Bradley Center Nostalgia (or lack thereof)

[patrickgpe]

This occurred to me last night while watching the Bucks game at the MECCA, this last season at the Bradley Center is 100% different than the final year at County Stadium. Personally, while I have attended at much more events at the BC than County Stadium, but really am not sad to see it go. The final season at County Stadium was a completely different experience. I went to every single game I could that final season and tried to soak in every moment at the old park.

 

I am going to guess it is because the Bradley Center is a place I went to watch sporting events, but was void of any character. It is a nice, clean building, but not much more than that.

 

County Stadium is a throwback to years past and had tons of character.

 

Anyway, I post this to see if others are feeling the same way at me. Maybe in the spring time I will feel different, and will try to get to that final Bucks and/or Marquette game to say I was there, but right now, ey.

[Outlander]

I think success has something to do with it. County Stadium and MECCA actually had championship teams and hall of fame players. The Bradley Center on the other hand had a lot of bad Bucks teams and minor league hockey and soccer. Marquette was good/great at times and had Wade so maybe some feel differently with them but I am not a big Marquette guy.

[patrickgpe]

I do have some good memories of the BC, plus I went to my first game in 1988 at County Stadium, so I witnessed way more losing baseball than winning. I get your point, but I think there is more to it than just winning / losing.

[FVBrewerFan]

Only nostalgia I'll have is when the Badgers played there in the NCAA tourney. Building was all red and by far the loudest I ever heard in that building. Beyond that, won't miss it a bit.

 

Then again, I may be the only one who doesn't like Miller Park either, for the same reason. Just very generic, no character. Whenever I go to Miller Park I feel like it's all CGI, I'm walking into a sim world or something.

[OnaBadger58]

I think success has something to do with it. County Stadium and MECCA actually had championship teams and hall of fame players. The Bradley Center on the other hand had a lot of bad Bucks teams and minor league hockey and soccer. Marquette was good/great at times and had Wade so maybe some feel differently with them but I am not a big Marquette guy.

I was just at the home opener and the Portland game and there is nothing that makes it memorable (maybe it was the beers). The games were great, but for all I knew I could have been at the La Crosse Center. The lack of success overall plus the cookie-cutter style arena leaves very little to be missed about the Bradley Center. The new stadium looks pretty awesome, so hopefully they can build a team around Giannnis to create that nostalgia.

[NeedMoreFans]

The Bradley Center was built to attract an NHL team and because of that, it's a great hockey arena and a ho-hum basketball arena. I used to go to a lot of Bucks games in the early/mid 90s and the seating angles are awful for basketball if you happen to be in a section past the end of the floor. What's funny is that I went to a lot of Brewer games at County Stadium in the same time period (my dad's company had season tickets to both and he bought whatever tickets went unused) and I still really miss County Stadium far more than I'll miss the Bradley Center.

[jerichoholicninja]

I think a big thing is that the Bradley Center is just a building. All kinds of stuff goes on there, not just the Bucks. Where as football and baseball stadiums, the vast majority of things that happen there are games played by those sports teams and the stadiums become synonymous with their franchises. Baseball and football stadiums also have their own personality and character architecturally (aside from the cookie cutters of the 60's and 70's). Miller Park looks nothing Yankee Stadium or PNC Park and Lambeau Field looks nothing like Ford Field or Gillette Stadium. I've been to both the Bradley Center and the Resch Center and the only difference, as far as I can tell, between the two in terms of the arena area is that the Bradley Center is bigger. All these multipurpose entertainment buildings pretty much look the same.

[owbc]

Only nostalgia I'll have is when the Badgers played there in the NCAA tourney. Building was all red and by far the loudest I ever heard in that building. Beyond that, won't miss it a bit.

 

Yes, lots of great Badger memories at the BC--both basketball and the 2006 hockey championship. The loudest I ever heard the building was the 2004 tourney game against Richmond where they were down ~10 at half and went on a huge run in the second half. It also seemed really loud at the Oregon game a couple years ago but I wasn't there.

 

I guess I'm the outlier here...growing up in the late 90s/early 2000s my Dad took my brothers and I to a ton of events at the BC--mostly Marquette games but also the first two Milwaukee Wave championship victories (the second one was nearly a sellout with a crazy atmosphere), Admirals games, and occasional Bucks. My first ever sporting event was a Marquette game there around 1995 or so--I just remember we were near the top of the steep upper level and I liked eating nachos.

 

The most fun I had there was when Tom Crean was coaching Marquette and the Wade/Diener/Novak trifecta was at its best. The student section went from nothing to completely full and the building was rocking. Although even before that there were some big wins...I remember Mike Deane beating Bob Huggins (Cincinnati) in an intense physical game somewhere in the early 2000s. Later in the Big East era there was a blowout upset of #1 UConn that we almost didn't go to because it was a weeknight and Marquette was a big underdog...I seem to remember a Novak breakaway dunk sealing that one.

 

Of course the new building will be better in every way, but the BC had its moments. Still a chance for a deep NBA playoff run this spring.

