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Your Take: CNNSI.com users sound off
Posted: Thursday June 03, 1999 11:21 PM We asked for feedback on Sports Illustrated's list of the Top 20 Venues of the 20th Century. Here's a selection of venues that some of you think SI should have included. (The magazine limited its choices to venues that still exist, but we decided to indulge the users who prefer to dwell on memory lane.) Click here to give us your take. What made the Boston Garden so special was not only having great Bruins
and Celtics teams work their magic there, but the home-court advantage that
frightened many an opponent. Only certain players knew where the dead spots on
the parquet were, and the lack of air conditioning was brutal on numerous foes,
not to mention the overcrowded section of Boston fans. Not solely limited to NBA
and NHL action, concerts, boxing title fights, figure skating, political rallies
and even WrestleMania made appearances in the old Barn on Causeway
Street.
Taylor Field, Regina, Saskatchewan, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders,
North America's oldest professional football franchise. With a seating capacity
of just under 30,000, Taylor Field has been home to the Roughriders forever.
Since every Rider game is viewed as a big one by the legions of Green and White
fans, often the stands are full before everyone has bought a ticket. No problem.
Pull up a lawn chair behind the end zone and sit back and watch the best-loved
sports team in the country (sorry, Leafs
fans).
How could you forget Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., home of the
Michigan Wolverines? SI itself called it a "college hockey version of
Cameron, only meaner" three years ago. The taunts, the proximity to the
ice that all the fans have, the level of skill put on display there
...
My favorite venue is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Though the 500 has
lost some of its former glorious luster, the track and grounds continue to hold
a spell on me. The history of the track surpasses all others. From Ray Harrun
to A.J. Foyt to Rick Mears, the Speedway embraces all that is important -- life,
death, competitition and the courage to try to be the best. Sitting in the
stands at the Speedway, you can't help but feel the history it has
created.
Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb. There is no place in sport that has the
tradition, spirit, color and overall glory that one can find walking into
Memorial Stadium on a Husker football Saturday! I've been to South Bend and
have seen the Irish play. A great experience, but it doesn't hold a candle to
Lincoln!
The Melbourne Cricket Ground. Home to the first international cricket
test ever played in 1877. Venue for athletics at the 1956 Olympics. Site of
the 1992 Cricket World Cup final. A battleground for players of Australian Rules
football, soccer and rugby before crowds of 100,000 people. Over 130 years of
memories of pain and glory for sportspeople from around the world are contained
within its massive stands. Yankee Stadium is small beer next to
this.
The Palestra, Philadelphia. Ask anyone who has attended a game at the
Palestra -- they will tell you it is the best place in the world to watch a
basketball game. Special moments include Big 5 doubleheaders among Penn, Temple,
LaSalle, Villanova and St. Joseph's (sorry, Drexel), and the annual
Penn-Princeton clash. I once saw a bench-clearing brawl initiated by the
mascots of LaSalle and St. Joseph's, involving both players and cheerleaders
(the Hawks won the fight and the
game).
Husky Stadium, Seattle. Its turf may be artifical and its wooden seats
may be old and uncomfortable, but on a Saturday afternoon in September, there
are few finer places to watch a college football game. The stadium sits at the
edge of Lake Washington, with an impressive vista of the lake and of beautiful
Mount Rainier offered from all 72,500 seats. The noise generated by these Dawg
fans has been known to stop an opposing team on fourth and inches. All in all,
it is a wonderful venue for college football -- now, if they would just get rid
of that damned Astroturf
...
The Montreal Forum. The single most famous hockey arena ever. The only
place where millions of kids dreamt of scoring on the same line with The Rocket,
Beliveau and Guy Lafleur, playing defense with Beliveau, Harvey and Robinson,
and trying to score on Roy or Dryden. All these reasons plus the best steamies
anywhere.
As a Wolverine alumnus, I may be biased, but how could Notre Dame Stadium be
included and not Michigan Stadium? Let's not forget that Knute Rockne
had Notre Dame Stadium built after losing in Ann Arbor. He returned and said he
wanted a stadium just like Michigan's! If you want to experience the best
atmosphere in college football, travel to Ann Arbor and spend the afternoon with
111,000 of your best
friends!
Maybe I missed something, but I swear you left Madison Square Garden off
your list. For starters, it's in New York, the top sports venue in all the
world. It's hosted everything from great boxing, hockey, not to mention the
Knicks and all the fantastic college basketball memories. It's always one of
the top names when you ask someone from anywhere in the country to name a famous
sports arena. It definitely ought to be on ahead of Camden Yards. That's a
beautiful place, but there's not history or memories there (besides Ripken's
record-breaking game). Madison Square Garden IS
sports!!
Patterson Field at Ursinus College has to be one of the best and most
fan-friendly venues to watch college football. From the tree in the end zone to
the smell of the hot dogs being cooked by alumni parents on the grill, you get
the complete feel of being a part of the Ursinus program. That, and you get to
watch college football at the pure Division III level. On a crisp fall
afternoon, this little bastion of energy in the country warms your heart with
all that is good about college
sports.
Your choices are hopelessly America-centric. How could you not
include:
LSU's Tiger Stadium . From the tailgate parties to the cheering when the
band first strikes a note, sends chills up your spine.
How can you leave out Madison Square Garden , "The world's most famous
sporting arena!" Knicks and Rangers aside, there have been more history-making college basketball games and boxing matches at MSG than any other venue in the country. So what if it costs $75 to sit in the nosebleeds; there is still nothing like being in the Garden with 20,000 New York fans waiting to explode when Reggie Miller finally misses that 3 at the buzzer.
Beaver Stadium , State College, Penn. >Nestled between two mountain ranges, Beaver Stadium is a tortuous trip from Harrisburg for any visiting team, who then must deal with over 95,000 rabid Nittany Lion fans. The sea of blue and white and constant chants of "We are Penn State" are something that a person has to see in person to truly appreciate. When a big rival comes to town it seems like all of Pennsylvania is there rooting for the Lions. The tailgating isn't bad either!
I love Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS., home of the KU Jayhawks. It's a great old building with incredible tradition. Granted the fans can be kind of annoying, but as far as a great place to watch college basketball, it's hard to beat.
Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, the site for college football's
most intense and greatest rivalry when Alabama comes to town. On that
great day every other year, the city of Auburn becomes the fifth largest
city in the state of Alabama!
Yankee Stadium would be my overall favorite, but The Forum in Montreal was truly special from a hockey perspective. I only visited once, back in the mid-70's, but I remember riding the escalator to my seat. There were oil paintings of all of the Canadiens legends on the wall as the escalator rose, and one could literally reach out and touch them, yet nobody did. The Forum was a true shrine.
Mile High Stadium . It's late November. The game starts in brilliant sunshine, but finishes in the dark, under lights. Crisp air, turning colder as the Broncos begin to heat up. The closed (North) end of the stadium literally rocks when the visitors have the ball down there. John Elway's first comeback win. I was there watching the Colts go down after leading 19-0. You had to be there.
Tiger Stadium -- before [Mike] Illitch bought the Tigers. You could smell the Ball Park franks on the grill (not in water) as you walked into the stadium. You'll never get closer to a major league game than anywhere behind home plate, upper or lower deck. Beach balls and beer flew freely in the bleachers for years (until low-alcohol, blah, beer was introduced). No luxury suites. Suits stayed home (or played hooky during day games). And it was organ music, not canned top-40, that entertained between innings. The bullpens are right next to the fans in both corners, making for easy autographs and baseballs ... especially after the tightwad GM Jim Campbell departed.
YOUR TAKE
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