A View From High Above

I love watching sports with my dad. But, mostly we stick to watching the games at home so he can fall asleep halfway through the third quarter, only to periodically wake up and make a comment to try and act like he was not just sleeping. It's high comedy. At this point, the only way to get my dad to go to sporting events is to buy seats that are in unusual places that he has always wanted to sit: monster seats, really close to the court or, in the case of last night's game, promenade seating.

The promenade level at the TD Bank Garden are the seats that are way the hell up. They are literally the last row of the stadium and when you are in these seats you are eye level with the rafters. For years I sat in the 300-level seats to watch the Celtics, fully convinced that I could not get any further from the action. Turns out there was another 10 feet I could have gone. But, while it's a great view because you can see absolutely everything (even tell when a shot is offline as it is leaving a player's hands), the fact remains that we couldn't figure out why these seats even exist. This used to be where they did the broadcasts from, but I don't even think the Bruins announcers call the game from up there anymore.

It's a weird section. There is just one row of seats going all the way around the top of the arena. The level only has one food stand and it doesn't offer much in the way of variety. If you want more you'll have to go down two floors to the 300-level seats. You're actually above where the speakers are aimed, so the sound of the music is just distorted enough to notice. [sidebar: One thing we all heard loud and clear? That Brian Scalabrine was starting. You ever want to suck the air out of 19,000 people, just announced that to a crowd expecting Rasheed Wallace.] And, for all the talk of the 300s being the balcony, this place is truly a balcony. The level extends out until it is almost equal to the third row of 300-level seats, but there is nothing below the seats to support you. As a result, everybody that walks by causes the floor to feel as though it is bouncing slightly. Not the best place to sit if you are uncomfortable with heights.

It was nice because each seat was an individual folding chair, and so you could arrange yourself as you like and not have to share an armrest. Also, because everyone is in the front row, no one was standing over my shoulder making inaccurate statements about basketball that I needed to correct (always a hazard of going to a game with me), and everyone had a shelf in front of them to put their food or beverage on. If only the shelf was higher, because, again, it did not give you much in the way of comfort were you to lean too far forward. So, overall it was a great game (despite the refs), a fun time and an interesting night. I don't think we'll be clamoring to go back to the promenade anytime soon, but now I can say I have sat just about everywhere in the Garden.

This was the view down to the court from our seats.
Told you we were high up.

And here was the view looking straight out. Eye level with the banners.