[OnTheBlack]

This occurred to me last night while watching the Bucks game at the MECCA, this last season at the Bradley Center is 100% different than the final year at County Stadium. Personally, while I have attended at much more events at the BC than County Stadium, but really am not sad to see it go. The final season at County Stadium was a completely different experience. I went to every single game I could that final season and tried to soak in every moment at the old park.

 

I am going to guess it is because the Bradley Center is a place I went to watch sporting events, but was void of any character. It is a nice, clean building, but not much more than that.

 

County Stadium is a throwback to years past and had tons of character.

 

Anyway, I post this to see if others are feeling the same way at me. Maybe in the spring time I will feel different, and will try to get to that final Bucks and/or Marquette game to say I was there, but right now, ey.

 

 

I am 100 pct in agreement with you on this post and feel the exact same way. I saw Yount get his 3000th, Ryan get his 300th...actually got Yount's 500th double ball(ground ruled double that bounced down the walk way..I ran to it first...I went to 20 games a year with my Dad. It was where my love of baseball began and how I was introduced to Molly and Yount.

 

With the Bucks, I went to some games when I was younger..mostly with my Grandpa. They had season tickets..awesome tickets right behind Herb Kohl and it was always kinda fun, but I still loved going and sitting in the bleachers watching the Brewers more at County Stadium than I ever did watching from good seats watching the Bucks.

 

County Stadium was so much more of an eye sore and a dump than the Bradley Center is from a fans perspective...but I feel the exact same way you do. Other than seeing the game at the old Arena the other night, I'm not even sure if I'll go to a Bucks game this year.

[OnTheBlack]

I think a big thing is that the Bradley Center is just a building. All kinds of stuff goes on there, not just the Bucks. Where as football and baseball stadiums, the vast majority of things that happen there are games played by those sports teams and the stadiums become synonymous with their franchises. Baseball and football stadiums also have their own personality and character architecturally (aside from the cookie cutters of the 60's and 70's). Miller Park looks nothing Yankee Stadium or PNC Park and Lambeau Field looks nothing like Ford Field or Gillette Stadium. I've been to both the Bradley Center and the Resch Center and the only difference, as far as I can tell, between the two in terms of the arena area is that the Bradley Center is bigger. All these multipurpose entertainment buildings pretty much look the same.

 

 

I don't know that I agree with you there. I've been to just about 15 NBA arena's(none for an actual NBA game other than the BC to your point about identifying it with a single team though). They're so much nicer than the BC. A lot of them have really cool designs...especially when walking up.

 

Baseball stadiums are definitely more unique, but that's primarily because you can make the playing field however you'd like. Can't do that with basketball so the seating and the floor is more paint by numbers I guess. But I think there is as much diversity between Football Stadiums and NBA Arena's. It's really just Baseball where you have the unique designs...in MY opinion.

[patrickgpe]

The only other NBA arena that I have been to is the United Center, and if I was just inside you couldn't tell the 2 apart. I know there are a lot of cool arenas. Id love to go to a game at Conseco Fieldhouse. I do not think it is due to the lack of memorable events. I was there for game 6 of the 2001 EC finals, I saw MU knock off #1 Cincy while I was in college and #1 Nova last season, among other things. I think that the biggest reason after thinking of it is that there is nothing unique about the BC to miss. The MECCA had a really cool court, great sightlines, and only 1 deck, besides all of the memorable games.

[CheezWizHed]

I've never been to the Mecca myself, but saw quite a few BB and hockey games at the BC. Yeah, it wasn't anything special. Probably the lack of ownership (multiple teams) was probably part of it. Otherwise, it was pretty functional, save for the lack of parking downtown. Living in MN now, I'm not sure if I will ever make it to the new BB stadium. Its hard to get over there in the winter.

 

I also had a lot of memories of County Stadium (my first game, Yount's 2998th hit, freezing during April games, etc...), but I can't say that I'll miss the stadium. From the outside, it looked like someone slapped together a bunch of construction materials based on what they had on hand. It wasn't pretty by any sense of the word. Miller Park is a big step up in looks and appeal IMO.

[owbc]

I've never been to the Mecca myself, but saw quite a few BB and hockey games at the BC. Yeah, it wasn't anything special. Probably the lack of ownership (multiple teams) was probably part of it. Otherwise, it was pretty functional, save for the lack of parking downtown.

 

Our 'secret' parking garage is the Boston Store garage on 4th and Michigan. Only 4 blocks from the BC, < $10, and hardly anyone ever uses it.

[FVBrewerFan]

I've never been to the Mecca myself, but saw quite a few BB and hockey games at the BC. Yeah, it wasn't anything special. Probably the lack of ownership (multiple teams) was probably part of it. Otherwise, it was pretty functional, save for the lack of parking downtown.

 

Our 'secret' parking garage is the Boston Store garage on 4th and Michigan. Only 4 blocks from the BC, < $10, and hardly anyone ever uses it.

 

Wait. There's still such a thing as Boston Store? And there's one downtown? I had no idea!

[trwi7]

The MECCA is terrible.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gId0gfwXoX8