Charlotte Memories

[VaDukie]

With its destruction imminent, I thought it would be fun to share everyone's favorite memories of the Charlotte Coliseum.

My favorites would have to be the 1999 ACC Tournament and the 2002 Tournament. 1999 was the first tournament I got to attend, and the first time I got to see a Duke-UNC game in person. Crushing them in the title game was oh so sweet.

2002 gave us four in a row, setting a new ACC record. I remember we crushed NC State so badly in the finals that the vendors were selling Duke ACC Champs shirts with 12 minutes left to go! Boozer was dominant that weekend, I think he shot 70% from the field that weekend.

[feldspar]

I've only been to one game in the Colisseum, and that was to see Grant Hill play back in 98 or 99. Can't remember if he was with the Pistons or the Magic at the time. He ended up not playing as he was suffering from some mysterious ankle injury I seem to remember. We all know how that turned out.

[Duvall]

My favorite memory of the Charlotte Coliseum will take place on June 3, 2007.

[Tom B.]

2002 gave us four in a row, setting a new ACC record. I remember we crushed NC State so badly in the finals that the vendors were selling Duke ACC Champs shirts with 12 minutes left to go! Boozer was dominant that weekend, I think he shot 70% from the field that weekend.

The 2002 ACC Tournament also was notewhorthy because Duke pulled off a rare "triple triple" -- i.e., beating the other three Big Four schools, each one for the third time that season.

Jan. 13, 2002 -- Duke 76, N.C. State 57
Jan. 19, 2002 -- Duke 103, Wake Forest 80
Jan. 31, 2002 -- Duke 87, UNC 58
Feb. 14, 2002 -- Duke 108, N.C. State 71
Feb. 21, 2002 -- Duke 90, Wake Forest 61
Mar. 3, 2002 -- Duke 93, UNC 68
Mar. 8, 2002 -- Duke 60, UNC 48
Mar. 9, 2002 -- Duke 79, Wake Forest 64
Mar. 10, 2002 -- Duke 91, N.C. State 61

I'll also have fond memories of the 1992 ACC Tournament, especially the 20-point beatdown we laid on Carolina in the finals en route to the NCAA Tournament and back-to-back national titles.

My worst Charlotte Coliseum memory -- watching Duke get upset by Providence in the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

Honorable mention: Southwest Missouri State vs. Wisconsin in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. To say that both teams were offensively challenged would be charitable. SMSU had only 20 points at halftime... and led by eight. Wisconsin didn't break 20 until about midway through the second half. The final score was SMSU 43, Wisconsin 32. One of the worst and most painful games I've ever seen, especially between two supposedly decent teams (this was a 5-12 game in the NCAA Tournament, after all).

[hurleyfor3]

The scoreboard crashing to the floor the day after it opened in 1988

The debate over whether it should be called the "Charlotte Crown"

Attending the first game the Hornets ever won, against the LA Clippers

Knowing where friends' Hornets tickets were, and seeing who was sitting in them

Everyone being excited the Hornets beat the Bulls right before Christmas... then won two games in a row... then got to 20 wins on the season!!!

Kelly Tripuka crying in an on-court postgame interview, becuse the fans were booing him or something

The "Attendance Championship" banners

The four ACC tournaments while I was at Duke, and my family lived in Charlotte. Especially the 1990 one, when the Duke and UNC sections were next to each other, and each school had half a section of the lower deck filled with students. The conference always separated us after that.

I'll still remember how cool and new it all was. Charlotte has this weird aversion to anything that reminds it of its history. Whatever Charlotte has always has to be new and better than whatever equivalent thing Atlanta has. I could mourn, but tearing down the Coliseum is just Charlotte being Charlotte. It would be out of character for the place to act any other way.

[vango]

This is both ridiculous and sad. Barely scratching 20 years of age and it's going to be leveled. I know all the details behind it but only in America would you see this.

The average non-fan that I speak with finds the salaries and attention given to professional athletes as grotesquely absurd. I think the same or more can be said for what goes on in these "sports cities" with arena's/ stadiums/ domes/ and coliseums.

Anyhow, agree with all the posts above on the games. Some of them I'd forgotten about. We've had a pretty good run in that building.