Nowheresville
Registered User
Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins
I finally got to LaBahn last night, after being out of town opening weekend, and wow, I was disappointed. If I was giving a letter grade, I'd give it a D.
Many of the issues have already been mentioned.
The biggest problems are the seats which are quite possibly the most uncomfortable things I've ever sat on. There is just no room. I'm 6'0'' and I have to sit with my knees bent in at a rediculous angle. Even then, if someone had been in front of me, I would certainly had my boot up someone's arse, as had been previously mentioned. Every time I looked down, my feet were hanging well over the seat in front of me. Even my 5'2'' tall wife, was noticing how little room there was and that should never ever happen! I usually sit on the glass, and I don't see how that would even be possible since there is even less leg room there. The back rests are horrible too, being way too far forward, forcing you to lean forward the entire game. By the second period my back and knees were actually in pain!
The video board is nice, except that because of the design of the second floor/press box area which hangs out above the goal, you can't see it if you are sitting basically anywhere inside of the blue line on that end of the ice. That wouldn't be too big of a deal, as some trade offs are going to happen, but that's another reason why I find it so strange they would have the Badgers shooting at that end of the ice twice.
The other big thing to me was the atmosphere is just dead. I'm not sure exactly how to quantify it, but it just has a very sterile feel inside the rink. I have realistic expectations of what you are going to get at a women's game, but compared to say Ridder, it just seems like something is missing.
On the positive, the outer concourse with all of the Badger Hockey history displays were very nice and very well done. I could, and I'm sure will in future weeks, spend a lot more time looking through that stuff.
But ultimately, LaBahn feels like a practice rink where they decided at the last minute to throw in a couple of rows of seats. It may not be quite that bad, but if I'm a casual fan, the quality of the experience of going to a womens game has actually gone down from last year. If that was my first time ever going to a game, I can't say that I'd be in any hurry to go back, which is certainly not how I felt after going to my first womens game back in 06. Considering that every game will apparently be played when the Kohl Center is empty, I'd say they should consider moving the games back into the Kohl and just let be LaBahn be purely for practice. It won't happen of course, but I'd like to see support for the women's game to grow, and I don't think LaBahn is going to help move things in that direction.
I finally got to LaBahn last night, after being out of town opening weekend, and wow, I was disappointed. If I was giving a letter grade, I'd give it a D.
Many of the issues have already been mentioned.
The biggest problems are the seats which are quite possibly the most uncomfortable things I've ever sat on. There is just no room. I'm 6'0'' and I have to sit with my knees bent in at a rediculous angle. Even then, if someone had been in front of me, I would certainly had my boot up someone's arse, as had been previously mentioned. Every time I looked down, my feet were hanging well over the seat in front of me. Even my 5'2'' tall wife, was noticing how little room there was and that should never ever happen! I usually sit on the glass, and I don't see how that would even be possible since there is even less leg room there. The back rests are horrible too, being way too far forward, forcing you to lean forward the entire game. By the second period my back and knees were actually in pain!
The video board is nice, except that because of the design of the second floor/press box area which hangs out above the goal, you can't see it if you are sitting basically anywhere inside of the blue line on that end of the ice. That wouldn't be too big of a deal, as some trade offs are going to happen, but that's another reason why I find it so strange they would have the Badgers shooting at that end of the ice twice.
The other big thing to me was the atmosphere is just dead. I'm not sure exactly how to quantify it, but it just has a very sterile feel inside the rink. I have realistic expectations of what you are going to get at a women's game, but compared to say Ridder, it just seems like something is missing.
On the positive, the outer concourse with all of the Badger Hockey history displays were very nice and very well done. I could, and I'm sure will in future weeks, spend a lot more time looking through that stuff.
But ultimately, LaBahn feels like a practice rink where they decided at the last minute to throw in a couple of rows of seats. It may not be quite that bad, but if I'm a casual fan, the quality of the experience of going to a womens game has actually gone down from last year. If that was my first time ever going to a game, I can't say that I'd be in any hurry to go back, which is certainly not how I felt after going to my first womens game back in 06. Considering that every game will apparently be played when the Kohl Center is empty, I'd say they should consider moving the games back into the Kohl and just let be LaBahn be purely for practice. It won't happen of course, but I'd like to see support for the women's game to grow, and I don't think LaBahn is going to help move things in that direction.
