More info on the "Debacle at the DCU Center"

Okay, I've had a chance to get a good night's sleep, think things through in a more logical fashion, and my anger over the situation has subsided ... somewhat.

The local paper (telegram.com) has a nice overview of the situation, filling in some details for the night that I was not initially aware of ... for example, while things didn't seem to be getting particularly rowdy from my vantage point, I didn't have my eyes on every single person in the arena, and there were a few people who were (apparently) taking things a bit too far:

To try to appease the near-sellout of 10,625 fans, Celtics coach Doc Rivers and his players signed autographs at courtside after the second half was called off, but so many fans surrounded the players, the scheduled half-hour session was cut short.

Police Lt. Michael A. McKiernan said at least six people were arrested for disorderly conduct inside the DCU Center.

Now, I can understand where the players would get agitated when 10,000-plus people start swarming around them ... but I believe the facts show that I was correct in complaining that the large police presence was overkill:

Officers assisted many people in getting to their vehicles parked in the garage across Foster Street and to other lots. There was no visible rowdy behavior or violence outside the arena, the lieutenant said.

“It was all pretty orderly our here,” he said.

When the announcement was made that the second half was canceled and tensions mounted inside the arena, dozens of officers from precincts in and around downtown were summoned to the scene. Within 20 minutes, however, most of the responding officers were directed to return to regular duties because their police cars were impeding pedestrian traffic.

Again, there was an overreaction by the DCU Center staff (as if visions of rioting in the streets were dancing in their heads), and it ended up making things a lot more chaotic than they probably would have been ...

However, I may have erred in the actual cause of the problems with the court; I had assumed that the condensation was due to the floor being set up improperly by the DCU Center, and that wasn't the case ... well, for the most part.

The basketball floor was laid down over the ice on which the Worcester Sharks hockey team plays. But last night was an unusually warm and humid October night and the 10,625 fans added even more heat to the building. The DCU Center does not have a dehumidification system so the warmth and humidity created condensation on the floor, according to DCU Center general manager Sandy Dunn.

The Nets had to call off their morning shoot-around at the DCU Center, but Dunn said the DCU Center staff simultaneously turned on fans and the air conditioning to cool off the building and heat to try to dry it out. The condensation was eliminated by game time, but returned as more fans entered the building.

“We started getting condensation back and couldn’t keep up with it,” Dunn said.

It seems like people were aware of the potential problems well in advance ... I just wish someone could've kept us informed.

Finally, while there was no doubt in my mind that this incident would put the kibosh on any future visits by the team to Worcester, Celtics officials left the door open for a possible return (although they were more likely just paying lip service to the fans):

“We like playing in Worcester,” Ainge said, “but obviously we need a floor to play on. The fans were great, good competition and the game was going good. We just didn’t have a floor to play on.”

“We love the place,” Rivers said, “We just couldn’t finish the game this time. A lot of things had to happen. First of all, it was 70-something degrees toward the end of Ocotber. It was just a perfect storm in a bad way obviously. Hopefully, we can come back next year. That would be great.”

“Worcester is a great town,” Pierce said. “They have great fans. With the right circumstances, who knows?”