Fans on courtside

That was the "press box" for TV/radio, not print media.
Trust me I was there in '72 when the NBA wriuters, led by Bob Ryan, compained about being in a press "level" that was just below the upper deck when every other arena in th NBA had courtside press tables.
The league made Cooke put the press at courtside until about 10 years later when the coourtside rich guy seat became more popular around the league.

 

sorry, but everything connected to the showtime lakers was pretentious as hell. chicky-boy included. the guy would have blown worthy just to say he blew worthy.

 

N.C. State has gone to this. We're down to having four or five seats on press row for writers. They put rest of the beat writers along the baseline now, and the others have a couple of folding tables directly behind press row.

It's swell.

 

Sorry guys and gals, but I'd do the exact same thing if I owned a team/ran an athletic department. Hockey press boxes are usually in the rafters; NFL reporters don't get to roam the sidelines; baseball press boxes tend to be on the 200 level; why do you need to be at courtside?

 

Amen. They're not telling us to get the hell out of the building. They're telling us that we don't get the best seats in the building. Not going to get a lot of sympathy from the readers.

 

That'll be next. There are teams/universities thinking very hard about cutting press seating down dramatically, and also charging full-freight admission for press seating (i.e. the highest rate for comparable single seats).

The rationale: a) if your paper doesn't want to pay it, they're not serious about covering the team; and b) the paper can write it off as a business expense anyway.

 

And the sycophants will love it when the writers are booted out entirely.

 

It doesn't bother me if I'm not courtside.

What bothers me is when I can't see the game (Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Ind., seats right behind the student section).

 

At the Garden, not only is all the press on the end lines, but there is a row of fans in front of you. This is not good during the last two minutes of close games.
If schools charge for seats-drop the team. Run a front page editorial telling them to fuck off. Not that anyone would do this, because newspapers snivel before the institutions they cover, yet another reason so many people find newspapers superfluous.

 

We have no better rationale for sitting baseline than "it was always that way." Saying we'll be booted from the arena entirely or forced to pay full price is a huge leap in logic. Are baseball writers going to MLB and demanding they remove all the front-row seats behind home plate and let the reporters work from there? No? Then why should NBA teams give reporters the best seats in the house when they can get up to a couple grand per game, per seat, for a minimum of 40 dates?

So you don't get the best seats in the house anymore. Boo-hoo. We're losing ground specifically because we always seem to dig in our heels on the stupidest things. This is the wrong battle to pick.

 

I have a hard time believing that this thread's original poster is a working writer.

 

I don't mind sitting on the sidelines, but I hate sitting on the baselines (that means you, Madison Square Garden). It's easier to see action from the sidelines than from under the basket.

But what I don't mind so much is sitting up on the concourse area - say, that Section 107 region at Verizon Center in DC, or any other midway point. That way, there's a fair view of the distance of the action, I find it easier to read offenses and defenses and don't have a problem with people getting in the way.

What I've never understood is the argument that being off the floor takes us away from the coaches and players. That might be true, but really, how often do we ever write about that mid-2nd quarter scolding the coach gives his power forward?