What I Didn't Like About The Old Cajundome

I absolutely hated the old noise meter for basketball games at the Cajundome.

There's a lot to like about the newly-renovated Cajundome, and one of them is that it doesn't have that old noise stick, which lit up more as the crowd got louder.

Truthfully. the noise stick was gone a long time ago, but it seemed like it was there for an eternity.

For those of you who don't have any idea of what I'm talking about, there was a noise stick/meter located in the Cajundome during the late 80's/early 90's.

The stick was stationed way above the rim on the side of the Cajundome that was nearest the team locker rooms.

There were about 8 little white lights on the stick, and the louder the crowd got, the more lights would light up, going all the way to the top.

When the stick got as high as it possibly could, there was a big red light, similar to a flashing red light on a fire truck at the top, that would light up.

Oh boy!

Understand, after like three times, at the most, it kind of got old.

To be fair, a lot of arenas had something similar, and still do, it's just noise that crowd noise is measured on computer programs, and placed on scoreboards.

The noise stick was also sponsored, and kids seemed to like it.

So, there were some positives.

What I didn't like about it was it seemed fake. Coming from Blackham Coliseum, I didn't need for anybody to tell me when to get loud, or cheer.

Crowd noise comes naturally, and I just hated it when they tried to force it with that stick.

For instance; Cajuns playing poorly, and down 56-42, when I hear former public address announcers Kenny Hazelett or Hal Langford (not their fault, were just doing their jobs) say, with a frustrated crowd; "Light up the stick!"

Really, to this day, I'm at sporting events that aren't very good, with the crowd kind of dead, and I sarcastically say to someone else, or even myself; "Light up the stick!"

If the noise stick needed to be there, it should have just been another part of the arena, like scoreboards or the lighting, and when the Cajuns were playing well, and went on a big run in a key game, the stick would light up because the crowd was genuinely into it.

I like almost everything about the newly-renovated Cajundome, and one of the things I like most is that it doesn't have that stupid stick!