Goodbye, Old Friend
The Bradley Center was a complicated compatriot for many a good time.
The Bradley Center and I debuted in Milwaukee at around the same time. In 1988 I was a wide-eyed Marquette University freshman from western Nebraska. The arena was a gleaming, modern-day Colosseum. The occasion was a Marquette basketball game against Rice, and I was a proud young Warrior, ready for big-time college hoops.
I passed through the turnstiles in awe of the Bradley Center’s majestic, glass-enclosed atrium and rode the escalator to the main concourse. I had played high school hoops in a small-town gym that barely fit 500 fans. Most of my hometown could fit in the 18,600-seat bowl laid out before me.
I’ve since spent countless hours being entertained inside the blocky Bradley Center. I’m excited about its replacement but melancholy about the demise of a familiar friend. Sure, the old building’s gray hues can be cold, its sightlines are better for hockey than hoops, and it feels like a mausoleum when empty seats are abundant. But I’ve learned to look past those flaws because of the quality time we’ve spent together.
I stormed the Bradley Center court after Marquette’s 80-68 dismantling of unranked rival Notre Dame in 1989. After that game, another college first: a visit to the Avalanche Bar, the legendary dive that was without a doorman that night. My Marquette years ended with commencement at the arena.
In 1996, I reveled in the spectacle of a rebooted Kiss with makeup back on and was nearly rendered deaf by AC/DC. I was wowed by U2 in 2005. But the greatest musical highlight had to be Paul McCartney, also in 2005, when my parents splurged on good seats and took me along. My dad’s inept dancing and horrific attempt at air guitar were troubling at the time, but it’s now a fond memory of my late father.
And I was there in 2003, when Dwyane Wade scored his 1,000th collegiate point in a Marquette win over a ranked Wake Forest team. That season ended at the Final Four in New Orleans (and I was there for that, too). A 2010 Bucks playoff victory against the Atlanta Hawks was the most raucous NBA atmosphere I’ve seen firsthand – the peak of which was Bucks mascot Bango’s backflip dunk off the tallest stepladder I’ve ever seen.
These are just a few of my memories. There are countless more held by generations of Milwaukeeans.
A Marquette loss to Providence tarnished my last visit to the arena, this February. After the buzzer, I walked up the stairs, turned around and took one last look at the emptying arena. The Bradley Center looked just as good as it had 30 years ago, when I was an 18-year-old kid.