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Originally Posted by BillyMac
State finals, in all four enrollment classes, for both genders (eight championship games), are played at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena. That's right, high school kids at an Indian casino, some playing championship basketball games a Sunday. "Baby needs a new pair of basketball shoes".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevadaref
What's the big deal? ... in Vegas the games are played in the Orleans Arena on the property of the Orleans Casino. There are no games on Sundays though.
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It was a big deal at the time.
When the idea of using the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena was first brought up in 2009, many in the educational community didn't think it was a good idea to expose teenagers to gambling. The players, and fans, actually have to walk around the interior perimeter of the gaming floor, seeing, and hearing, the slot machines, and observing adults consuming alcoholic beverages, and smoking cigarettes, and cigars, to get to the basketball arena. The seven deadly sins all conveniently located in one place. Dr. Evil would love this place.
And the Casino, in the far southeast corner of the state, isn't really in a central location. Previously, state finals were held at Central Connecticut State University, pretty much in the geographic center of the state.
But the Mohegans made the state interscholastic sports governing body an offer that they couldn't refuse. Plenty of free parking, a professional arena (home of the WNBA Connecticut Sun), and a highly discounted rental fee.
At first, the eight games were all on Friday night, and all day on Saturday. Recently, maybe for the past two years, the Mohegans didn't want to give up their arena on a Friday night. The arena is often used for concerts, which draw large adult crowds to the Casino, especially on a Friday night. So they offered the use of the arena for Saturday, and Sunday games.
Connecticut still hangs on to some of it's old fashioned "blue laws". Until 1818, the Congregational Church was the only legal religion in Connecticut, and Connecticut residents were all legally required to attend Sunday services, and to pay taxes to support the Congregational Church. First Amendment? What First Amendment? We don't need no stinkin' First Amendment here in the Constitution State.
Liquor stores (we call them package stores) were just recently allowed, by legislation, to open on Sundays. Our state interscholastic sports governing body strongly discourages high school teams from practicing on Sundays, high school games are never allowed to be scheduled on Sundays, and only when weather related postponements back up the schedule against the end of the season are postponed games allowed to be made up on Sundays.
Again, the Mohegans made the state interscholastic sports governing body an offer that they couldn't refuse, and the state interscholastic sports governing body reluctantly agreed to have basketball finals played on Saturday, and Sunday, and not on Friday night.
Let's not forget Connecticut's other nickname, The Land Of Steady Habits. There's a reason for that nickname.