RIP Hoosier (RCA) Dome

[Mark2010]

I would concur that the Dome, along with stealing the Colts from Baltimore, put Indianapolis on the sports map.

Where are the high school finals going to be held now? Conseco Fieldhouse? Lucas Oil Stadium?

 

[friend of a friend]

Much of what I'd say has already been said, but a few tidbits ...

The Duke-UNLV & Arizona-Kentucky games played there were two incredible games, but it was also the site of Princeton's upset of UCLA in the second round (a game I had tickets to, but my uncle decided to take the 5-year-old cousins home after the first game, and I had to watch Princeton-UCLA on TV instead of in the 22nd row).

The Dome helped make Indianapolis a big-league city. In the five years before it opened, the city had lost its WHA team (folded mid-season in December 1978 ... not even teenagers Wayne Gretzky & Mark Messier could put people in the seats) and nearly lost the Pacers (they had to hold a telethon to save the team once, and Sam Nassi nearly moved it to Sacramento). The year before the Dome opened, the Pacers went 20-62 and were often outdrawn head-to-head by the local minor-league hockey team. After the opening of the Dome and the arrival of the Colts, the city's psyche changed rather tremendously. No longer was Indy "Naptown," the city was starting to think of itself as a big-time city. Within a couple of years, it was actively pursuing an MLB team (there were discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates) and retrofitting the Dome to accommodate baseball. With the Dome, Indy was able to basically become the home of the Final Four and see itself not as the little cousin of Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis and Detroit in the Midwest, but as a player in that group. The Colts were horrible for much of their first decade and a half in Indy, but they put the city on the map.

A few things I remember ...
*-The first NFL game was between the Bears and Bills -- scheduled before the Colts announced their move.
*-The first regular-season Colts game. I remember the fan mag had something on the cover about a QB controversy between Mike Pagel and Art Schlichter (can we pick none of the above?), while the Jets started Pat Ryan instead of Ken O'Brien. The Jets won 23-14 ... the fans had no clue what they were doing. Did the wave and made tons of noise when the Colts were on offense ... it was nuts.
*-Colts 17, Steelers 16 in 1984. Ray Butler catches a tipped pass on the final play of the game and runs it in for a TD. The most improbable finish for a game.
*-The Halloween game in 1988 ... the best game of the early Colts history. But the day they clinched the AFC East in 1987 was pretty loud, and pretty special. Most of the early games were pretty comical -- watching a usually-inept team fall all over itself.

I started covering Colts games in 1997 -- the year before Peyton Manning showed up. It was somewhat interesting to see the change in the fan base over the ensuing 4-5 years. In 1997, most of the ticketholders were people who had grown up following someone else, and there was very little interest or passion for the team in Indianapolis. Whenever the Dolphins, Cowboys, Redskins, Raiders, 49ers, Bengals or Bears would come, it would feel like a home game for the visiting team (there is an incredible amount of Dolphins fans in Central Indiana). In about 2001-2002, when the Colts began their run under Manning (and after they replaced Jim Mora with Tony Dungy), the number of people who had grown up following the Colts grew to a point where they were able to afford tickets, and the decibel level of the Dome (and the football knowledge) grew exponentially. Suddenly, every fan in the stands was wearing his favorite player's jersey (seriously, in 1991, would you really be seen in public wearing a Clarence Verdin jersey?), and there was some passion and energy in the crowd. The place was so small, it could get *really* loud, even with the canned music/crap. Now, the city pretty much shuts down when the Colts play -- you can go to any restaurant in town you want and get right in.

It is probably as much a basketball venue as anything -- and for a dome, it wasn't a terrible basketball venue (that's like saying, for disco, it wasn't a bad song, but alas ...).

