The drive from St. Louis to Memphis was…eerily familiar?  We went through Western Kentucky, past a sign directing us to a college whose name rung a bell.  Why on earth would I have heard of a small school in Western Kentucky, though?  Oh, right, because Murray State was formerly under the presidency of F. King Alexander, current president of CSULB.  It looked nice enough, but I think he’s better off in Long Beach.

Then, in Memphis, we were greeted by a familiar shape: a towering pyramid.  The Memphis ‘Myd is the former home of the Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis’ basketball program.  We didn’t know the history of it as we circled the base, but it was clear that it was the former home of something, since it was fenced with rusty locks and the parking lot was sprouting weeds.  Turns out that the last event there was a few years ago, and both basketball teams left in 2004, for the more modern Fedex Forum (keep in mind the Pyramid Arena was only built in 1991, so it’s not exactly as ancient as its Egyptian counterparts, or Qualcomm).  

As far as asking around managed to inform me, the city isn’t sure what to make out of the place now, but current leaders include a casino, and aquarium, or a mall.  Maybe they should sell it to Long Beach, and we can start some kind of Pyramid collection; if we can find a team to stomach the idea of playing in an arena that’s a whopping 17 years old, that is.