The Worst Seats In Cameron: A Photographic Compendium

[uh_no]

But, really, there are very few bad seats in Cameron.

It is often claimed that there are no or few bad seats in Cameron. While this may be true in the average case (select a random seat, it will usually be pretty good!) but I was interested in the worst case. There are some really bad seats in cameron, such that you probably could sell them at all in most other places, except maybe at shea stadium:

mB1bqzv.jpg

The now 77 year old building has quite a few quirks, and they lead to quite a few eccentric seats. I set out before tonight's game to document them all. Here you get the benefit of those efforts: if someone offers you one of these seats, RUN.

For your reference, here is a stadium map and without further ado...

cameron_seat_map.jpg


Section 7 Row N Seat 7/9
Section 15 Row M Seat 21 & Section 14 Row M Seat 22 Approx.

Everyone loves the crow's nests at cameron...especially the commentators! I've never had the pleasure of watching a game up there, but it's something I'd love to be able to do sometime.

crows_nest.jpg

For those of you who've been there, you know that there're not actually any stairs! There are ladders which are stored up there, and to get down, one has to first lower the ladder of the back before climbing; quite the stadium amenty. The crow's nest seats are NOT the seats to which I'm thinking, however. Instead, the 8th worst seats in cameron are the seats which the ladders extend INTO. Yes, that's correct. Nowhere in the wall of seats did Good Old Eddie zone out a plot for "ladder placement." So in 3 places on the bench side, and one place on the other side, ladders extend into the seats below.

20170104_211422_low.jpg

Fortunately, the ladders are drawn up before the start of play, but during pregame and halftime, the owners of those seats have to figure out how to deal. The fact that the ladders are removed in time for the game prevents these seats from being higher on my list. Usually the stadium doesn't fill out until just as the game starts, so you might be able to sit in a seat nearby or in the stairwell.

Con: you can't chill out in your seat and enjoy an overpriced tiny pizza from <insert yearly pizza sponser here> before the game
Pro: You'll get up and personal with Dicky V above you on a ladder


Section 19 Row A Seat 1

So you think you're smart and you'll avoid those seats at all costs. To be safe, you'll get something way down front, front row, courtside. Section 19 Row A seat 1. Must be the best seat in the house, right? Wrong! The bleacers, which I think were probbaly built with wood of the nina, pinta, and santa maria the year after they sailed to america, are brilliantly designed to always be parallel to the sideline...even after they extend 40' PAST the endline. This wouldn't be such a bad situation (who can't turn their head?) but for the fact that someone thought it was a great idea to then build bleachers IN FRONT OF those bleachers. That brings us to our seventh worst seats in cameron, where you'll enjoy a view of a great ESPN camera and the grad student bleachers.

20170104_211344_low.jpg

You'll be able to see most of the court, which is nice, though possibly from the worst angle in the place. That section is often lightly filled out, so you may be able to scoot up a couple rows and towards the center, which improves the view greatly.

Con: If there are players milling near the end of the bench during the game, you might as well watch the game on your phone
Pro: Easy exit for concessions and bathrooms (Especially for guys)
Pro: Best seat for bribing the refs, who's dressing room is just behind

To Be Continued...

[uh_no]

...being continued.


Section 3 Row O Seat 35/37

So while you're down there complaining about how you can't see anything, at least you can be happy that it's actually physically possible to sit in your seat! Cameron wasn't designed with TV in mind, and thus was built without the ample mounts that any stadium built in the last 76 years has. To appease the ever demanding media trolls, we have to improvise. Fortunately, the Pratt Stars came up with a brilliant solution of putting a camera IN the seats.

20170104_174938_low.jpg

You'll note, however, that this makes the seat difficult for anyone taller than, say, 3 cinder blocks from the waist up. You might say "There's no way that duke would sell those seats! You can't sit in them!" Well, the usher instructions at one point had a note on what to do if someone had a camera in their seat, so you imagine at some point someone had a rather interesting conversation with the box office and lucked themselves into courtside seats (though hopefully not 19-A-1!)

Con: You can't actually sit in your seat
Pro: if the roof leaks, you'll stay dry!


Section 1 Row R Seat 10
Section 9 Row R Seat 10
Section 4 Row R Seat 9
Section 12 Row R Seat 9

While the fact that you'll probably get assigned a different seat keeps the camera seats from being any higher than 6 on our countdown, the top 5 are all seats you're stuck with...The university does sell these seats, and if you bought them, you're in for a rough time.

When this question gets posed, the seats that come up the most are the corner seats. Now everybody knows (surely everybody knows...just like everyone knows cameron's capacity is 9,314...) that the top row of the stadium is row O. But you'll notice that cameron is a rectangle...and the corner sections (1, 4, 9, and 12) all have 45 degree angled seats! So if you remember some of the many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse, you will realize that we can cram a few more rows into the corners, 3 to be exact. Each of those sections has rows P, Q, and R. Unfortunately, though we have added more rows, the seat elevation does not continue to increase, meaning that the three rows are at nearly the same height (as well as being so far back). So naturally, one of the seats in Row R should be the worst?

20170104_173938_low.jpg

Really not that good. Were there a person in front of you, they'd block your view as well, so you'd be trying to lean sideways to avoid the bobblehead in front of you while also trying to lean forward to see around the beam. Not the best way to spend the game.

Con: You are as far from the court that you'll get in cameron (higher than the crows nest, I believe)
Pro: If you sneak in a sleeping bag, you could live in the area between row R and the corner of the building and be there for any game you wanted!


Section 1 Row O Seat 18
Section 9 Row O Seat 18
Section 4 Row O Seat 17
Section 12 Row O Seat 17

Our next seats are (surprise!) in the same section. They sound perfect, though! They're in row O, the last regular row. They have a full view of the court. There won't be any cameras or ladders or anything in your seat, so you can sit in it as much as you like. Here, see for yourself, they look great!

20170104_173904_low.jpg

What could possibly be wrong with this seat? take a closer look...see that small beam going across? It's about 4' off the ground and goes directly over seat 17...

Grayson with the drive...the kick to Kennard, who shoots...FOR THREE! Wooooo...OOOWWWWWWW.

If any of you are as excited as I am while watching Duke, you pop out of your seat from time to time, or even just throw up your hands. Section 12 Row O Seat 17 (or presumably 9-O-18, 4-O-17, 1-O-18) ensures you'll never forget that time you had enthusiasm for Duke Basketball. You will also come to have an irrational hatred for those in seats 19-27 who force you to do some sort of american ninja warrier to get out of your seat every time they need another Bojangles Chicken biscuit. I'm 6'2, and I almost touch the beam sitting down. If you're any taller, you're gonna have a bad time.

Con: Can cause surprise concussions
Pro: the medical tent is just one section over in section 13, and duke has great medical services, so you probably won't lose too many brain cells
Con: if the game was going poorly, maybe you wanted to forget

This may seem like a pretty raw deal, but as you'll see in a second, our top three are head and shoulders above the rest...


Section 11 Row D Seat 24
Section 3 Row D Seat 24

Our next seat is for the patron who is so traumatized by the previous 5 seats, that the'll only buy a nice average seat. Right in the middle...can't get hosed by edge cases there, right? The sight lines in the middle must be pretty nice, right? Well...

Part of what gives cameron it's rustic nature are the ceiling-mounted baskets, which are not found many other places. These are super cool because not only do they give some awesome sight lines for lower level seats, but they are also safer for players and allow for a massive "DUKE" along each baseline (though disappointingly made smaller in recent years...). Here's how those great sight lines look from 11-D-24...a nice seat right in the middle...

20170104_174105_low.jpg

Wow. Sweet. Does it still count as basketball if you can't actually see either basket? In most stadia, once you go a bit higher, you're above the backboard, so you can mostly see...but not in cameron! The hanging baskets ensure a whole swatch of seats at the intersections of sections 10-11 and 2-3 have an extremely limited view of the floor. The higher you get, the less of the floor you see unobstructed due to the basket mount, but you'll at least be able to lean side to side and see most of what's going on. This particular row is the worst, though, since the shot clock is smack dab in front of the other basket, along with the mount blocking the near basket. So if someone offers you a 22/24 in section 3/11 or 21-23 in section 2/10...you're going to be dealing with...wait for it...basket interference! (waaaiiitt...where are you going! We still have two more seats to go! It wasn't THAT bad, was it? Okay...it was pretty bad...)

