24-Second Clock

[Joe Urtz <joe_urtz@harvard.edu>]

	I went to last night's Nuggets game, my first visit of the year to the new
Garden.  Not a pretty win, but very satisfying all the same.  I was really
impressed by the play of Denver's Tony Battie, although he faded a bit down
the stretch.  Early on he drained several perimeter jumpers, as well as a
pretty flip hook, and was 7 of 9 from the field for the game.  Based solely
on last night's performance, he looks like a very nice draft choice by the
Nuggets.

	Now for my pet peeve.  Why isn't the 24-second clock visible to all fans,
in all sections?  I was seated up in the balcony, across from the Celtics
bench, in a section that lines up with the base line, if you extend it.
These are pretty good seats and certainly not cheap ($29).  But the
24-second clocks cannot be read from these seats.  I suspect this problem
exists for a great number of spectators in the mid-court balcony area.  The
clock on the basket directly in front of me was aimed onto the court, so
the face was not visible.  The other clock, at the far end of the court,
was not visible due to glare on the glass that covers it.

	Maybe this is only annoying to me, but I really like to know how much time
is left on the clock, especially when a play is breaking down.  It seems
like a pretty important piece of information that should be shared more
effectively with the fans in attendance.  Here's my suggestion:  Why not
redesign the 24-second clocks so they display the time on all four sides?
That way everyone in the place would be able to see the clock data without
difficulty.  If this is too distracting for some, how about this:  Have
time information register on the sides of the clock only when there is
under 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock.

	Remember in the old days, when the 24-second clocks were located on the
floor, in opposite corners of the court?  That setup had its problems, but
I think the clocks were at least more visible to fans than they are today.
Any thoughts out there on this topic?

Regards,
Joe