BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – As the road to Yakima rolls through gyms around Whatcom and Skagit Counties, we’ve been treated to some exciting play-off basketball in both shiny new venues as well as some storied high school gyms with a rich history of hoops.

In the last few weeks leading up to tournament time, I’ve seen games at the newly christened court in Ferndale, the relatively new facility at my alma matter, Sehome High School, and I watched a young Storm team play at home at Squalicum.  My travels also took me to legendary gyms in Lynden, Bellingham and Mount Vernon.

It occurred to me how blessed we are to still see games in the Hoosier-like gyms of the past.  The old scoreboards, the fans on top of the action and the loud ear-piercing buzzers to signal play is about to resume. The smell of the popcorn, the soon-to-be-burning half price hotdogs late in the second half.

I mean no disrespect to the newer venues. They are shiny, bright and new. They are shopping mall-like. Huge venues that could house The Good Year Blimp during the off season. But they do lack character. The ghosts of the past don’t hang out there; they have digitized scoreboards that show advertisements for pizza and soft drinks. The lighting is bright like an elementary school classroom. Perhaps the heat is turned up a little higher than it should be to add to the “vibe”.

Although I do appreciate the efforts to modernize our sports facilities, we must also capture the essence of history for the school. Why not make the venues special for that community? Off the top of my head, I can’t tell you the difference between the new Sehome and Ferndale gyms, but the older gyms have that dim lighting, on top of the action feeling and the ghosts are looking down from the rafters.

Let’s not move in the direction of the generic gyms that feel so perfect they lack character.  Instead, let’s lean into the past and respect the history of the individual schools and communities. Let’s keep the lights low and the temperature warm.  Let’s make sure the ghosts in the rafters have a great seat for the years of basketball lore to come.