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Message: [QUOTE="joct, post: 204820, member: 2001"] Newbie poster here, who lives in CT. I've met some of the regulars and an admin or two over the years, but it has been a while. Thought this would be a fun place to join in. I was at Storrs last night. While yes, some Cuse fans egged it on a little, and yes, some visitors get a rude welcome at the dome, I couldn't believe the environment at Gampel for a big-time game. Fans will go as far as they can -- my issue is what they were allowed to get away with. This isn't to implicate every UConn fan, but speak to the general atmosphere we saw: [LIST] [*]Walking on the concourse between the upper and lower deck, we had the same *beeping* things yelled at us as Joyce. They were yelled with extreme intensity while leaning over the railings as far as they could lean, and my wife was actually hit a couple of times -- which crosses the line. She became pretty nervous after that. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]I don't know if the people in Yellow "Event Staff" jackets counted as security, but if so, it was awful / non-existent. We could see wrappers and plastic bottles flying out to that area, at SU fans (even some instigating), with nothing done. I saw one of the "security" guys just kick it aside and laugh. Say what you want about the Dome (and it isn't all perfect), but if someone is seen throwing something they are gone. Yes, throwing a wrapper might not seem like a big deal, but if it is not stopped it leads to instigation and bigger problems. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]We sat in the front of section 12, with mostly SU fans (mentioned above). From the TV angle, follow the baseline end of the bench to the upper corner, and that's where we were. I don't know for sure, but I think there were a few player's families in our section. These baffled me, making it a frustrating night : [/LIST] [LIST] [LIST] [*]*just a quirk that ushers would have made easier* the row indicators (a,b,c,d) are on the seats themselves, not on the side. Therefore, as people are walking up, if people are sitting down, you can't tell the row you are looking for. The 1st 10 minutes were constant confusion of people looking up and down, then at their tickets and back, while asking seated people what row they are in. The unnecessary confusion by not simply putting them on the side baffles me...no one spotted this in 20 years? [/LIST] [/LIST] [LIST] [LIST] [*]Maybe it was just the 2nd tier corners, but there was not a single usher/security/staff to be found...leading to: [LIST] [*]A couple people from the Uconn student section came over and made what I will call "obscene" gestures with their hands/arms, in front of our entire section. There were 3 kids < 8 years old in the front row. When people pointed that out it meant nothing to them. [*]A group of UConn fans kept hanging out in front of the section, leaning on the railing overlooking the court, just hanging out and talking, as if they're at the local starbucks and watching the game. They were blocking a large portion of our section. People politely asked them to move, and they acted irritated and ignored us. After a while 10 people were yelling "you are in the way", and they were irritated that we stopped their conversation, shot the section a dirty look, and kept talking. This kept going. Since there wasn't an usher/security guard to be seen, after 10 minutes of this ( by now there were 15+ people yelling), I went downstairs, walked around, and finally found someone to bring up. After utter confusion on their part as to what the problem was, they left peacefully but with a screw-you look to our section, and our section applauded. I couldn't tell if they were just completely clueless that they were in the way, or just didn't care. Either way I hadn't seen anything like it before. If there was a single usher around, it wouldn't have happened. Stand like that at the Garden or Dome for 15 seconds and you are moved along. Felt like a JV arena. [/LIST] [/LIST] [/LIST] I've been to quite a few arenas, but didn't have the aggravations we hit last night. My wife went to school at Villanova (don't hold that against her), and hadn't seen some of the gestures at Eagles games. A great win made it worth it though! Be posting more soon... [/QUOTE]

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