Bidding adieu to a venue we couldn’t quit

That the Big House is about done is long overdue, still memories flood back

Fairgrounds Arena, State Fair Arena, The Big House, Norick Arena and whatever else anybody wants to cal it.

Let’s begin with what we’re supposed to call it, because I knew it first as Fairgrounds Arena and danged if that’s not what Wikipedia says it was called in the first place, before becoming James Norick Arena, a title I’ve never spoken nor typed until right now.

Sportswriters must have renamed it State Fair Arena, which sounds far more official, and many of us still call it that, myself as recently as Tuesday night.

Jim Norick Arena?

Never heard of it.

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