The sight of 40,000 people at a high school basketball game is mind-boggling. The combination of the NCAA Tournament's growing popularity, a bit of a dry-spell in Indiana HS basketball talent in the mid-1990s and the eventual onset of a class tournament made sure that wasn't repeated, but that was pretty cool (the State Finals were drawing 20,000+ for most of their run there). The year after Damon Bailey's title, Alan Henderson & Glenn Robinson's teams matched up for the title in front of about 31,000. The 1994 game between Valpo & South Bend Clay was incredible (Bryce Drew's Valpo team loses to a Clay team led by the Nailon brothers, and IIRC, future Purdue star Jaraan Cornell). The 1992 final between Richmond and Lafayette Jeff was an OT game with another incredible late-game comeback. Jeff Poisel's 3 at the buzzer gives Ben Davis an improbable title in 1996 ... also saw my alma mater win the first of its three state titles there in the first year of class ball (it was the big class ...). I'm glad someone else mentioned the Lafayette Central Catholic-Alexandria game in the 1998 Tournament of Champions (in front of about 2,000 people ... turnout was depressing but the game was incredible).

As a structure, it won't be missed. But the press-level seating wasn't bad (especially pre-renovation, when the box was at the top of the lower deck). The sightlines were pretty good -- there weren't any bad seats in the house. The big roof could kill the atmosphere at times (I hated watching indoor football ... except in December and January ), but the Dome did a lot for Indianapolis.

I still haven't recovered from the Richmond-Jeff game in 92.

 

[friend of a friend]

The Damon Bailey title run his senior year in HS was the biggest referee rig-job of all time.

I remember Bailey shooting about 100 free throws during the semistate in the Haute that year.

 

[Tom Petty]

The Damon Bailey title run his senior year in HS was the biggest referee rig-job of all time.

I remember Bailey shooting about 100 free throws during the semistate in the Haute that year.

does rig-job really get a hyphen?

 

[User 4332]

Where are the high school finals going to be held now? Conseco Fieldhouse? Lucas Oil Stadium?

They've been at Conseco for some time now. Class basketball doesn't draw enough fans to make having the finals in a football stadium make any sense.

 

[Bob Cook]

The Damon Bailey title run his senior year in HS was the biggest referee rig-job of all time.

I remember Bailey shooting about 100 free throws during the semistate in the Haute that year.

I was a rookie at UPI (about to die in Indianapolis) during Bailey's run, and we got people complaining all the time whenever we did the high school roundup about refs being in the tank for Bailey, with a guy from Brownstown declaring, "We got homered in our own gym!"

Back to the Dome, its main legacy is giving other cities the idea to build stadiums and arenas before a team ever existed. Indianapolis was third place in the two-team '76 NFL expansion because it had no stadium plan in place. The Dome got built in the same flurry that built most of the city's amateur and Olympic sports facilities, and the idea was that by attaching it to the convention center (also a novel idea), between amateur events and conventions it could justify its existence even if no NFL team ever came. But it did.

The Trop in St. Petersburg was the first dome to follow on spec, and just about got the White Sox as a result. I believe the folks there once hired the guy who ran the Hoosier Dome to run that dome in hopes of drawing the same luck. (Except that St. Petersburg didn't attach the dome to a convention center, and put it in a part of town that's still generally avoided.) The Alamodome in San Antonio (which also didn't attach to the convention center, instead being stuck across the freeway from it), the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, the Sprint arena in Kansas City -- these are the type of built-on-a-wing-and-a-prayer facilities the Dome hath wrought.

 

[OnTheRiver]

The Damon Bailey title run his senior year in HS was the biggest referee rig-job of all time.

Uhhh ... yeah. Concord should've won that game.

Hell, I think Evansville Bosse would've beaten them earlier in the tourney if not for crooked zebras.

 

[vonnegutnaked2]

Where are the high school finals going to be held now? Conseco Fieldhouse? Lucas Oil Stadium?

They've been at Conseco for some time now. Class basketball doesn't draw enough fans to make having the finals in a football stadium make any sense.

