possible problem for hawks attendance?

[ncthompson11]

Just wondering, does anyone like the PA announcer at the games with the high pitched voice? I seem to notice it sometimes when I see highlights or a games on TV.

[PureGreatness]

what yall dont understand is that Ga probably has the most showstyle marching bands. Ga is a hip hop city

redan

pebblebrook

mundys mill

morrow

creekside

mays

lovejoy(i go there)

southside

south central

mount zion

riverdale

lithonia

doug

cedar grove

north clayton

westlake

southwest dekalb

north atlanta

MLK

miller grove

towers

im sure theres alot more i didnt name, thats whats atlanta is known for is the marching bands and hip hop. so us turning atlanta to a less hip hop town we be worse than what our attendance is now. WE JUST NEED TO WIN GAMES!!!

[PureGreatness]

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I do think all the production crap takes away from the game. Each item by itself is fine, but all together it is really distracting and takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Rather than a mascot jumping on a trampline or a fat old guy answering stupid questions, how about some analysis of the game? Just how many times do we have to watch the "kissCam"? CRAP !

Do the communatie stuff before the game - that's cool. But once the game starts, stick to the game.

I've been p1ssed every game I've gone to because of all the distractions. Dispite what that owner said, I come to watch BASKETBALL, not for the "entertainment".

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i agree, i remember at a game(i think the new orleans game when cris paul didnt play) some dude ask the dude on a loud microphone DURING THE GAME said the if the hawks hit a three on the current possession will recieve something and the hawks start jacking up threes. i was like WTF

[Swatguy]

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I do think all the production crap takes away from the game. Each item by itself is fine, but all together it is really distracting and takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Rather than a mascot jumping on a trampline or a fat old guy answering stupid questions, how about some analysis of the game? Just how many times do we have to watch the "kissCam"? CRAP !

Do the communatie stuff before the game - that's cool. But once the game starts, stick to the game.

I've been p1ssed every game I've gone to because of all the distractions. Dispite what that owner said, I come to watch BASKETBALL, not for the "entertainment".

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I suggest you watch your basketball at the park or your TV. NBA is Entertainment, since Bird and Magic it is. I love the circus around the game, it is fun. My wife and kids love it. It is sport, it is entertainment. You need to loosen up, EnJoy.

And the original post is racist. If he or anyone else doesn't realize it is sad.

[Buzzard]

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Yeah but most of the crime is between criminal elements. You don't want to be walking around some areas of downtown alone at night, but going to a hawks game is totally safe, and not a factor in attendance. Falcons and Thrashers are right there and too fine too.

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People with families could care less who is killing who. All that matters is people are being shot on a almost daily basis. Atlanta has a well deserved rep for being a dangerous city to be walking around in at night.

Great point #1:

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Atlanta is considered the #3 most dangerous city overall in America, behind only Detroit and St. Louis..

Link

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Great point #2:

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Of course not. We all know that ATL has lousy attendance because we don't win, and haven't for a very long time. As we all well know, supporting a perennial loser can be quite taxing.

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Atl needs to clean up its image and the Hawks need to start winning games. I lived in Atlanta from 1974 until 2001. I never had a problem going with a bunch of friends downtown. But taking a date or my son downtown at night was always something I was wary of.

[hawkman]

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I do think all the production crap takes away from the game. Each item by itself is fine, but all together it is really distracting and takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Rather than a mascot jumping on a trampline or a fat old guy answering stupid questions, how about some analysis of the game? Just how many times do we have to watch the "kissCam"? CRAP !

Do the communatie stuff before the game - that's cool. But once the game starts, stick to the game.

I've been p1ssed every game I've gone to because of all the distractions. Dispite what that owner said, I come to watch BASKETBALL, not for the "entertainment".

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I suggest you watch your basketball at the park or your TV. NBA is Entertainment, since Bird and Magic it is. I love the circus around the game, it is fun. My wife and kids love it. It is sport, it is entertainment. You need to loosen up, EnJoy.

And the original post is racist. If he or anyone else doesn't realize it is sad.

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Amen on that last sentence.

[ATLBob]

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And the original post is racist. If he or anyone else doesn't realize it is sad.

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Agreed. I know I wrote this ...

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I never meant to imply that his post holds more than a few small undertones concerning race, it quite clearly isn't "racist" in any way shape or form, nor was it intended to be.

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... but I was wrong, and was simply trying too hard to pacify. I did mean to imply exactly that. That's why I called the post stupid in the first place. My bad.

[Johnnybravo4]

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Problem is not Hip Hop.

