I’ve had the benefit of going to a lot of Nuggets games in my life. I’ve spent roughly a little more than a quarter century watching the hometown team and got to experience the crowds that made McNichols Arena a boisterous and hostile environment. As my colleague Jeff Morton has pointed out on several occasions, Big Mac was just a far superior arena design for creating a raucous atmosphere then the Nuggets current home at the Pepsi Center.

I also experienced playoff basketball in person with the Nuggets in the Melo era, and while Denver will never be mistaken for the Oracle Arena in the playoffs, those crowds still were plenty loud and exciting. Yet, despite these passionate crowds that I've been a part of, perhaps the most enjoyable crowd I have experienced was just a month ago when I sat with the Denver Sidekicks fan group. While the crowd at The Can was its usual ho-hum self, the Sidekicks section was intelligent, passionate, enjoyable and most importantly, loud.

For the die hard Nuggets fans there really is no better place to sit. For the new Nuggets fan who wants to know more about what going to a game SHOULD BE like then there is no better place either. The best part? The Sidekicks are holding their next outing this Sunday! Founder Aniello Piro has worked directly with the Nuggets organization to secure a block of tickets at discounted prices and for this outing he's gone even farther in getting everyone a meal as well (each ticket comes with a food and drink voucher)!

While there has been a down turn in attendance and interest in the Nuggets, that is going to change quickly. The team features four major rotation pieces that are 21 years old or younger, two of which were part of the NBA's rising stars challenge over All Star weekend. Add into that mix a young bright coach, at least one lottery pick in the upcoming draft (and possibly up to 4 total 1st round picks) and its easy to see why this team is going to be very exciting very soon. Andrew Feinstein recently wrote about how the Nuggets team is returning to relevancy, it's high time the crowd at The Can did the same and the Sidekicks are the conduit.

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