East to play Burg Dec. 2nd

[yabbadabbadoo]

I hear the Burg had no say in the gyms size, it was the state that makes the call on what you can have.

Thank you! Once again, when you are building something using the state's money then you have to follow the state's guidelines. And since Wheelersburg was one of the last in the county to have their levy passed, the rules have since changed. That's why you see smaller schools (enrollment wise) with bigger facilities. Over the years the state kept decreasing the requirements of what you are allowed to have in a gymnasium. Stop blaming the administration! Besides, it seats something like 200-250 [b]MORE than the old gym.[/b] You want better seats? Put up the money for reserved seats. Jr. Hi games will be better too now that they have a regulation sized gym.

Is it perfect? No. There will be adjustments that will need to be made. I heard multiple people throughout most of the game last night griping about the fact that there was ONE light not working on one of the scoreboards. Basketball isn't the only sport to use that gym. Those scoreboards went through a whole season of volleyball before any of the basketball players stepped foot in there. Guess what? Bulbs burn out occasionally! IT HAPPENS! Get over it!

/end rant.
//I feel better.

Sure, it does hold 200-250 more people, but like I said in my post above, those extra seats are now on the visitors side. What they might have looked into doing is something like South Webster did. They should have cut the vistors side down about 3-4 rows and added them to the home side. It could have been done. Everything would have just had to have been moved over, which should not have been a problem. They should not have made the seating equal on both sides. You need to take care of your home fans first.

[Snowman]

I agree with some of the criticism. The problem...the home fans have been used to sitting at center court. There was still plenty of seats on the home side last night. Student section (under the basket) wasn't even half full. The end opposite the entrance was empty. The visitors side was basically empty. Great idea to make the home side bigger while reducing the visitor's section. Too bad it is an after thought. That would also help with the limited space for the bench and table. And not sure about the concession stand location and accessibility.

Diehards: Get over the fact that Wheelersburg and most new schools are not going to have large gyms like Valley or Northwest. The formulas/procedures have changed, unless you are willing to put in thousands of your own dollars, which schools cannot afford to do.

In fact, I might actually go to more games now, especially for the big games when you know there was going to be a big crowd. I always hated having to sit on the stage in seats that most of the time you could not see the scoreboard and in a gym where the humidity was awful. Now I know there will be seats somewhere in the gym where I can actually watch the game without a knee in my back, sitting side ways, where I can see the scoreboard, where I will not be sweating in the middle of the winter, etc.

New gym=better playing floor, better lighting, as much or more seating, good color/banners, etc.

Yes, it is not the old gym...but the old gym was the worst gym in SOC Div II (comparable to East and New Boston in the SOC I).

[seven40]

As a photographer, I like the new gym. The lighting is great. More room around the court to shoot without worrying about getting rolled on by the players.

Here's a shot from the top row of the visitor's bleachers.

[yabbadabbadoo]

As a photographer, I like the new gym. The lighting is great. More room around the court to shoot without worrying about getting rolled on by the players.

Here's a shot from the top row of the visitor's bleachers.

Nice pic. Did not realize though that that many seats were behind each basket on the sides. Looks like alot of the general seat people on the home side will be sitting behind the baskets. How is that going to go over? I think the reserve seats go from the handicap space on the left to the handicap space on the right.

I like the banners on the wall, especially the SOC ones on the visitors side, they are really nice, but something needs to be done about the long black banners hanging on the home side. When people sit on the top row, they block out the bottom of the banner.

Do you have any other pics? Do you have any of the crowd after the game had started?

[Tartanblue]

The seating behind the rims is just behind one rim. The sound system sounded terrible, to where when introducing players you only understood a couple names.

[nobodyspecial]

Last night's game cannot be used to assess East or Burg's talent.I believe Burg started all sophomores the first few minutes of game.Both teams kept a constant rotation of players,utilizing all,as an assessment tool for regular games would be my guess.It was only for a limited time was all starters for both squads playing against each other.

East did better than I thought they would against Burg.

[Burg_Grad_77]

From what I understood the original plans called for 11 rows on both sides, but it was cut down by the person doing the planning to only 9 rows. Why was this allowed? The 2 extra rows on both sides would have really increased the amount of people. Like someone else stated on here, they should have put more rows on the home side and less on the visitors side. The old gym had both the lower and upper section and I'm sure held more people than the home side does now. The increase in people was added to the visitors side, so if you don't come early to the game you may have to sit on the visitors sides which usually doesn't go over very well with the visiting crowd. I also heard from more than one person that Coach Barrick was never asked for any imput on the gym. Why????

[drrabbit]

Reserve seating is a good idea because the seats are paid for whether they are used or not. It gives the athletic department a guaranteed income for that season.

The gym does hold more than the last one and there is not a bad seat in the house (except behind the cheerleaders...)

This Gym will be crowded on the big games. So was the old one. That will not change. If we can raise about 5 million, we could build a palace like Waverly's. But the state sure was not going to allow us to make something like that with their money.

