Good morning, sports fans. Due to all of the improvements that I have made internally over the past six to seven months, I will now be calling my column the Shooter Arena.

Am I the only one who thinks that idea is pretty much the most ridiculous idea that they have ever heard?

Before I start on my latest rant, let me say that I do think the athletic department’s attempts to improve Eastern’s athletic teams have been great.

If you haven’t seen the baseball field yet, its worth the trip over there.

And while the Lantz isn’t completely finished yet, it looks 10 times better than it did last year.

But let’s not get crazy.

The artist formerly known as the Lantz Gymnasium is still just that, a gymnasium.

Webster’s defines an arena as, “a place or building for contests or shows etc.” While it defines a gymnasium as, “a room or building equipped for sports or physical training.”

Yes, Eastern’s basketball court fits both of those definitions, but I am going to have trouble referring to it as Lantz Arena.

When I think of an arena, I think of a massive place that holds 10 to 15 thousand people.

To me, this is like putting a tuxedo on a pig. If you take the tuxedo off of the pig, it’s still just a pig.

I’m not saying that the building is terrible because it’s not by any means, but I don’t thnk it is good enough to warrant the arena title.

Just because the Lantz Gymnasium has some new seats, a refinished floor and some new televisions, all of a sudden it’s an arena?

By that logic, if I get some new carpet, a new recliner and a new television, I can call my house an arena.

Over the four years that I have attended Eastern, this school has seen many improvements, and while all of them are appreciated, we shouldn’t make this one out to be bigger that it is.

This is Eastern Illinois. We are a small school in the Ohio Valley Conference and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just the way things are.

So to the powers that be, thanks for the effort.

It truly is appreciated, but let’s try and keep things in perspective.

On this campus we have a good basketball team that plays in a very nice facility better classified as a gymnasium, and that’s OK.