The Pit

The Pit is the University of Oregon's basketball arena, MacArthur or "Mac" Court, ancient, intimate, very loud, sometimes obscene, as intimidating to visitors as any court in the NCAA. UCLA visited tonight and won, one alma mater of mine defeating another. When I was a grad student, the Bill Walton-led Bruins, undefeated and #1, came to The Pit and got beat in a huge upset. They may have gone on to Corvallis to get beat the next night by Oregon State. Not sure, my memory isn't what it used to be.

I saw a memorable B.B. King concert at The Pit in the early 70s. I got my ticket late and sat up very high in the rafters. The rising marijuana smoke was so thick up there you couldn't stay straight if you wanted to. I remember B.B. doing an incredible medley that lasted about 45 minutes.