Road Trip: Conte Forum, Home of the Boston College Eagles

Note: The following is the first in, hopefully, a series of articles written about the experience of witnessing a game in the environment of that team’s home court. How often I can write these reviews depends on several factors, including funds (read: the economy), ticket availability, and my work schedule.

Have you ever watched a college basketball game on TV and thought, “Wow, what an incredible atmosphere. I’d sell my own mother for tickets.”

Or worse, “I wouldn’t play for that school even if you gave me two scholarships.”

So that got me thinking—why don’t I go to some games and write about the experience?

Since I live about 45 miles northwest of Boston, I figured why not start with Boston College?

After scoring two tickets online to the Eagles' game against ACC foe Virginia Tech on Saturday, Jan. 31, I called my friend Joel and told him he was going with me.

Then I hit the local CVS (today’s neighborhood drugstore...C...V...S...) to pick up a fresh notebook and a couple of new pens.

The tickets came in the mail, and game day finally arrived. I was all set. Let the Road Trip begin.

 I found out long ago

It’s a long way down the Holiday Road

Holiday Road, oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

Holiday Road, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

5:25 p.m. After picking up Joel, we started the drive down Route 3 South. Our plan was to catch the “T”—Boston-speak for the subway system, also known as the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)—to the Haymarket stop, grab some dinner at the Quincy Market food court, and then catch the Green Line over to Boston College. For anyone who’s never been to Boston, the different subway lines are identified by colors: Orange, Red, Blue, Green, and Silver.

We spent most of the car ride discussing the greatest mystery of the universe: women. What did you think we were going to talk about, Dr. Phil?

6:05 p.m. After reaching the Wellington “T” station in Medford, we hopped the Orange line into Boston.

Now, understand this: If you’ve never had the pleasure (I use that word loosely) of riding Boston’s subway system, there’s pretty much one, simple way to describe it—dirty.

Although upon entering the train, I immediately noticed new seat linings. For the longest time, you had to sit on this lousy, stain-littered, black plastic-type of material. In its place now was a cottony black with colored striping liner. Nice to see citizen tax dollars at work.

Another quick observation. Seven of 20 people in our cart were texting on their cell phones. Nice.

And as I was writing in my notebook, there was Joel elbowing me and making me scribble through my notes. I’ve known him for almost 25 years. And that was vintage Joel. I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t see it coming.

One of the best aspects of the “T” is that on the trains in which the conductor announces the next stop through an intercom, rarely can you understand what is being said. Usually, you can make out the “next stop” part of the broadcast, but your typical “T” announcement sounds like this:

“Next stop, (insert the voice from Charlie Brown’s teacher or static from a bad phone line. I’m not kidding).”

6:37 p.m. The train finally arrived at the Haymarket stop. The door opened, and no sooner could we get off than a lady pushing her fruit bag-carrying cart got on. Here’s the best part. She stopped smack-dab in the middle of the doorway. Joel and I were obviously waiting to get off. Did she move? Of course not.

Despite my best “stop blocking the door and get out of my way, you moron” glare, she didn’t move. So Joel and I physically squeezed by the cart to exit the train. I told you, the “T” is awesome!

We were now above-ground walking towards Faneuil Hall.

Immediately on our right was Boston City Hall, which has to be one of the ugliest-looking buildings in the country. Click here and you’ll shake your head in agreement.

Soon after on our left was a bar called The Purple Shamrock. So I told Joel the story of how our friend Hoopa once fell asleep inside the bar on a Saturday night leaning against a wall while standing up and with a band playing 20 feet away. And, he was sober. I kid you not.

Before we hit the food court at Quincy Market, Joel stopped in the restroom. When he got back, Joel told me he was the only guy in there when this other guy walked in and used the urinal right next to Joel even though he had a choice of about seven other places to take care of business. Sound the pervert alarm.

7:20 p.m. We were now waiting to catch the Green Line over to B.C. Tip-off was scheduled for eight o’clock. Plenty of time.

So as we’re waiting for a train, we passed the time by feverishly planning strategy for our spring/summer softball league. Joel will hit leadoff, I’ll probably hit in one of the RBI spots, and we’ll both play the outfield. Like you care.

