Frank: Unless we see a no-hitter, today's game will only be mythird-favorite event of the weekend.
Artie: What's No. 1?
Frank: This morning, for the first time as a swimmer, I reached10,000 yards for a week.
Artie: Ten thousand? Any NFL running back would kill for that,and Floyd Little just joined the Hall of Fame with 6,000-plus.
Frank: And it took him a lot longer than a week. How about you?Anything you've reached 10,000 in?
Artie: Maybe my 10,000th step up the stairs in my elevator-freebuilding. So what's your other big highlight?
Frank: When I found out the Milwaukee Iron would play an ArenaFootball League playoff game at the Arena because the Bradley Centerwas unavailable, I had to be there!
Artie: That's the old Milwaukee Arena, later the MECCA Arena andnow the U.S. Cellular Arena, ain'a?
Frank: To us old-timers, it'll always be simply the Arena.
Artie: Which, unlike you, doesn't get much exercise these days.
Frank: Ah, but in its day… I reckon I've been to more than 800games there.
Artie: All this computation is scaring me. How do you figure it?
Frank: About 20 Marquettebasketball games in each of my undergrad years, then about 10 each for 15 yearsuntil the Bradley Center opened in 1988.That's roughly 230. With the Bucks, about 150 games over the two decades beforethe BC. And Admirals hockey games—I was in a group that had four season ticketsfor the 10 seasons before the BC, and I swear we were at virtually every game!That's about 400 against IHL foes like the Grand Rapids Owls, Flint Generalsand Toledo Goaldiggers. Throw in some games involving MU women's basketball,UWM men's hoops, the old WISAA high-school tournaments, and we top 800.
Artie: And now, arena football.
Frank: I had to see the old place again. And though arenafootball is kind of goofy—guys running into and over sideboards, kicks caromingoff end-zone nets—it was entertaining.
Artie: And loud, I'll bet.
Frank: Yeah, but what sports event isn't these days? Theconstantly blaring music is the same at the BC, at Miller Park...
Artie: Don't we know it? Who the hell decided that we need sixseconds of loud music before every stinkin' pitch?
Frank: Last night I was thinking, "We're a long way fromSteve Swedish." Remember his band at Bucks games in the early years, andthe team song? "Milwaukee Bucks, that's the name of our team, and theywill win with an effort supreme..."
Artie: My musical memories of the Arena are a little livelier. Iknow I saw the Doors there in late ’68.
Frank: For me, the Arena was strictly sports. But it's kind ofsad: You spend so much of your life in a place, but the specific memories areso few.
Artie: Well, give me a few highlights.
Frank: My first Arena experience was Oct. 23, 1968—Knicks 114,Bucks 112, with the decisive shot coming from the little lefty guard, Howard"Butch" Komives.
Artie: And you sat where?
Frank: West side, and I think we poor MU students splurged onmid-priced seats, $4.50 a pop. We spent a lot less for our student tickets toMU games—and were rewarded with George Thompson's senior season and all threeof Dean "the Dream" Meminger's varsity career. They never lost a homegame in my student years. But as an alumnus I was there that fatefulSaturday...
Artie: Refresh my memory.
Frank: January 1973. Notre Dame guard Dwight Clay scores from theright corner at the south end, opposite me, to snap MU's 81-game home winningstreak. The Arena played a part in the streak; with a capacity of about 11,000it was intimate and full of energy. SportsIllustrated named it one of the top "snake pits" in collegehoops.
Artie: Other MU highlights for you?
Frank: February 1974. Maurice Lucas' last-second shot from nearhalf-court beats Wisconsinand sends Al McGuire to the top of the scorer's table. I was in the southwestcorner, behind Lucas.
Artie: And other Bucks highlights?
Frank: October 1977. Milwaukee'sformer hero, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, decks Kent Benson in the rookie's debut. Iwas in the last row at the north end and had binoculars on the two centers.Less than two minutes in, Benson elbowed Kareem hard in the belly. Kareemdoubled over for a second, then SMACK! I could hear the punch as it brokeBenson's jaw and Kareem's hand. After the game, which the Bucks won, I got toMajor Goolsby's in time to see Reggie Jackson's third homer in the World Seriesclincher.
Artie: Benson missed a lot of games and never lived up toexpectations as a No. 1 pick. Speaking of Bucks centers, I remember going toone game and thinking, "If they remake the Frankenstein movies, Randy Breuerwould be perfect for the monster, but he'll have to work on his speed andagility to play the part."
Frank: Another big memory is April 1987—Bucks vs. Dr. J and the76ers, who they would soon finish off in the playoffs. One of the biggestcheers came during a lull—it was Brewers fans who had brought radios and heardthe end of Juan Nieves' no-hitter in Baltimore.
Artie: One of my vivid Arena memories is taking a bunch of kidsto a Disney “Snow White” ice show. I remember thinking the skaters probably trainedall their lives, had Olympic ambitions, and now they're skating around as theSeven Dwarfs trying to see with 40-pound cartoon heads on. It was kind ofdepressing.
Frank: Here's a special memory. December 1978, I was there forthe debut of the Women's Professional Basketball League, the Milwaukee Does vs.the Chicago Hustle.
Artie: Boy, were you a masochist.
Frank: It was history! The Does lost, 92-87, but drew almost8,000 people. A while later I went to a Does game that drew more like 800, andthe team lasted only two seasons—one fewer than the league.
Artie: So how did the Arena strike you last night?
Frank: Looking darn good! It's nice and bright now. In the olddays, even that first time in ’68, it seemed worn-down. I always liked thesouth atrium, nice and airy, but inside the colors were kind of dull browns andgreens. Now the walls are white, the concourse floors have bright colors andthe seats look sharp in red and blue.
Artie: But there'll never be anything as colorful as that wildRobert Indiana court the Bucks and MU played on.
Frank: They've widened some of the main-level areas, but thereare still those narrow, wonderful curving ramps to the top level. I always dug’em.
Artie: No accounting for taste.
Frank: I scoped out the places I sat over the years, especiallyour four seats for the Admirals. First row in the mid-level, right behind thenorth goal. No protective netting in those days; a deflected slap shot couldzoom up there mighty quick.
Artie: Glad you survived.
Frank: Last night I was on the top level, east side. For fun Imoved up to the last row, next to a girder and rivets that must be originalequipment. And I remembered the Arena opened in 1950—the year I made my debut!
Artie: That was my grand opening, too.
Frank: So here were a couple of 60-somethings, together again andstill functional. Kind of made me feel good.
