But yesterday all you needed to do was look towards the rafters to see it is actually where dreams are made.
The Otago Nuggets raised the 2020 championship banner and attempted to raise the 2022 championship banner ahead of their season-opener against the Manawatu Jets.
As one of them tumbled down from its moorings high up on the wall to reveal the most beautiful word in sport — champions — it erased some painful memories for the franchise and also reminded everyone not everything goes to plan.
The 2022 championship banner remained stubbornly coiled up — fitting considering the Nuggets’ laboured road to success.
Otago entered the National Basketball League in 1990 under future Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin.
The first year was tough but those early ’90s were promising. Crowds of 3000 would flock to the "Freezerdome", now the Dunedin Ice Stadium, to see the team play.
But by the late 1990s the team began falling off the pace.
The franchise struggled to attract a major-naming sponsor and Basketball Otago pulled the team out of the league in 2009, citing financial constraints.
The Nuggets re-emerged in 2010 and limped through a winless season.
Buoyed by the return of franchise legend Mark Dickel the team made the 2013 playoffs for the first time in 16 years.
But off the court the finances remained dire and the franchise was forced out of the league for a second time following the 2014 season.
Fans endured five seasons without a team. But their faith was been rewarded with a fairy tale run.
The team returned in 2020 and won the National Basketball League showdown.
But better was to come. The Nuggets timed their playoff run perfectly to claim their first NBL title proper last year.
It would have taken just a second for the 2022 championship banner to cascade down the wall and reveal its message.
It took the Nuggets 32 years.