The Green Line has four different trains (B, C, D, and E). Each train shows the destination on the front and side of the cart. Except for the one that pulled up.

So I walked to the front cart and mouthed “Boston College” to the driver. He shook his head in the affirmative.

Here’s another positive about the “T.” Most of the workers are the most miserable people you’ll find. When I approached the conductor, he had this scowl on his face that screamed, “I’d rather have a colonoscopy without any anesthesia than do this lousy job.” So glad he was driving.

One other note about the Green Line. It is slow. Very slow. A lot of the trains are new on the inside, but they crawl along at a snail’s pace. At least the intercom is a digital recording that you can actually decipher.

But when you look at a Green Line train, you can’t help but think of the $600 wheelchair George Costanza bought the handicapped woman because he’s cheap.

So the train is rolling along stop by stop.

A few stations later, a group of 20-somethings boards the train. All except one of them. The electronic gate partially closed on him as he entered through it. He was stuck for about 10 seconds until the gate re-opened and freed him. So, what did the conductor do? He yelled at the guy for holding up the train.

You read that correctly. Through no fault of his own, the passenger became trapped in the electronic gate, yet the conductor admonished the guy for holding up the train. What a jerk. I’m telling you, you can’t make this stuff up about the Boston subway system.

7:42 We’re above ground now, and the train is moving agonizingly slow as we continue down Commonwealth Avenue (Comm Ave, if you’re a Bostonian). I check the time on my cell, and I tell Joel that I think we’re going to be late.

We just passed the Boston University West Station stop, so we have 15 more stops before we arrive at B.C., the last stop on the line.

7:54 Yup, we are so going to be late. I shook my head as I was thinking how great this was. The whole point of me going to the game was to write about the experience at B.C.’s home court, but at this point in the article, you’re still reading about us sitting on the train.

Joel just hit me with the classic little kid “are we there yet?” question. Fair game. I deserved that. And yes, for any of you military guys out there, the “Seven P’s” was running through my head. But really, I forgot it moved this slowly. Seriously, I’m certain that I could win a 100-yard sprint against that train.

If that wasn’t enough, by now I’d had it with hearing the digital recording “the destination of this train is Boston College.” That message repeated itself what seems like every three minutes.

You see, this is how the “T” works. They either beat you to death with an overkill of a digital recording on the final train destination, or the conductor makes sure you have no idea what he/she says as the next stop approaches, so you either have to know where you’re going or you have to check the maps on the walls of the train.

8:32 Last stop, Boston College station. And yes, the game tipped at 8 p.m. As we’re all exiting the train, there’s this one guy sleeping (more like passed out. Trust me, he looked like he’d been in a three-hour meeting with a Mr. Jack Daniels). The conductor yelled at the guy “hey buddy, wake up. Last stop.” That was actually pretty funny.

So after a five-minute walk across campus, we finally arrive at Conte Forum.

Boston College plays their basketball (men’s and women’s) and hockey games in the Silvio O. Conte Forum, which has a capacity of 8,606. There isn’t a bad seat in the entire building.

The Eagles’ colors of maroon and gold are found anywhere and everywhere inside the place.

Along the inside perimeter, there’s a trophy case for each sport.

Behind both ends of the court are the student seats. Almost everyone in those sections was wearing a gold “Superfan” t-shirt. OK, I’m all for student enthusiasm, but if you have to inform people that you’re a “Superfan,” I question just how good of a fan you are. Let your actions speak for themselves. So count me in as thinking the t-shirts are pretty lame, but at least the students are fairly vocal in their support of the Eagles.

Note: The following times reflect game time, not actual time.

7:54 After a quick tour around the inside perimeter, we took our seats. Section NN, Row 19, Seats 9 and 10. We’re in the uppermost section, but we still have a great view. Our seats aren’t very comfortable though since they’re bench style (i.e. no back).

At this point in the game, the score was only B.C. 13, VaTech 9. So even though we’d missed more than half of the first half, it appeared that we hadn’t missed anything.

The Eagle mascot was up and about patrolling the grounds while the student sections kept doing the patented Duke “ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” chant every time VaTech had the ball. Again, I love the enthusiasm, but turn on one of the 217 Duke home games broadcast on ESPN each season, and the “ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” chant unquestionably belongs to the Blue Devil fans. A little more creativity, please.