In the meantime, I think that they need to build a three-corner balconey over the main entrance for the radio and other reporters. Until then, I expect a table somewhere on the floor when the radio comes. There are supportive ledges that can used for the structure. Of course I would worry about Snuffy and high places at Wheelersburg... (He fell and broke his arm at a track meet once climbing into/out of the pressbox...)

[drrabbit]

Last night's game cannot be used to assess East or Burg's talent.I believe Burg started all sophomores the first few minutes of game.Both teams kept a constant rotation of players,utilizing all,as an assessment tool for regular games would be my guess.It was only for a limited time was all starters for both squads playing against each other.

There are only four sophomores on varsity. The rest are on JV. Wheelersburg started 3 sophomores and 2 juniors and that is probably who will start for Saturday's game. Whether there will be changes later in the starting line up will depend on how they do.

[drrabbit]

I figure someone else might appreciate those seats better than I. Your brothers would be two of whom I would think could enjoy it. You, on the other hand, I doubt will make it to many Burg games this year since you have another team to follow.

[OZZIEOHIO]

I havent seen it but it does look like theres not much seating in there, Other than that I think it looks pretty nice. I like the student section behind the rim on one end. Im just going by the pictures and thinking that it was always crowed in the old gym when we played there.

[art_vandelay]

Nice pics. Looks like a beautiful gym to me...definitely an upgrade over the old gym. I like the color scheme and the seating behind the basket gives it a college feel. Also like the look of real wood seats over the plastic ones that most new gyms have.

As for the seating, seems to me they should have added 3 more rows to the home side and subtracted 3 rows from the visiting side. It's pretty normal for gyms to have alot less seating on the visitors side...not sure why the planners thought it'd be best to even it out. Also doesn't seem much room between the playing floor and benches/scorers' table. Could be injury issues when players go after loose balls on that side of the court.*

[tartanguard/forward]

yea they ended up beating us pretty bad butt it was good practice, burg is a team i realy respect, they can win every year in football and then a month later do the same in basketball, i tip my hat to the wheelersburg athletics program

[yabbadabbadoo]

yea they ended up beating us pretty bad butt it was good practice, burg is a team i realy respect, they can win every year in football and then a month later do the same in basketball, i tip my hat to the wheelersburg athletics program

Thanks for the kind words tartanguard/forward. Not trying to sound cocky or anything, but it is something that coach Barrick has adapted to very well. He knows on any given year that he might not have his full squad until after Thanksgiving (football would have to be playing in the finals) and still yet, Burg always starts out a little slow, but still yet are competitive in those first few games of the season, even though they haven't had much court time. I believe that goes to show you what kind of coach we have in the Burg and are very proud of it. He expects 100% out of his player and he enstills in every player on the team that when they walk out on that court, they are thinking of nothing less than a win when they leave that court. Sometimes it works out for them and sometimes it doesn't. Can't win them all, but they sure as hell try

East had nothing to be ashamed about the other night. They played right with Burg and then I think both teams started subbing in to get everyone some playing time and the Burg's bench was a little bit stronger. That is when the game got out of control. East starters kept the game close. No. 23, Garrett for East is a player. Played alot of ball with his dad back in the day behind the fire station in Sciotoville, so he gets it naturally as Johnny was a hell of a player back then also. East will more than compete for the SOC 1. They moved the ball well and penetrated well also. Very nice guard play.

Nice pics. Looks like a beautiful gym to me...definitely an upgrade over the old gym. I like the color scheme and the seating behind the basket gives it a college feel. Also like the look of real wood seats over the plastic ones that most new gyms have.

As for the seating, seems to me they should have added 3 more rows to the home side and subtracted 3 rows from the visiting side. It's pretty normal for gyms to have alot less seating on the visitors side...not sure why the planners thought it'd be best to even it out. Also doesn't seem much room between the playing floor and benches/scorers' table. Could be injury issues when players go after loose balls on that side of the court.*

I said the same thing Art about adding more rows to the home side. I guess they felt bad after all of those years of the visitors having nowhere to sit, so they made it equal.LOL I noticed that also that when the players and coachers were sitting on the sidelines, there feet were on the court a little bit. Would have liked to have seen the Home of the Pirates that is on the floor on each side been in orange instead of black. Would have given it some color on the floor. I like the pirate they used. It looks like the old one that used to be on the notebook paper you could buy back in the 70's. The logo on the mat at the end of the one basket is very nice also. Wouldn't mind having something like that on a tee shirt.

Overall, the gym is not bad. If they would have opted to put more seats on the homeside, I think it would have been better. I can see some Burg people filtering over to the visitors side and unless they designate a section over there as a home section, that could cause some problems.

I guess we will have to wait until there is a big game in there to see how it is going to stand up to the old gym. I remember them standing up the stairways and in the doors back in the day, especially when Burg and Ptown played in the 80's. Man was that place packed.

[tartanguard/forward]

burgs coach knows the game no doubt, i think burg has a great chance at the soc 2 title, every time were not playing you better believe burgs who im rooting for, great basketball team no doubt.