The Cavs are Rebuilding

No, not their roster. The Cavs are building a new practice facility (or secret headquarters?) and are looking to upgrade The Q.

I'm not against upgrading The Q, it's not a bad arena, it's just so... 'meh'. Even when it opened (and I was there for the opening) it was really nice, but kind of bland; nothing really stood out. It could use a tune up.

I like to think I'd trust Gilbert to upgrade The Q nicely, but I dunno. The new ownership seems to be obsessed with the non-basketball aspects of the team. By non-basketball I mean the new, hotter cheerleaders, a breakdancing squad, giving the Cavs a (really annoying) mascot, trying to copy the Pistons' Mason and adding a ton of pre-game pyrotechnics. It's true that before Gilbert got here, the Cavs didn't really pay attention to these aspects, but hell, they didn't really seem to care about the basketball aspects either ("Darius Miles could play some point", "Let's run some plays for Lammond Murray", "Let's trade for Chris Gatling"). Cavs games were boring because the team sucked; the dance team had nothing to do with it.

Do casual fans actually care about this shit? Do people leave the game and go, "You know, the Cavs looked out of it tonight, it's too bad they lost, but how about those kids break dancing, huh? I'll be back to The Q, but not for the basketball, I need to see more of those sick moves!"

Look, if Gilbert was really interested in improving the 'Game Day Experience' he'd hold off on the fireworks and near-strippers and get the Cavs an actual point guard. I guarantee that I'll have a better 'Game Day Experience' if I get to see a point guard not named Eric Snow. Also, a Cavs roster that doesn't include Ira Newble would greatly enhance my enjoyment as well.

Finally, a revamped Q won't just help out the Cavaliers (this made me throw up a little in my mouth):

But Cleveland needs The Q for its plan to attract the 2008 Republican National Convention. The effort, led by Jackson, proposes using the 21,000-seat arena as the convention's main venue. The Cavs have offered the use of the arena - worth about $3 million - at no charge.