The problem is Atlanta is nationally known as being easy on beggars. Centinail Olympic Park is the only tourist destination I have been to where bums run wild. I think many feel uncomfortable here b/c of this. That is why games were moved up from 7:30 to 7:00. Not alot of people want to be in in downtown after the sun goes down.

I love Atlanta and went to Ga State, an inner city campus. So I am not being ignorant. I lived there for 4 years and know the first impression Downtown Atlanta gives to visitors. My family is from Chicago, (not me - born in Atlanta in the 70's), and were shocked at how a smaller city had 10 X the visible bums as Chicago.

Visit Chicago' Grant Park for a pleasant day. Not Atlanta's Cential Olympic Park Area. Not family friendly.

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Yeah cuz I am sure that Chicago, Miami, LA, Detroit, DC are bum free. Beggars are nuisances and mostly harmless. If you get robbed downtown it 9 times out of 10 won't be a beggar. You are probably more likely to get robbed at Gwinnett Place mall than you would at Phillips arena.

The Falcons aggressively market to Black folks and they don't seem to have a problem with attendance. Also explain to me why the Georgia force attendance increased after leaving Gwinnett arena to play at Phillips?

I guess if we have a tractor pull at halftime instead of the hip hop skaters (who are mostly white) then maybe we could get more attendance? Jesus, where does Hawksquawk find these people?

[Buzzard]

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Yeah cuz I am sure that Chicago, Miami, LA, Detroit, DC are bum free. Beggars are nuisances and mostly harmless. If you get robbed downtown it 9 times out of 10 won't be a beggar. You are probably more likely to get robbed at Gwinnett Place mall than you would at Phillips arena.

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Yea, so I guess Larwenceville is now ahead of Atlanta and must have replaced Detroit or St Louis as the 1st or 2nd most dangerous city in the U.S. Seriously, do not even try and compare murder and armed robbery rates in Atlanta with Gwinnett.

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The Falcons aggressively market to Black folks and they don't seem to have a problem with attendance.

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The Falcons win and 90% of their games are during the day. Sunday afternoon with 1:00pm or 4:00pm kickoffs. Notice a night and day difference here. Pun was intended

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I guess if we have a tractor pull at halftime instead of the hip hop skaters (who are mostly white) then maybe we could get more attendance?

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The above statement seems to be a little over the top in a racist way. I am a 49 year old white male. I do not enjoy tractor pulls or hip hop. I think the hip hop thing is a generation gap issue (my 24 year old white son does enjoy hip hop). The tractor pull or any motorsport event is something I have never enjoyed. Team sports, that is what I liked to play and now like to watch.

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Jesus, where does Hawksquawk find these people?

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I was wondering the same thing about you....

[falc82]

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not being racist here but i think a reason some attendance may be down is because we try to make the game experience too hip hop. like the drummers and the rappers performing.all the break dancers and stuff seems a little immature for an nba basketball game dont you think? im alright with the dance team and stuff but theres a lot of wealthy white people in atlanta and they want to see some basketball. its bad enough all of basketball is hiphop but dont make it worse. i know winning would help but its kind of embarassing as a fan.

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I can see some potential raciest remarks such as referring to hip hop as embarrassing and immature. I don't think he was referring to African Americans as embarrassing and immature which would be directly raciest, but I suppose a link can be made between the race and the music genre. There's little doubt in my mind that the atmosphere intended for the Hawks games and the perceived danger of Atlanta at night probably does isolate some of the white crowd that would be border line season ticket purchasers. Is this the biggest reason for decreased crowds? Not by any means, but the fact of the matter is this probably does contribute somewhat to lower attendance in some sectors of the state, raciest or not.

Game atmosphere is a contributer to attendance outcome.

[hawkman]

We may be skirting the issue a bit here. The OP was not about the dangers of Atlanta at night. It was about "hip-hop" somehow contributing to low attendance. Or was it about "hip-hop" creating the atmosphere that causes low attendance? Either way, the OP seemed way off base to me and I'm suprised that more Hawksquawk faithful didn't take offense to it. The fact is that every game I watch on TV has hip-hop music blasting over the PA during time-outs or halftime. Many of those games are sell-outs with crowds consisting of mixed races and celebrities. And some of those games are even played at night . Those must truly be some brave souls to press on in the face of that threat known as hip-hop. But, if what the OP says is true, I'm not sure I like what that says about the city of Atlanta. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Buzzard]

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We may be skirting the issue a bit here. The OP was not about the dangers of Atlanta at night. It was about "hip-hop" somehow contributing to low attendance. Or was it about "hip-hop" creating the atmosphere that causes low attendance?

