All of a sudden — boom! The pyrotechnics show had started, and a mascot was lowered from the ceiling as music blared from the state-of-the-art speaker system. Enthused twenty-somethings clad in monochromatic T-shirts paraded onto the floor, dancing along to the tunes while simultaneously dodging flames that continued to shoot up from the floor.
So, where was this? Sounds like the opening to an NBA game, right? Or maybe one of the NFL playoff games over the weekend?
Nope.
This was the scene in Eugene, last Thursday as Matthew Knight Arena enjoyed a raucous grand opening. It was truly a pregame spectacle, and the Ducks even managed a win over USC to top it all off.
In all, it was a great night for the Oregon men’s basketball program. The arena’s opening went about as smoothly as it could have gone (save for some scoreboard malfunctions), and for the first time in ages there was some genuine buzz surrounding the team.
Yet that wasn’t what I was thinking about when I left the arena at around 11 p.m. that night. What really struck me as I looked around the arena, as the court literally exploded in front of me during the pregame ceremony, had nothing to do with basketball.
“Wow,” I thought. “Oregon has really hit the big time.”
Now, this would appear to be a silly time to come to that realization. After all, it had been just three days since the Oregon football team had played for a national title. Can you really get any more “big time” than that?
Well, no. But in some sort of convoluted way, the fact that this grand opening took place so soon after the BCS game served to underscore Oregon’s newfound dominance of the national scene. Seventy-two hours earlier, the eyes of the nation had been on the football team. Yet, here they were, busting out the elaborate fireworks and dance routines once again.
For better or worse, people can’t sleep on the Ducks anymore. The floor alone at Matthew Knight Arena almost blew up Twitter that night.
“Wow. Just turned on Oregon hoops game to see the new arena,” ESPN writer Bruce Feldman wrote. “Court looks totally bizarre.”
“Did they test this court on television with the lights on at Oregon?” another ESPN scribe, Andy Katz, asked his followers.
Understand: These are national reporters tuning into a game featuring two teams with a combined record of 17-15. Not exactly Duke versus North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
And yet, they watched, as did many others who were eager to see what Phil Knight had up his sleeve this time. Presumably, they weren’t disappointed (unless the contrast on the floor blinded them).
Still, while all of this is great publicity for the University, I’m not sure how I feel about it. The pregame ceremonies at Knight Arena left me with the same half-amused, half-horrified feeling that I have at sporting events when people fight over T-shirts catapulted from the court. It’s canned excitement, and ultimately takes away from what should be the focus: the game itself.
My mood wasn’t lightened when the first “Chevron Car Race” came up on the big screen, or when the “Noise Meter” encouraged people to get loud. It’s all the mark of a big-time athletic program, with big-time cash to spend at will.
And, to be sure, that money has taken Oregon to gargantuan heights. You’re kidding yourself if you think the football program would have made it to Glendale without all of the cash that it’s been supplied with over the past couple decades.
That national title run was the experience of a lifetime. It did wonders for the University’s profile. And all jokes aside, Knight Arena is a beautiful addition to the campus.
But with the money come the little things. JumboTrons. Pyrotechnics. Noise Meters.
Forgive me, but all of that seems decidedly un-Oregon.
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