JJB
- Chicago, IL
Agree that for basketball (and hockey for that matter), games at the Old Chicago Stadium were ear-splittingly loud. Can confirm ear ringing for more than a day after going to one of those games. However, I'd say that isn't necessarily in the spirit of this thread as while the fans were indeed great, it was the stadium itself that led to such high decibels. For the Illini, sadly I did not get to see most of the super high decibel games in person, though I was at the Eric Gordon game and it was very loud and very borderline homicidal. Fun times. From TV viewing experience, it had to be the Illinois-Arizona Elite 8 game. There were some very loud ones, but hearing that I think is the closest thing to what the Old Chicago Stadium experiences were. It sounded like a jet engine on tv and I'm sure it was louder in person.
For me, it's always going to be the IL/AZ game in Rosemont. But I know what you mean here. As a kid I remember attending a Blackhawks game the night after Operation Desert Storm was announced. The crescendo of that rendition of the Star Spangled Banner still gives me goosebumps.