But, hey, the girls finals will be at Lucas Oil this year. Scheduling conflicts at Conseco and Hinkle (Butler refusing to give up the weekend in case they're hosting the conference tourney) make that the case. I still think they should have moved them to New Castle, Ball State or someplace...hell Southport. The idea of seeing 568 people for the Class A girls game in a football stadium is amusing.

The boys weekend is still a good time. Let's not go down this road too much (because it's been beaten to death more times than the BCS and T.O. combined), but the switch has certainly hurt attendance. But there are still very good crowds, usually between 16-18,000 for the 3A/4A games. The buzz has been killed at the sectional level, which was always where the old tourney was special in my opinion.

My only in-person memory of the Dome came in the first round of the 2003 NCAA tournament. March 20, 2003 -- the day after the opening salvos were launched in Iraq, certainly making for an odd day to give a crap about watching hoops. Nevertheless, I drove all night and walked into the dome at around 11:30 a.m. for the first game -- Holy Cross-Marquette in the opener of Dwyane Wade's run to the Final Four.

After that, it was Southern Illinois-Mizzou, and then Western Kentucky-Illinois and UW-Milwaukee-Notre Dame at night. Those four games were decided by a total of 10 points -- I don't have the record book handy, but that has to at least approach the tournament record for closest combined margin of victory for one site in an opening round. Easily the tightest foursome of first-round games I've witnessed.

I was also there for that weekend. You're right. There weren't any games that really jumped out as great, stop the tournament kind of games. But all six games in the dome that weekend were super competitive and none were decided until the final moments. Most people hate Notre Dame and its football fans, but that was the weekend I came to despise those that follow the Fighting Irish basketball program.

Two years later, the dome hosted first round games again and the Saturday session brought the (if I recall correctly) the largest non-Final Four NCAA tournament crowd ever. Illinois, on its way to the finals, was a huge draw and Illini fans, realizing their team was No. 1, had bought tickets for that regional months in advance. At the same time, Kentucky got placed there too. That night's doubleheader, Illinois/Nevada and Kentucky/Cincinnati, had more people in the far reaches of the upper deck than the '06 Final Four did a year later.

And, as for Richmond, their entire '92 state title run was improbable. The semi-state win at Hinkle against Ben Davis may have been the best game of the whole bunch. A good point guard, a future Big Ten standout at the two and a couple of drug dealers rounding out the front court go a long way in Indiana High School hoops. Glory days of the NCC back then, too. I was at the '92 Anderson Regional, in a sold out Wigwam, watching another team of questionable characters (Anderson) hold off Muncie Central with Bonzi Wells.

 

[OnTheRiver]

that was the weekend I came to despise those that follow the Fighting Irish basketball program.

I knew there was a reason I liked this guy.

 

[friend of a friend]

The Damon Bailey title run his senior year in HS was the biggest referee rig-job of all time.

Uhhh ... yeah. Concord should've won that game.

Hell, I think Evansville Bosse would've beaten them earlier in the tourney if not for crooked zebras.

See previous comment about the Haute.

 

[Bubbler]

Damon Bailey is a first-ballot Indiana White Boy Hall of Famer.

To be in the Indiana White Boy Hall of Fame, you have to be hyped beyond all recognition of your talent, so someone like, say, Larry Bird, isn't eligible.

Luke Recker was in the Indiana White Boy Hall of Fame, but got kicked out when he "screwed over" The General.

 

[vonnegutnaked2]

Damon Bailey is a first-ballot Indiana White Boy Hall of Famer.

To be in the Indiana White Boy Hall of Fame, you have to be hyped beyond all recognition of your talent, so someone like, say, Larry Bird, isn't eligible.

That's a stretch. Damon Bailey could play.

Sure, he got some calls because he was mentioned in one paragraph of A Season on the Brink.