Look overhead and you’ll see the rafters are adorned with a multitude of white, maroon, and gold banners ranging from men’s and women’s hoops to hockey to retired jerseys. A nice history of the school’s athletic accomplishments.

About 10 rows in front of us was exactly what I knew we’d see at some point throughout the evening—a fan wearing a Doug Flutie jersey.

For those of you unfamiliar with Boston College athletics, let me explain something. To B.C. fans, Doug Flutie is what John Wooden is to UCLA fans—a God.

To be honest, I was surprised I hadn’t seen multiple Flutie jerseys at that point.

So far, the crowd had been pretty flat. The basketball hadn’t been crisp, and VaTech wasn’t the most attractive of draws, so I was sure that played a part.

But historically, B.C. fans have been knocked for being a “wine and cheese” crowd. In the short time we had been there, they didn’t do anything to dispel the myth.

Jeff Allen of VaTech just had a monster two-handed flush off of a missed shot. What a putback.

When halftime arrived, the Eagles held a two-point edge over the Hokies, 23-21.

The halftime entertainment consisted of two fans dressed in sumo wrestler suits performing a “suicide” sprint while dribbling a ball. First one to finish the sprint and make a layup won some prize.

Former B.C. great and current Minnesota Timberwolves player Craig Smith was in the audience. The P.A. guy pointed him out and the crowd gave him a huge ovation. Minnesota was in town to play the Celtics the next day, hence, Smith was able to make the game.

Since we ate before heading to the game, neither of us bought any concessions. But a quick scan of the area in which we were sitting revealed the typical stadium staples of pizza, pretzels, popcorn, Coke, and bottled water.

I’m sure there’s more, but since our seats are in the middle of a row, I don’t feel like getting up to go look and having to do the “excuse me, excuse me, sorry about that, excuse me, sorry, oops, can I just get by? Excuse me” in order to get out of our section.

Second half

Tyrese Rice started the second half by knocking down a three. That got a rise out of the crowd.

See, you have to understand this. While he might fly under the radar in other parts of the country, Rice is the hoops BMOC here at Boston College, so the fans cheer him for anything. He could give a low-blow to the man he’s guarding and that would still draw some level of approval from the B.C. faithful.

Rice’s three-pointer resonated well with the Duke, I mean, B.C. student section as they started the “ooohhhhhhhhhhhh” cheer again.

Joe Trapani just had an interesting sequence. On back-to-back plays, he elicited a roar from the crowd and then totally deflated them with a breakaway, rim-rocking dunk and then an airball three on B.C.’s next possession. Oops.

B.C. is up 30-28. Jeff Allen of VaTech has 18 of his team's 28 points. Good thing he didn’t miss the bus.

While the arena is small enough to become very loud—if these people would ever get into it—one minor drawback is that since the Eagles also play hockey here, the seats aren’t right on top of the court, so visiting teams can’t feel the fans the way other teams do at basketball-only arenas.

14:20 VaTech just tied the score at 33-all on a three-pointer by A.D. Vassallo. In response, the fans started a “Let’s Go, Eagles” chant that lasted four cycles and then quickly died. I love the enthusiasm!

Two interesting developments occurred over the next few minutes. At the 12:28 mark, Rice limped off the court and the gym went silent. Told you he’s the BMOC. Then 59 seconds later, Rakim Sanders picked up his third foul for the Eagles.

Sanders is arguably B.C.’s second best player (he and Trapani take turns being Robin to Rice’s Batman). So in a game that’s just a single possession (B.C.’s up by three, 40-37), things could get interesting.

8:10 With B.C. leading 50-47, Rice checks back in. He missed the last 6:10 of game action, and the Eagles managed to maintain the three-point lead they had when he exited. Job well done.

At this point, the Hokies’ offense has become a three-man show. Allen, Vassallo, and Malcolm Delaney have scored 44 of 47 points.

The Eagles have a freshman named Reggie Jackson, who was Mr. Basketball in Colorado last year. Let me tell you two things about him, and I promise, neither one will be a baseball joke.

