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| - The original Charlotte Coliseum, Cricket Arena has been host to everything in its over-50 year history from the ACC Tournament to Barnum & Bailey's Circus, hockey games and concerts.
My dad remembers going to some of the first ACC games held here, and I remember going to the circus here as a kid.
These days, I refer to the venerable old building as 'The Cupcake', because that's exactly what it looks like. It's been around so long, its retro look is kind of back in style.
Seating 10,000 on its best days, it is an intimate place to see a sporting event or concert, even though the sound reverberates around pretty badly, creating a dull roar of sorts.
The first hockey game I ever saw, a Charlotte Checkers game back in 2001, was here. It was great fun, and even though the crowd wasn't that big, the arena is so small it seemed like a larger group.
It's too bad the Checkers now play in an empty, cavernous Bobcats Arena. I thought they fit well at Cricket.
Parking is fairly easy here, which is nice, but its kind of sad to see how the surrounding area has gone downhill since Cricket became the also-ran arena in town.
Still, its a piece of Charlotte history, and the nice retro vibe it carries makes me glad they haven't razed it like they do with most of the historical structures in Charlotte.
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