Photo by Clyde Caplan
Fans who used to go to the old Capital Centre in Landover, Md. likely remember the decibel meter. The louder the crowd, the higher the meter went, and all eyes looked to it after a goal to see it rise. 100? Even more reason to cheer.
The meter went away when Verizon Center opened in 1997.
And then it returned, just in time for Thursday’s game against the Devils.
Perhaps we can credit John Pence, who made an argument for it in The Post a few years ago, or perhaps the Caps got around to reading their fan forums from a few years ago. Or maybe it was too big of a no-brainer to ignore any longer.
And if you were wondering:
The “Ref, You Suck” chant measured a 101.3 on the decibel meter. #Caps
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) February 22, 2013
(Read more about this in our Washington Post interview with the Caps’ entertainment guy, Michael Wurman)
Though the Caps recently have been showing a hand-held decibel meter on the big screen (this one held by the Wizards’ John Wall), the lack of this being a permanent fixture simply didn’t entice the crowd to raise the roof the same way as the ole’ perma-meters did.
But now, it’s back. And the Verizon Center crowd will once again have something to look at while trying to measure their collective yelling ability, just like in the old days:
