actually take pride in making TBA the worst atmosphere in the SEC and one of the worst in the nation?

One has to wonder by the way they treat fans attending games.

This comment is not just because of the sign incident with the kid at the Syracuse game, but just the myriad of stories heard throughout the years since that God forsaken place has opened makes me think these folks enjoy TBA being a stale, mundane gym.

Sad to say, but stories like the one above really make me NOT want to take the effort to go games and just stay home and watch quality hoops on TV.

If you TRIED to discourage fans from supporting your basketball team, could you do any better than the UTAD?

1. Parking is a nightmare and only $$donors$$ are allowed to park within 1/2 mile of arena. Lots of good parking close to the arena is left vacant every game while Joe Sixpack is forced to find parking in the Fort Sanders area.

2. No tickets are available in the lower sections-even when there are only 7,000 people in attendance-unless you deal with scalpers. Joe Sixpack must buy tickets for his family in the nose-bleed sections, while he sees hundreds of prime lower seats unused for every game. And if you dare try to sit in an unused seat in the lower section, rest assured you will be swiftly removed.

3. Concessions-same crappy food they've been serving since '87. The only thing that's changed is the price. Oh, I did forget the new Petros booth. Pardon me. Nice addition....not.

4. Usher Nazi's. They go out of their way to make sure your bb experience is miserable. They're trained to remove anyone from the arena who is audacious enough to stand up and cheer, show enthusiasm, carry a sign, etc. In addition, they're rude and have an unbelievable chip on their shoulder.

5. Students-rather than putting them front and center (e.g. Duke) where they can be loud and boisterous-are relegated to the corner of the arena and are pretty much a non-factor in the game. Instead, UTAD for years allowed the press front row seats (although that did change this year).

6. TB-Arena itself. You build the largest bb arena in the conference for a football school. Brilliant. That means even when you get a great crowd of 16-17,000 (good by anyone's standard), the arena is still 25% empty. The result is no atmosphere and the feeling of being in a morgue.

7. Wade Houston and Jerry Green. With one of the largest athletic budgets in the country, you hire these clowns to coach your team.

Think about it. If you TRIED to discourage your basketball program from succeeding, could the UTAD have done any better?

I don't mean this as a flame whatsoever, but the TBA has to be one of the very worst arenas in the country for basketball. I was amazed when it was being built in the mid-80's. I could not believe that UT wanted to build a cavernous home for UT b-ball. Who cares if you're bigger than Rupp Arena? They need to dynamite that dump and start over, IMO.

The Tall Mart Gestapo ushers are just the bow on the package. If you didn't know better(?), you'd think that DAD has made a concerted effort to keep men's b-ball as this town's #3 sport. (#2 being fake basketball, of course.)

the last games I ever saw in there was the NCAA regionals when LSU, with shaq and company, Georgia Tech, kenny anderson and a great cast, Michigan State, and I believe it was Pepperdine. The Tech vs LSU game may have been of the top 10 games I have ever seen. The atmosphere was great, it was packed and I dont ever remember an usher. heheh Don`t think there was an orange taliban to be found that night. Just alot of Bobby Cremins look a likes! Heck, we parked within a block of the TBA. Now, It sounds like you need to be airlifted in now and have armed escorts!