Con: For a big game, you'll be able to see even less, since 5-6 cameras will be mounted behind the backboard
Pro: Best seat in the house for being mesmerizer by the ball-tracking cam which they sometimes mount on the shot clock!

...To Be Continued

[uh_no]

...Being Continued.


Section 1 Row P 12/14/16/18/20
Section 9 Row P 12/14/16/18/20
Section 4 Row P 11/13/15/17/29

We're moving into the best of the best now. These last two seats are some of the worst I've ever seen in any stadium.

Remember that concussion hungry beam from before? Notice the empty space behind it? That's section 12. For some reason sections 9, 1, and 4 decided to one-up the ridiculousness and put another 5 seats in that space as a sort of extension of row P. If one of these seats is yours, though, you better be ready to do some crazy parkour action, since what they DIDN'T do, is actually build any way to access these seats.

20170104_174915_low.jpg

On one side, we have Beamy McBeamington...impassible except by enterprising toddlers. On the other side, we have a 2'6" slab of concrete. I hope you brought your rock climbing gear, since that's how you're getting up there. The inaccessibility, however, is just the under-card...the calamari before the sushi, the dish before the three. It turns out the head hunting beam, which only causes you temporary memory loss or sprained fingers since it is above head level in row O, is almost perfectly AT eye level in row P. Don't believe me?

20170104_174851_low.jpg

Yep. This is a real seat. Don't buy tickets here to see Duke vs Visitor because the only game you'll be watching is steel beam vs mega rivet.

Pro: The beam makes an excellent cup holder or place to hang your jacket so it doesn't get wrinkled
Pro: Perfect sight lines for reading championship banners
Con: Difficult for any patron using a mobility device to access these wonderful seats

To Be Continued...

[uh_no]

...Being continued...and completed.

Section 13 Row O Seat 22
Section 5 Row O Seat 22
Section 8 Row O Seat 21
Seciont 16 Row O Seat 21

What could POSSIBLY be worse? We've reached the end. You can't see the court, you can't get to them, you might accidentally split open your forehead if you sneeze...Why aren't these seats #1? Fortunately, you can slouch or crane your neck and still see the court. That's enough to keep these out of top billing.

so what are the absolutely WORST seats in cameron? There are exactly four of them. They are so bad that you can't even use one of the main 16 stairwells. They had to build special staircases to access these seats since they're so bad. They didn't want most patrons to have to experience even being near the access way for these seats.

20170104_173709_low.jpg

What? Those seats don't look that bad...or so you say...until you walk down row M, despite being in row O, walk up the devil's own stairway to hell, and plop yourself in 13-O-22...and see this

20170104_173757_low.jpg

I will spare most words since this speaks for itself. Unlike every other seat here, and the reason this tops the row P seats is because unlike effectively every other seat in the house, no amount of leaning gets you a view of both baskets. I'm 6'2" and I leaned as far forward as I could. Here was the result

20170104_173820_low.jpg

Were you here for Dockery's Shot? Grayson's Shot? McClure's Shot? Any shot Duke ever made in the second half? Might as well not have been, because you're watching that on instant replay. Even the spot Dockery took the shot from is barely within view. This is undoubtedly, THE worst seat. Every seat is a good seat? I think not.

Pro: you're now in a special club of people who have sat in the worst seat in Cameron


Hey, but at least you were there!


Bonus picture of my gingerbread house

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[Hancock 4 Duke]

Wow. Can't believe some of those are actual seats...guess we can say they add a little character to Cameron

P.s Solid gingerbread house!