First, this kid is going to be a stud. He wasn’t that highly recruited coming out of high school but he certainly falls into the mold of “diamond in the rough” recruit that Coach Al Skinner specializes in finding. Just look up the recruiting rankings of Craig Smith, Jared Dudley, and Rice, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Secondly, the crowd really, really responds to the frosh. I mean, they love this guy. He just made a simple layup, and the crowd reacted as if he hit a fade-away, off-balanced half court shot with 00:00.1 left on the game clock. I think next year he will erupt into a serious player, and he’ll assume the role of BMOC since Rice is graduating this spring.

Newsflash! We just spotted our second Flutie jersey.

The student section stared another “Let’s Go, Eagles” chant, yet, for some reason, the rest of the crowd refuses to join in. I just don’t understand this.

4:04 A VaTech player is at the line shooting free throws, so Joel starts in with the classic “Noonan” curse. If you’ve never watched Caddy Shack, by all means, stop reading this and go purchase the DVD. You won’t regret it.

3:16 We reached the under 4:00 media timeout, B.C. has a 60-56 lead, and “Shipping Up to Boston” is blaring over the speaker system. Amazingly enough, the crowd is making the most noise they’ve made all night because of this song.

There’s a reason though. When Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon emerges from the bullpen at the start of ninth inning to nail down the game for Boston, this is his entrance music. The Fenway Faithful work themselves into a frenzy the equivalent of President Obama announcing that everyone will receive a one million dollar stimulus check in the mail. It is quite the sight.

2:33 Allen, Vassallo, and Delaney now have 53 of 58 points. Safe to say they earned their scholarships tonight.

2:08 Trapani was just whistled for a total garbage offensive foul with the Eagles ahead, 62-58. The crowd is booing so loudly, you would’ve thought one of two things happened: Either the ref just kicked the cane out from under an elderly woman, or Peyton Manning and Alex Rodriguez were shown on the Jumbotron sitting together courtside. Yes, the venom is flowing nicely.

If the crowd cheered with as much passion as they booed, the Eagles would have one of the best home courts in the country. Welcome to Boston, where we know how to show our disapproval.

It’s not our fault, though. After all, this is the state that watched Mike Dukakis and John Kerry both run for President while at the same time giving Ted Kennedy a living for 40 years in the Senate. Why do you think I moved across the border to N.H. after 26 years of calling Massachusetts home?

Actually, it was to get out of paying Mass. State income tax since I work in N.H. But I digress, and I’m pretty sure you’re not interested. To quote Dr. Evil, "the details of my life are quite inconsequential..."

1:32 Vassallo just tied the game at 62 with a slam dunk.

0:51 Rice just picked up his fourth foul. Vassallo canned both free throws to give Tech a 64-62 lead.

0:38.4 Rice redeemed himself by making a floater in the lane, drawing a foul, and converting the free throw to give B.C. a 65-64 lead. Why the P.A. system isn’t playing the Superman theme is beyond me.

0:17.9 Tech takes a timeout with 0:15 on the shot clock. The entire crowd is standing and they are into it. It’s about time.

0:14.5 Vassallo draws a blocking foul on Corey Raji, nails his two free throws, and Tech is back up by one, 66-65. Timeout, B.C.

OK, here we go. Rice has the ball and drives to the basket. He launches a floater off the back iron. No good. At that moment, VaTech ignored one of the basic fundamentals of basketball: box out.

Sanders followed Rice down the lane, grabbed the miss, and dropped it through the hoop with 00:00.4 left on the clock to give B.C. a 67-66 win.

Amazing ending. The crowd is standing and cheering...and quickly heading for the exits. Don’t enjoy it or anything, people.

As a side note, Allen, Vassallo, and Delaney finished with 62 of their team’s 66 points. That’s impressive.

So we filed out of the arena, caught the Green Line back to the Government Center stop to switch trains, and head home. When we were at Government Center, we ran into this homeless drunk guy who asked us for some money to ride the "T" and also had the courtesy to introduce himself. He said his name was Jack Daniels.

Joel informed him that his name was Captain Morgan, told him we didn’t have any money, and we were on our way. An interesting exchange to say the least.

Overall, the night was a great experience. Conte Forum is an impressive arena worthy of hosting exciting games. There is no such thing as a bad view in that building.

On the other hand, the Boston College fan base needs an enthusiasm transplant.

Steve’s Road Trip Rating: 7.0 out of 10