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That is what the original post was about. I do not think that is the case. Has more to do with putting a marketable product on the court and secondly, Atl has a rep as a dangerous place to be; especially at night.

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Those must truly be some brave souls to press on in the face of that threat known as hip-hop.

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I could not stop laughing after reading the above.

[coachx]

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Visit Chicago' Grant Park for a pleasant day. Not Atlanta's Cential Olympic Park Area. Not family friendly.

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Yeah cuz I am sure that Chicago, Miami, LA, Detroit, DC are bum free. Beggars are nuisances and mostly harmless. If you get robbed downtown it 9 times out of 10 won't be a beggar. You are probably more likely to get robbed at Gwinnett Place mall than you would at Phillips arena.

The Falcons aggressively market to Black folks and they don't seem to have a problem with attendance. Also explain to me why the Georgia force attendance increased after leaving Gwinnett arena to play at Phillips?

I guess if we have a tractor pull at halftime instead of the hip hop skaters (who are mostly white) then maybe we could get more attendance? Jesus, where does Hawksquawk find these people?

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Gwinnett Place Mall is another topic. It is not safe either. Ever since the Mall of Georgia opened up 15 miles away, Gwinnette place has been over rum by mobs of Latino teens and Latino gangs. This is truth not racism. I live 10 miles from there and I know this first hand.

Never been to LA or Detroit. DC is over rum with bums too. Miami and Chicago are not. They are clean cities with clean attraction for their tourist. This is something Atlanta as a city should look at. Johnny, have you ever been to these cities you mention or are you fabricating? My earlier comments are from my 1st hand expierence in Chicago and Cleveland comapred to Atlanta. Now you bring up alist of other cities, the only of which I have been to are DC and Miami. Now you bring up more cities like Detroit, ya great tourist destination, their crime is one of the 2 cities worse than Atlanta.

On your Georgia Force analogy: Why did their ticket sales go up when they moved to Phillips Arena from the Gwinnett Arena?

That is easy.

Phillips Arena is twice the size is the Gwinnett Arena. Every game was sold out at the Gwinnett Arena which holds 10,000. Phillip Arena holds 20,000 so they moved it back to Phillips. The Force started at Phillips but was moved to the Gwinnett arena to draw interest. Once the interest out grew the 10,000 person facility it was moved back to Phillips.

Lets make this simple. Anyone here with wife and kids ? Are you the least bit weary of bringing your family to Downtown Atlanta after dark or would rather just stay in the suburbs away from all the hassels.

I know a group of men are not intimaded by beggars but don't tell me your wife and kids are not intimaded by the surroundings. This is a forum of mostly young single guys, once your marry with kids your outlook changes.

[Swatguy]

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Lets make this simple. Anyone here with wife and kids ? Are you the least bit weary of bringing your family to Downtown Atlanta after dark or would rather just stay in the suburbs away from all the hassels.

I know a group of men are not intimaded by beggars but don't tell me your wife and kids are not intimaded by the surroundings. This is a forum of mostly young single guys, once your marry with kids your outlook changes.

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I have a family and I have lived in Atlanta a long long time. My wife and kids go downtown without intimidation. I'm more annoyed with the cissy's at Piedmont. I have mugged only once and it was an APD officer. None of my brothers, sisters, parents, cousins or inlaws have ever EVER been robbed or attacked. We just don't have a spirit of fear and don't walk in fear.

If you are scared you musta done something.

[troubleman]

I have heard so many excuses for the lack of support of the Atlanta pro sports teams and the bottomline is, winning is the cure in a town like this. This is not a great sports city, but they will support a consistent winner. People supported the Braves, even in the playoffs, until the fans realized ownership was not putting money into the product to make it championship caliber. The decline in attendance started when AOL took over for Ted Turner, and people realized the team was cutting costs. I don't care what kind of music, entertainment, or kid friendly events are on the table, fans in this town will only come out for a winning product. If ASG wants to fix the attendance problem, then start with fixing the basketball team (firing Billy Knight and Mike Woodson would be a start).

[coachx]

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If you are scared you musta done something.

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Let me ask you this. If Atlanta is so safe at night, would you let your wife take the kids to a Hawks game without you or another male chaperone ? I hope not.

Would you let your wife take the kids to an event at the Gwinnette Arena without you being there ? Yes, of course !

NOW CAN YOU SEE MY POINT !

