The Knicks Fix

This originally was a note I posted at the bottom of the previous blog, but enough people told me it touched a nerve that I figured to make it a stand alone blog. I updated some of the info and, yes, you can call me lazy for taking the easy way out on coming up with a new blog. But it's something that's been on my mind all season. Read on and let's hear your thoughts on the matter.

After watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals, I'm wondering what you all think about arena noise at NBA games. I'm all for the pregame videos and the music. Even the pyrotechnics are cool. But at the 'Q' (Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland), they have this guy, Ahmaad Crump is his name, who screams at the top of his lungs into a microphone and stomps around the court demanding that you get up and cheer. It's not the PA guy, who sits courtside. He does a good job. It's the dude on the court, Ahmaad, the in-game host, who goes out during stoppages when T-shirts are being shot at you and screams at you.

Literally screams. Bellows. Growls. He doesn't encourage you to stand up, he demands it.

Then he does the cliche "Make some nooy-oyyz!" call you used to hear in every dance club in the 1990s.

Yeah, I hate that, too.

Look, I know a lot of Cavs fans love Ahmaad for his efforts. And I'm cool with most of this stuff, from the Piston's PA guy and his "DEEE-troit BASKET-ball!" calls and even the giddy "VC for Three!" stuff that Gary Sussman barks during Nets games. There's a place for this type of home-team bravado in sports. But in Cleveland, it's over the top.

The 'Q' is a place they're calling "Loudville," which is something they developed when LeBron arrived. They wanted attitude and enthusiasm to go along with this "Scream Team" they developed.

Home court advantage is great, but does it need to be manufactured? I never understood the concept of the bass drum and the canned "Dee-Fense!" chant that was meant to encourage the crowd to do the same. Intensity can't be created, it has to be natural.

And, quite frankly, do you really want your fans leaving the place with a splitting headache? After my second game in Cleveland this season, I wanted to find my man Ahmaad (who is probably a great guy with a wonderfully effervescent personality) after the game and gag him. I literally found myself yelling "Just shut up already!" during the game.

Ahmaad, you must chill.

One of the things I've always loved about Madison Square Garden is they've never needed an in-arena host. Ever. Sure, the PA guy will put a great deal of effort in screeching the name of the Knick who just scored -- Channingggg Fryyyyyyye! used to make one of my colleagues literally hold his ears -- but games at MSG are never over-the-top with the in-game stuff. Never too loud with the music or in your face with imploring you to stand and cheer. We're in New York, people know when it's appropriate to stand and cheer and when you sit down and wait for a reason to cheer. And the "Dee-Fense" chant? It's a Garden original. And it never needed encouragement from a banging drum.

At another game in another ear-shattering arena, I was talking with a reporter during the game and realized I had to wait until the game started back up again to continue the conversation. It used to be that you talked during the stoppages. That's what created a buzz on certain nights.

And there's a reason why they call it the "Garden buzz." That is generated by the people talking excitedly about whatever is happening or about to happen on the court. You don't hear the "buzz" if it's drowned out by the eardrum-puncturing bass line of an overplayed Jock Jams song.

I turn 36 next week. Maybe my age is showing. Hey, I still roll with a good sound system in my ride (though I don't rattle the neighborhood with it) and my wife is constantly asking me to turn down the surround sound system in the house. I love things loud. And there's nothing like a roaring sellout crowd.

But the artificial noise at some of these arenas, especially at the 'Q' is, to me, ruining the atmosphere rather than creating it.

Let me know what you think.