"Was the game as exciting as, say, an NBA overtime thriller? Not quite, but if you want to be within fifteen rows of the action at a Chicago Bulls game, be prepared shell out $450. If that’s out of price range, which it almost certainly is for a college student, an ISU basketball game will certainly give you your basketball fix."
 |
Jackie Carmichael dunks the second of back to back dunks during first half action in a game earlier this year against UNC-Wilmington. (Photo by Leah Gericke / Staff Photographer) |
As Jackie Carmichael’s 18-foot jumper splashed through the net, the world around me simply exploded. To my left, the student section erupted, and throughout the rest of the building others followed.
I did a double take in the direction of the south entrance. Did 5,000 fans sneak into the building while I wasn’t looking? I couldn’t believe the same fans I’d been sitting with for the past 90 minutes could produce such a cacophony. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose with the crowd as I squinted through the glare of white spotlights on the hardwood court.
Whoa, I thought, glancing down at the $5 ticket poking out of my pants pocket, I’m at a real basketball game.
I recently set out to Redbird Arena to conduct a bit of an experiment. Armed with $15 and an empty stomach, I sought to answer the question, can an ISU student on a budget have a good time at a men’s basketball game? My bankroll for Wednesday’s game would be $20, with hopes of saving some of it. On Tuesday night, I went to the box office to grab my ticket for the next evening’s game against the Missouri State Bears. My student ID card got me a $10 ticket for $5, to which I thought, good start.
As I filed into the arena, I had to remind myself that I was at a basketball game on a college campus. Most of the fans around me were either twice my age or half of it. Grandparents decked out in vintage ISU garb and grandchildren in new, shiny red jerseys dominated my surroundings. As I made my way toward the smell of popcorn and grilled meat, I struggled through the older crowd. Redbird Arena’s open concrete hallways are not places where fans speed-walk to their seats. They are a gathering place, a social plaza for the older crowd to catch up, take photos of their grandkids, and generally relax.
I wandered into the line for a cart serving bratwurst, Italian sausage, and burgers. As I salivated, I was glad to discover that I’d joined the right line.
“You know, you’re supposed to eat before you come here,” an older gentleman told me, “but if you don’t, this is the line to be in.”
He was right about the quality of the food, but he was also right to warn me to eat beforehand. An Italian sausage with grilled onions and a bottle of water ran me $8, which put my total expenses at $13. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to drop $8 on stadium food, but the $5 ticket and the heaps of grilled onions eased my sorrow.
Food in hand, I shuffled through the arena to section B, row thirteen, seat nine. Five dollars at Redbird Arena translates into a pretty solid seat. Sitting even with the free throw line, I was positioned just close enough to read the last names stitched onto the backs of the players’ jerseys. As I began soaking in the half-empty sea of red, the lights above me dimmed without warning and the PA announcer boomed in.
“Now, please welcome a very special guest to perform the national anthem -- Jim Cornelison.”
For those unfamiliar with Cornelison, he performs the national anthem before Chicago Blackhawks games. While he sings, the fans don’t hold their applause for the song’s closing line, they applaud and cheer throughout the song. Witnessing Cornelison belt out the anthem on television is fine, but experiencing it firsthand is an entirely different phenomenon. Only about half of the crowd was aware of the tradition of cheering during the song, but the experience was moving nonetheless. I doubt I was the only one struck by a wave of goose bumps as Cornelison delivered the anthem’s climactic lines. The anthem gave Redbird Arena an electricity that, so far, it lacked.
The two minutes of song already had been worth most of the $5 I paid for admission. Things could only go up from this point. My palms welled with anticipatory sweat as the lights came back on, and I couldn’t believe how pumped I was for the game.
Oh, the letdown.
The first half of the game was mildly entertaining, but it was a bit forgettable. Both the Bears and the Redbirds play a hardworking, grind-it-out style of basketball. As dedicated as both teams were to defense and rebounding on Wednesday night, their offense was lacking. The ‘Birds missed eight open three-point looks in the first half, and the Bears clanked nearly as many free throws as they made. The crowd made a little noise in response to an incredible blocked shot from behind by junior guard John Wilkins, but was otherwise subdued. At one point, with the ‘Birds down by ten, there was so little crowd noise that I considered lobbying the PA announcer to turn his microphone down.