[FadedTackyShirt]

Thanks for putting this together. I've personally sat near several of these seats:

-The girder beam seats are brutal. I sat directly next to one of the girders, but at least there wasn't an obstructed view. The seat wasn't comfortable and the angle to the court was messed up.

-Sat in front of one of the crow's nest ladder seats once. Had no idea about the ladder until it nearly conked me on the head at halftime. Don't recall which section it was, but the seats were right by Crazy Towel Guy.

-Sat in row O once. Windows were open and a couple of birds were flying around inside CIS for several minutes.

Used to buy tickets from scalpers well before tip and that's when these tickets were fobbed off. Much better tickets and prices available less than 15 mins before tip. Sellers are almost always season ticket holders looking to dump (good) seats rather than pro scalpers looking to maximize profit.

[weezie]

Well done uh!

Send this as an article to the Duke Alumni mag and I'll bet it gets published.

Is that a spork on the roof of your gingerbread house?

[Ballboy1998]

Thank you for this - truly a laugh-out-loud tour. I have never had the misfortune of sitting in these particular seats, though I did once sit in Row O next to a support beam that required some serious leaning to see the whole court - but unlike your final example it could at least be accomplished.

[tbyers11]

Thanks uh_no for the hilarious photojournalism.

[lmb]

This should be a sticky!

[Hingeknocker]

Vital thread!

As a student, on one special occasion I had the lucky opportunity to sit somewhere pretty similar to your final set. It was 2006, JJ's senior year, and he was on the cusp of breaking Johnny D's career scoring mark. It was the next to last home game of the season, which is when senior students got (still get?) priority in the line to get in. Unfortunately, I was only a junior, and there was obviously a lot of interest from that year's seniors to go to that game. My friends and I were waiting in the walk-up line, desperately hoping there would still be room in the student section when our turn came up. Long story short, we ended up about 4 people short of getting in the student section, but miraculously were given tickets in the last row of one of those corner sections. We had to lean around the support beams to see the court, but we could see mostly everything, including JJ's three pointer to set the record.

That was the closest I came to not getting into a game in Cameron.

[Tom B.]

Thanks for the thorough and highly entertaining posts, uh_no.

The worst seat experience I've had in Cameron was in Row N of Section 7. Now, the seat itself was fine. Unobstructed view of the court, no crazy gymnastics required to access the seat. But it's directly under the crow's nest. I'm a tall guy (about 6'5"), and at one point Duke did something spectacular and I jumped out of my seat so high that I slammed my head against the underside of the crow's nest. Result: https://youtu.be/DJnKm6ftPu0?t=11

In December of 1992, my junior year as an undergrad, Michigan came to town. This was the Fab Five team (now all sophomores), and it was a rematch of the 1992 NCAA championship game. Michigan was ranked #1, and Duke was #4. It was the most hyped non-UNC game in Cameron I've ever seen. Students camped out for it. And thanks to a boneheaded mistake by one of my tentmates, our tent missed a check and got sent to the back of the line. We went from being in the first 20 or so tents to something like tent #130.

We were some of the last students who got into the game. The only space left in the bleachers was at the very end on the first row in Section 17. Our view was much like the picture uh_no posted from Section 19, Row A, Seat 1. So a couple of friends and I said, "Screw this," stepped down to the floor, and walked up to the end of the press table. We just stood there like we belonged, and nobody hassled us for the entire game. Had a close-up and unobstructed view of the court from the corner, which was a great vantage point to watch Hurley, Hill, & Co. demolish the Fab Five. Again.

[BLPOG]

Great post. I just want to point out regarding those seats with the girders blocking court view - the arched ones, not the straight beams - there are better/worse versions of those seats. The only time I was upstairs for a Carolina game I sat in one of those seats one girder closer to center court than what is pictured, and I was able to successfully lean forward and see the whole court (maybe 95%, but close enough I don't remember the difference). As a short guy for whom center court in section 17 could be a bad seat if I didn't line up early, I was pretty happy with that crappy seat.

