Can't get too close to the action, but Parkview has that classic gym feel
Parkview has the feel of a classic high school basketball gym with wall-climbing bleachers on both sides of the court. The floor has a clean, simple paint job, with blank lanes. The room comes complete with a stage 20 feet from the baseline on the opposite the entrance. The restrooms are nearby in the entry adjacent to the gym. You might catch larger crowds on the weekends, but attendance for week night games can be pretty thin. A fairly impressive concessions stand sits in the shadows of a trophy case which stands about eight feet tall, opposite the Scott Bailes shrine – a left-handed pitcher who played for the California (that’s right) Angels.
Grade Card
Overall: C+
Parking: B+
There’s plenty of parking, but the main lot is a long walk on brisk winter nights.
Seating: C
As with parking, there’s plenty of room to find a seat, just don’t plan on being too comfortable. Unless you’re at the scorer’s table, you won’t feel too close to the action.
Sound: C+
The PA is adequate for calling scoring plays, but not much bump for the tunes. If music is playing, the PA announcer doesn’t have a chance. If I hadn’t heard the Ozark Conference Creed enough to nearly know it by heart, I wouldn’t have known what she was talking about at all.
Court paint: B+
A simple and classy design which isn’t very distracting. All stripes are green and yellow, except for a black three-point line. The Viking logo sits at mid-court, while a pair of Indiana Pacers-styled “P” logos sit near the sidelines at half court. “PARKVIEW VIKINGS” is painted in yellow on top of the solid green baselines.
Star Spangled Banner: F
Recordings will NEVER receive a passing grade. There’s got to be a choir kid at Parkview who would love to “flex the golden pipes” or a trumpet or a kazoo … ANYTHING! You never know when you’ll get TAGged so always be ready.
The nachos at Parkview were delightful and boasted an ideal chip:cheese ratio
Concessions: B
A standard menu (candy, chips, hamburger, pretzel, nachos, pop corn, soda, hot chocolate) is boosted with grilled chicken and even single pickles. Prices are pretty much in the middle of the road, with proceeds going to different school organizations. On Dec. 7, the wrestling team was holding it down. The hot dogs are massive and well worth the $3 price tag. At most gyms, two-bucks will get you a little weenie. The nachos are incredible.
Parkview’s concessions would get an A-, but the bagged potato chips were apparently a couple years out of date. The staff and wrestlers went into a momentary tizzy while trying to locate new chips (to no avail) after the guy in front of me claimed the chips “tasted bad”. I never knew chips had the ability to sour, but I also don’t know how many years they had been aged.
The nachos, however, were incredible. While I was a bit early and the line was a touch slow, I wonder if they could be quite as perfect during a halftime rush.
Cheerleading: C
I forgot the 11-girl squad was even around, as they didn’t make much noise early, even with a small crowd. They performed just one basket toss and gave the crowd a single two-story pyramid – the JV squad performed a sturdy three-level pyramid in the early game. They got excited late, but didn’t show much effort with the sideline running in place cheers.
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