as that building was at times." Within a cacophony of cheering and a sea of Carolina Blue, the excitement and passion of Tar Heel Nation come to a head in the Dean Dome. Attend the annual game against Duke, widely considered to be one the best rivalry games in sports, and certainly the best in college basketball, and you have a dream come true for any real sports fan, Tar Heel or not.
The history, the tradition, the success, the players, the coaches, the wins -- they all add up to one thing. One of the greatest programs housed in one of the most "special" arenas in all of college basketball. -- Mindscape9 |
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| Gary Parrish's take |
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The only thing I hate more than Saved By the Bell are people who like Saved By the Bell. You know them, right?
They walk around quoting episodes and laughing at each other, primarily because once upon a time somebody told them Saved By the Bell is cool. Or, more likely, that it's cool to like Saved By the Bell. So they like Saved By the Bell and swear it was the best show of my teenage years while failing to realize they are merely part of a huge cliché. And that's why I hate Saved By the Bell and the people who like it. In other words, when a bunch of people say something is great, I usually say it isn't. The Beatles and Cameron Indoor Stadium are two exceptions to that rule. As Chuck Klosterman once pointed out, the Beatles are seen as the single most important rock band of all-time because they are the single most important rock band of all-time. Likewise, Cameron Indoor Stadium is considered the single best college basketball arena in the nation because it is the single best college basketball arena in the nation. It's one of the few places that actually matches the hype. One of the few places that has made me take a step back (more like a slight lean backwards in my chair at press row, but you get the point) and truly appreciate how fortunate I am to have my job. Cameron Indoor is that cool. It's small enough to be intimate, historic enough to be meaningful and the home of one of our sport's great basketball programs. Everything that happens there is bigger than similar things that happen elsewhere. For instance, there were all sorts of players who hit eight 3-pointers and scored 24 points in a game last season, but the only one I remember is Jimmy Baron. Why? Because he did it against Duke ... at Duke ... inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. That's what made the performance special. So with all due respect to the Dean Dome, this shouldn't really be a competition. The common opinion among college basketball fans is that Cameron Indoor Stadium is the best, and -- unlike Saved By the Bell -- it really is exactly what the people who love it think it is. People say it's great because it is great, by far the top combination of environment and high-level hoops this world offers. |