To answer your question, I have done nothing wrong. I am law abiding. I have 1 brother, 3 uncles, and 2 cousins, who are / were police offers in Chicago and Atlanta. My wife is criminal prosecuting attourney in the area. This is based on their 1st hand expierences making the streets in these cities safe. That is why I am comfortable with the Chicago / Atlanta comparison and the difference in laws in these two cities. Chicago's laws are much more agggressive with protecting those who pay taxes while Atlanta's laws protect those who do not pay taxes, the bums.

I was approached with a knife when I went to Ga State 7 years ago. I had a male friend with me, one them and 2 of us. We did not give the guy a dime, he had to try and take it from 2 grown men and he ended up running from us. (However, I have college friends (all female) who were robbed down town. College students occaisonly must take classes that let out after 10:00 PM when the street are not so safe, especially in the winter when the bums are cold. Look up crime stats, street crimes spike up in the winter months when beggars are in survival mode. Oh ya, the winter and 10:00 evenings sound alot like the atmosphere after Hawks games.

But....what if the robber had a gun ? What if I was with my wife or kids and not a male friend? Then my action would be different. Then I would fear for my families safety and give the guy what ever he wanted. At that point anyone would have fear. You are lucky to have never expierenced this in Atlanta and be sheltered from hearing the true stuff that goes on in this city. If you only knew your opinion may change.

I still go to multiple concerts, multiple Falcon's games, multiple Hawks games every year. However, I still realize the area could be made safer.

It is very real problem whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Atlanta has the 3rd highest crime rate in the country b/c it is a very real problem. This does keep families with kids in the suburbs rather then downtown.

If Atlanta is so safe would you let your wife take your kids to Hawks game without you or would you rather hertake the kids to an event at the Gwinnet Arena by herself ?

Atlanta wanted the NASCAR hall of fame to be in Atlanta. They turned them down for the ALL Mighty Charlotte. Hm........... I wonder why ? Ever been to Charlotte ? It is one of the cleanest and safest cities in the South by a long shot.

[AHF]

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Lets make this simple. Anyone here with wife and kids ? Are you the least bit weary of bringing your family to Downtown Atlanta after dark or would rather just stay in the suburbs away from all the hassels.

I know a group of men are not intimaded by beggars but don't tell me your wife and kids are not intimaded by the surroundings. This is a forum of mostly young single guys, once your marry with kids your outlook changes.

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I have a family and I have lived in Atlanta a long long time. My wife and kids go downtown without intimidation.

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I am also married with 1 1/2 kids (second on the way) and would not have anymore problem with my wife taking our son to an event at night at Phillips Arena than I would in any other major city. In any city (NY, Chi, etc.) I would not want my family wandering around alone at night without me. I personally feel that Phillips arena and the surrounding area are pretty darn low risk.

[AtLaS]

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If I were to apply that line of reasoning to the OP's post I would have to say it was indeed racist. Now that may just be me reading between the lines but that is my honest opinion.

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Man that was not racist, some people are just too sensitive. It's sad that noone can bring up numerous subjects because they will be deemed a racist. How else could he have presented it? Should he have simply not said anything?.. That would make it worse, because in our society there shouldn't be things that we CAN'T talk about..

It's not "black" that's associated with hip hop in terms of the Atlanta Hawks. It's "basketball" being associated with hip hop, which is why they play it at games. Almost EVERY basketball player (black, white, or anyone else) listens to hip hop, period, myself included.

However, I still think the OP is wrong, because it's the product we put on the floor that effects our attendance.

[ncthompson11]

I think the originial post was a tad bit racist but the tractor pull comment was just as much racist but people dont as much of a deal over it if its considering to whites. maybe we just dont care what people say as much.

I really dont like hip hop that much and I would never go to a concert or anything. It doesnt matter if it was a white or black guy I still wouldnt go to it. If you dont like rock and roll its not saying you dont like white people. Its saying you dont like that style and ive seen plenty of black rockers and skaters.

[Swatguy]

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I think the originial post was a tad bit racist but the tractor pull comment was just as much racist but people dont as much of a deal over it if its considering to whites. maybe we just dont care what people say as much.

I really dont like hip hop that much and I would never go to a concert or anything. It doesnt matter if it was a white or black guy I still wouldnt go to it. If you dont like rock and roll its not saying you dont like white people. Its saying you dont like that style and ive seen plenty of black rockers and skaters.

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Rock and Roll is Rhythm and Blues. It was called race music in the '40s and '50s before White kids started liking it and White performers started playing it.

As George Clinton said, "It's all rock and roll".