[uh_no]

So I've been meaning to do this all year, but finally got the shots tonight. As you might know/have known, the old crows nest was put into disuse last year due to being not up to code or some such (I just like to think aging commentators complained that it was hard to go to the bathroom during timeouts!). In seriousness, though, it was dangerous. That means the seats that used to be behind the ladders are no longer bad seats...because there ARE no more seats behind the ladders...


But the result is much-much worse. Sure, you don't have the risk of catching a stumbling Dick Vitale, but you also can't see. Whether that tradeoff is worth it to you...is up to you... Judge for yourself

Section 6 Row N Seat 17

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j8wBwotmtzNvsx4G7

<not sure why image upload doesn't work...shrug...>

But it gets worse than that! Going up one row

Section 6 Row O Seat 21

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEqrnirdUwaoSP4h8

Oof. even leaning all the way down, you can barely see the basket.

Fortunately due to how it's laid out, the seats in Section 7 don't have much of an issue. I'd rate these as probably in the top 10 worst individual seats in the stadium.

In case you wonder what they did with all the seats they got rid of?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9VACG8RkfysX8j966

[Rich]

In case you wonder what they did with all the seats they got rid of?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9VACG8RkfysX8j966

And yet people still sit in them all scrunched up because capacity is still 9,314.

[uh_no]

Well, I guess people still sit in them all scrunched up because capacity is still 9,314.

Conveniently, I think the student section always holds exactly 9314 - number of seats in the rest of the stadium!

[Indoor66]

So I've been meaning to do this all year, but finally got the shots tonight. As you might know/have known, the old crows nest was put into disuse last year due to being not up to code or some such (I just like to think aging commentators complained that it was hard to go to the bathroom during timeouts!). In seriousness, though, it was dangerous. That means the seats that used to be behind the ladders are no longer bad seats...because there ARE no more seats behind the ladders...


But the result is much-much worse. Sure, you don't have the risk of catching a stumbling Dick Vitale, but you also can't see. Whether that tradeoff is worth it to you...is up to you... Judge for yourself

Section 6 Row N Seat 17

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j8wBwotmtzNvsx4G7

<not sure why image upload doesn't work...shrug...>

But it gets worse than that! Going up one row

Section 6 Row O Seat 21

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEqrnirdUwaoSP4h8

Oof. even leaning all the way down, you can barely see the basket.

Fortunately due to how it's laid out, the seats in Section 7 don't have much of an issue. I'd rate these as probably in the top 10 worst individual seats in the stadium.

In case you wonder what they did with all the seats they got rid of?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9VACG8RkfysX8j966

The worst is better than the best at the dump on the hump.

[Teton Jack]

Great contribution to our knowledge of Cameron! Kudos!

[budwom]

It all goes to show that no matter how old you are, you can still change.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

So I've been meaning to do this all year, but finally got the shots tonight. As you might know/have known, the old crows nest was put into disuse last year due to being not up to code or some such (I just like to think aging commentators complained that it was hard to go to the bathroom during timeouts!). In seriousness, though, it was dangerous. That means the seats that used to be behind the ladders are no longer bad seats...because there ARE no more seats behind the ladders...


But the result is much-much worse. Sure, you don't have the risk of catching a stumbling Dick Vitale, but you also can't see. Whether that tradeoff is worth it to you...is up to you... Judge for yourself

Section 6 Row N Seat 17

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j8wBwotmtzNvsx4G7

<not sure why image upload doesn't work...shrug...>

But it gets worse than that! Going up one row

Section 6 Row O Seat 21

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEqrnirdUwaoSP4h8

Oof. even leaning all the way down, you can barely see the basket.

Fortunately due to how it's laid out, the seats in Section 7 don't have much of an issue. I'd rate these as probably in the top 10 worst individual seats in the stadium.

In case you wonder what they did with all the seats they got rid of?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9VACG8RkfysX8j966

Thanks for the great update. Much as they are still selling pieces of the Cameron floor from 1997 when they replaced it, they could sell these seats for a lot of money. When the Yankees and Mets built new stadiums, they sold seats from the old ones and I believe they were very successful. I'm sure there are plenty of Duke fans who would pay a lot to have these seats in their home, even if they are just a conversation piece and not to be sat on.