Here's Why You DO NOT Turn The Coliseum Lights Off For Pre-Game Player Introductions
Athens, GA (Feb 16, 2008) - Eye on Sports Media has long hated the University of Georgia practice of turning off the Stegeman Coliseum lights for a "Las Vegas" style of introducing players. Today, a whole bank of lights failed to come up after the introductions.
The lights, pictured here as it happened, went out in Georgia.
Photograph Copyright 2008 by Christopher Byrne/Eye on Sports Media. All Rights Reserved.
Initially, UGA officials said it would take ten minutes to bring the lights up. So I was scrambling to find Detroit Pistons Small Forward Jarvis Hayes to put on the spare headset and help fill until the game could start. Well, in television, things change and change fast. In the process of changing the set and looking for Hayes, the officials and coaches decided to go ahead and play without the lights.
This sound similar but not quite as bad as what Sports TV Inside Out reported about the February 4, 2008 game between St. Mary's and Gonzaga.
Oh what they do for a Vegas style opening...
I have to say I made it to a single Georgia basketball game in my time there... but I was late so I did not get to see this lovely entrance.
However, from a logistics standpoint it sounds absolutely idiotic.