The Redbird Arena student section, dubbed the “Bird Cage,” was the only real source of fan involvement. Even so, it’s hard to mention the Bird Cage in the same sentence as the real student sections of the Big Ten and Big East. The Bird Cage is a surprisingly small sliver of lower and upper level seats, and for its size, it can occasionally make the arena shake. The students in the Cage remain standing throughout the game, which is a nice tradition, but the section just isn’t large enough to give the Redbirds a daunting home court advantage.
The first half ended with the ‘Birds trailing, 34-25. The lackluster half of basketball was sufficient entertainment, even if it wasn’t totally engaging. For most of those in the crowd, being at the game was better than being at work or in class, and that was good enough. I settled into my seat and prepared to relax for another half of basketball.
A few minutes in, I was caught pleasantly off guard. The Redbirds came out aggressively on offense, led by junior forward Jackie Carmichael. Carmichael is unquestionably the team’s leader and best player. At 6’ 9” Carmichael is a defensive presence in the post, and his length and athleticism allow him to guard both forward positions as well as center. He is also the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 8.7 rebounds per game. It was Carmichael’s offense that sparked the Redbirds in the second half, as he put on a show with several post moves and a few mid-range jumpers.
Led by Carmichael, the Redbirds inched closer to the Bears, and the crowd inched closer to actually becoming interested. On back-to-back possessions with under five minutes to play, Carmichael scored a bucket, hit a free throw, blocked a shot, brought it up court, and drained a mid-range jumper. Missouri State took a much needed timeout as the arena erupted. I rose to my feet, so not to be the only one still sitting. The Bird Cage rattled, children danced like crazed warriors in hopes of being shown on the Jumbotron, and the once-reserved older members of the crowd high-fived in jubilation. The game was on, and my $5 seat had me right on top of it. The “MAKE SOME NOISE”! graphics on the Jumbotron and the booming PA announcer no longer seemed out of place, which told me something: all these fans need is a little excitement. They know good basketball, and they know how to have a little fun while watching it. So what if it took them until 4:26 remained in the game?
The final moments of regulation remained intense. The Redbirds had an opportunity to win the game with the scored tied and seconds remaining, but John Wilkins’ shot was off the mark and overtime ensued. My $5 was stretched even further, as free basketball was in store. The crowd, most of which had remained standing since the end of regulation, proved to be just enough support for the Redbirds to eke out a victory. Every time the Bears went to the free throw line, the fans in the backdrop wreaked as much havoc as possible in hopes of breaking the player’s concentration.
That’s pretty standard basketball game behavior, and it didn’t surprise me, but a little variation did. From parts unknown, half a dozen massive cardboard cutouts of celebrity heads appeared in the stands behind the Bears’ basket. Cardboard versions of Justin Beiber, Jane Lynch, Al Bowman, Tim Jankovich, and several randomly selected others daunted Missouri State’s free throw shooters. For the sake of how bizarre the cutouts were, I’m giving them credit for the pivotal free throws missed by the Bears.
The final minute and a half of overtime became merely a formality as the Bears intentionally fouled the ‘Birds in a vain effort to salvage the game. As the game clock reached zero, Carmichael and sophomore forward Jon Ekey caught each other for a chest bump at half court, although they were both visibly exhausted. The PA announcer gave a quick recap of the contest, highlighting Carmichael’s 26 points and 16 rebounds, and then gave the microphone to Carmichael.
“I wanna thank all of you,” Carmichael said, addressing the crowd. “We couldn’t have gotten this win without the support. We love you guys.”
As I put on my coat and shuffled toward the exit, I pulled my ticket from my pocket. It didn’t lie. Five bucks had put me at a fantastic vantage point for what turned into a fantastic basketball game. The food was pricy, but not unreasonably so, and it was good. The experiment had come to an end, and I pondered my conclusion as I walked home through the cold.
Was the game as exciting as, say, an NBA overtime thriller? Not quite, but if you want to be within fifteen rows of the action at a Chicago Bulls game, be prepared shell out $450. If that’s out of price range, which it almost certainly is for a college student, an ISU basketball game will certainly give you your basketball fix.
Even if you don’t crave live sports action, $5 is a pretty incredible value for two hours of live sports entertainment, and who knows—if you’re lucky, maybe a party will break out.