11/23/24
March 21, 2004
Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium was imploded this morning after more than three decades as the home of the Eagles and Phillies. Skip right to the 15:30 mark of the video to avoid a toxic blast of hot air. The demolition leaves Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Olympic Stadium in Montreal as the last survivors of the dreaded era of cookie cutter ballpark design (and Busch's days are numbered).
I'm still getting over the fact they want to nuke Tiger Stadium, and that it was replaced with that Comerica travesty. To me as a kid Tiger Stadium was baseball, period. At least it had one last hurrah as one of the stars of *61.
posted by pivo at 09:50 AM on March 21, 2004
I am going to the new Phillies stadium in April. It looks like it is a nice stadium.
posted by jasonspaceman at 10:45 AM on March 21, 2004
Note: the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI (former home of the hapless Lions) is still standing, although it has no tenants currently and it wouldn't surprise me to see it come down. I don't think Tiger Stadium fits the description of "cookie cutter" design, it was replaced mainly so the Tiger organization could sell more luxury suites, not because the fans wanted to see it go.
posted by deadcowdan at 12:28 PM on March 21, 2004
Supposedly, the mayor of Pontiac said they were going to tear done the Silverdome because they didn't want "the world's biggest tractor-pull arena."
posted by MeatSaber at 02:23 PM on March 21, 2004
It is cool that a crappy stadium got nuked, but it is said that we've moved from naming stadiums things like 'Veteran's Stadium' and 'Soldier's Field' to 'Underwear Brand Park Brought to you by Bank of Always Expanding Number of Branches and Always Decreasing Level Of Service.'
posted by tieguy at 05:41 PM on March 21, 2004
tieguy, at least we're not selling naming rights to our professional sports leagues and national competitions. Yet.
posted by billsaysthis at 07:47 PM on March 21, 2004
Speaking of Detroit, it still makes me laugh to think that Super Bowl XL will be held at Ford Field in 2006. Nothing says fun like February in Detroit.
posted by usfbull at 11:07 AM on March 22, 2004
"They blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night, now they blew up his house too."
posted by billsaysthis at 09:58 PM on March 22, 2004
There's a very touching send-off from a fan who screams after the last of the explosions. That was one hell of an eyesore, but I wouldn't blame Philly fans for being sorry to see it go. I still miss foul-smelling, bush-league Arlington Stadium, which to my 10-year-old eyes was the most magical place in the entire world.