[cksportsfan]

I'm curious how many games you've watched at The Arena and the HCHS gymnasium.

Haven't been to games in either one. Not sure why that matters, though.

Judging by photos, seating sharts and information (media, websites, etc.) Corbin is not a huge venue. Looks quite similar to Pikeville (East KY Expo) and Alltech (new arena at Kentucky Horse Park). All less than 10,000.

Heck, I wouldn't really consider Diddle at WKU to be a "nosebleed" arena.

But if Corbin is a "nosebleed" arena, heaven forbid the poster/team/school advance to Rupp. Good heavens that would be a rude awakening. His nose would literally start to bleed.

Maybe the seats in Corbin are way more vertical than photos let on. Maybe it really is a horribly designed arena. But I've sat in the upper deck at YUM, Freedom Hall, Commonwealth, Old Cardinal, PJCS, Rupp, Diddle, Dodger Stadium, the Tennessee Titans' Stadium (whatever it is called now) and even the Edward Jones dome (St. Louis) when Louisville was in the final four there. Survived them all. Some of those have nosebleed seats.

But Corbin? Really?

Don't get me wrong, from every photo I've seen, Harlan County has a very very very nice high school gym. If that was my school, I'd be proud of it. I'm not ripping Harlan County's gym.

I never said Harlan County didn't have a capable/suitable site. In other regions -- and most every district -- it is a more than capable site.

But maybe it was the weather.
But maybe it was the teams (schools who would bring more fans to region getting knocked out).

Whatever the reason, attendance was down this year (based on information provided to the newspaper). Waaaaaaaaay down. Unless the numbers lie. People who said they went to the tournament admitted it was down.

I wasn't there (at Corbin region or Harlan region). I personally can't vouch for how accurate the attendance numbers are. But at least one newspaper felt they were a viable source.

So maybe, just maybe, people didn't want to hike to Harlan to watch a game at a high school when you could watch it in a neutral arena with a college floor in Corbin.

I'm not from Corbin. Last time I went there was driving to Gatlinburg.