But the kid still got BNL to the Final Four as a FRESHMAN. I can't think of a whole lot of other Indiana prep players who had the kind of March impact that he did when he was 15-years old (maybe Chris Thomas?). Only the Marion Dream Team (a contender for best Indiana high school team of al time) knocked him off that year. Then, he goes on to win a state title and become the state's all-time leading scorer. Again, I concede he got calls...and should have fouled out of the Concord game without question. But kid was a player.

And at IU, having changed positions and dealing with unparamounted expectations for a freshman in psycho man Knight's system, he did win Big 10 freshman of the year. In four years, he was a key man on Indiana teams that went to the Sweet 16 in all of those seaons. Again, kid could play.

Now, more so than the Indiana White Hall-of-Fame, there is the Indiana Black Guys Who Will Never Get the Credit They Deserve Hall-of-Fame (Glenn Robinson, Greg Oden, Zach Randolph are recent inductees).

But Bailey could play and he's borderline all-time Indiana high school team.

 

[Bob Cook]

Damon Bailey is a first-ballot Indiana White Boy Hall of Famer.

To be in the Indiana White Boy Hall of Fame, you have to be hyped beyond all recognition of your talent, so someone like, say, Larry Bird, isn't eligible.

That's a stretch. Damon Bailey could play.

Sure, he got some calls because he was mentioned in one paragraph of A Season on the Brink.

But the kid still got BNL to the Final Four as a FRESHMAN. I can't think of a whole lot of other Indiana prep players who had the kind of March impact that he did when he was 15-years old (maybe Chris Thomas?). Only the Marion Dream Team (a contender for best Indiana high school team of al time) knocked him off that year. Then, he goes on to win a state title and become the state's all-time leading scorer. Again, I concede he got calls...and should have fouled out of the Concord game without question. But kid was a player.

And at IU, having changed positions and dealing with unparamounted expectations for a freshman in psycho man Knight's system, he did win Big 10 freshman of the year. In four years, he was a key man on Indiana teams that went to the Sweet 16 in all of those seaons. Again, kid could play.

Now, more so than the Indiana White Hall-of-Fame, there is the Indiana Black Guys Who Will Never Get the Credit They Deserve Hall-of-Fame (Glenn Robinson, Greg Oden, Zach Randolph are recent inductees).

But Bailey could play and he's borderline all-time Indiana high school team.

Bailey was another great moment at the Dome during that '94 draft. With the Pacers no longer pathetic, and learning their lesson from Reggie Miller over Steve Alford, the diehards weren't demanding Bailey be taken with the No. 15 pick. (That was Eric Piatkowski, one of the pieces in the deal that got Mark Jackson to Indianapolis the first time around.) But when it got to the second round, you could feel the tension in the room when it came time for the Pacers to make their first of two second-round picks.

The first one-- not Damon Bailey, but a Canadian named William Njoku. BOOOOOO!!!!!!
(Still a punchline name between myself and my best friend from high school.)

The second one -- Damon Bailey! YEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I recall, Donnie Walsh said later that he knew Bailey would probably never make the team (his knees were already shot), but they signed him anyway to a two-year deal as a fan appeaser and as a paid ambassador for Pacers basketball.

By the way, whatever happened to William Njoku? Why, he's the athletic director at Atlantic Baptist University in Moncton, New Brunswick. (I had to look up that one.)
http://www.abu.nb.ca/bluetide/ath_wel.html

 

[Bubbler]

Now, more so than the Indiana White Hall-of-Fame, there is the Indiana Black Guys Who Will Never Get the Credit They Deserve Hall-of-Fame (Glenn Robinson, Greg Oden, Zach Randolph are recent inductees).

But Bailey could play and he's borderline all-time Indiana high school team.

Damn right on that first graph. Give me a day or two and I could probably reel off 100 more who don't get their due as Hoosier state legends because of the color of their skin.

As for Bailey, excellent high school player. Wholly overrated at IU. Mr. 20 Points One Night, Zero The Next.

But the way IU fans spoke of him, especially at the time, you'd think he invented the wheel.

 

[dixiehack]

I need to find my copy of this and read it again over the holidays.