Coliseum prepped for Sunday implosion.

Wow, it is an end of an era. I know that many of you have some great memories in that building. I'll never forget attending the very first event in the Charlotte Coliseum in 1988. The building was dedicated on a Thursday night and Billy Graham was the guest of honor. I remember going to work that morning and hearing that the new scoreboard (which was "state of the art in 88) had crashed to the floor. It was shocking and I had tickets to go to see a basketball game of player trying out for the USA Olympic Team that year.

The game was stilled played that night, but they had to bring the floor of the earlier coliseum (which was a ugly orange court) and was place in the coliseum. The new coliseum was basically teal in color scheme (in honor of the Hornets, that would begin playing a few months later). I remember fans wearing hard hats and umbrellas to protect them from anything else falling on their heads. It was a great night.

I've attended a few of the Charlotte Hornets games in that building and will never forget seeing Reggie Miller for the Pacers go off for over 40 points one night. He was unstoppable.

I attended Duke games when they came to play Davidson and the NCAA Tournament 1st and 2nd round games. It was always a lot of fun to see the greatest college basketball program take the court. I remember watching the final four practices in 1994 (the last time the final four was played in a traditional basketball arena). It was a great weekend, until Duke would lose to Arkansas in the title game on a lucky 3 point shot. Disgusting!!!

I will never forget seeing the greatest band on the planet, U2 in 2001. It was the best show that I've ever attended and I've seen them 3 times. It was their second show of the "All That You Cant Leave Behind" tour, so they were fresh and the show was incredible. There is nothing like seeing "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" in person. Amazing.

Coliseum prepped for Sunday implosion 7:58 PM | Local News | News for Charlotte, North Carolina | WCNC.com | Top Stories