But seriously

I went to a basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center last night. I believe it was as full as I'd ever seen it, yet by my estimates it was only slightly above half full (admittedly, my estimating skills are not very good - my friend said he thought it was closer to 3/4 full. Regardless, even if it were as full as my friend estimated there were still a LOT of empty seats). It's probably not a real good thing when that's the best crowd the team can draw.

My point is this, it's very rare for the people here to get excited about an event. There's just too much going on in this city. One can be entertained at any time of the day, any day of the week. As a result, people don't seem to be very interested in what is actually going on at the events they attend. I've been to a number of sporting events and concerts here, but it's not the same experience as the ones I've been to in other places. For example, during last night's game, the people behind us, in front of us, and off to one side of us sat and talked to each other or on their cell phones the entire time, not even stopping when something exciting would happen on the court. As my friend pointed out, it's almost like they were there just to see people, and to be seen, with no real interest in the game.

I've had the same experience at concerts here. This behavior might be expected at places where it's an unknown band, or if the place isn't very packed. However, even when I went to see John Mayer (who seems to be popular enough, although I don't really like his music that much - I went to the show because it was a free ticket and I had nothing else to do that night) I could hardly hear the music because of the murmuring of the crowd. People were talking to each other rather loudly so that they could hear each other over the music (so that the murmuring was actually more like a low roar). With everyone doing that, it got rather annoying (and I'm not even a fan).

I'm amused when I hear people talk about bringing a professional sports franchise to this city because I don't see how it would be successful. In order for a franchise to succeed, they have to put people in the stands. Those inflated contracts pro-athletes sign don't just grow on trees, they have to be paid for by the fans. That's not a hard thing to do when the team is a winner, but how many expansion teams start off as winners? I don't see the people of this city going to games year after year to watch a losing team. There are just too many other options. Now, I'm sure that the commissioners of the major sports could really care less what I think, and they'll end up putting a team here (it looks like major league baseball might be close), but if the experiment fails, I'll be able to say "I told you so." And after all, isn't that what's most important?