Episode 50 - Top 5 Arenas
  • tokenbgtokenbg
    Posts: 87
    As we said on the show, a great sporting arena can feel like home. A place that transcends bricks and mortar and seems to possess its very own sentience. The way Marty needed the DeLorean and the Doctor needs the Tardis is how the Red Sox need Fenway or Pete Sampras needed Wimbledon.

    What other sporting stadiums did we miss out that evoke a similar resonance?


  • GABGAB
    Posts: 118
    I'll put forward a few from American college sports.

    Basketball: the obvious choice is Cameron Indoor from Duke University, and that might be the best (having never been there in person), but I personally recommend Gallagher-Iba Arena from Oklahoma State University.  Great use of space, with the football and basketball facilities sharing parking lots and a couple of sports museums right on site.  What OSU and Duke have in common is fans right on top of the game.

    Baseball: I can't speak for the new Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, but the old one was the iconic home of the annual College World Series.  It doubled as a AAA minor league baseball stadium, but for a couple of weeks each summer it turned into the equivalent of every BCS football bowl game rolled into one.

    Football: Haven't visited this city or stadium, so I can only speak from the TV perspective and observation. If I could visit only one home-field for a college football stadium in pursuit of the most intrinsically intimidating place to play, it would be "Death Valley" for LSU football.  Yes, Louisiana State has been a good team for a number of years, but this has always been a brutal place to play ... even when the team was mediocre!

    Oh, and the "death valley" mystique at LSU is definitely more powerful at night.
    I think the thing about night games is the energy of the crowd.  On an early start, many people are managing their fandom on the basis of what remains to be done that evening.  When the kickoff or tipoff or first pitch is after dark, I think the fans are more committed because they can "leave it all on the field" the way we like to see the players do.
  • allgoodjensallgoodjens
    Posts: 5
     I do agree with the 'it might be a dump, but it's my dump' theory of arenas. While I've never gone often enough for a long enough period for a stadium to mean that much to me, I understand where it comes from.

    I spent a season at Hull FC's previous ground at The Boulevard. The great thing about it (and it really wasn't great, typical of many traditional rugby league grounds) was that at half time, the spectators could also change ends. Totally random, but great to be able to always cheer your team home at the touchline. I do understand why so many people become so attached to their stadium.

    I spent a season spectating their new home, the KC stadium. Again, not necessarily much to distinguish it, but it'll always be special to me because it was where I felt my elder daughter really move for the first time (in response to a fantastic boo from the crown when Richard Horne was sin-binned 5 minutes before the end of a game).

    I think it was Jonathon who mentioned being taken to the ground by his dad. A friend of mine recently discussed her young son now having a season ticket for rugby. He goes with his dad, uncle, cousins, grandad and, until very recently, his great-grandad. She also went with them and her 6 year old son was enthralled. And as she looked at him, surrounded by generations of his family, she thought: that's his seat now. He'll sit there for years to come. And in a  time when people bemoan family break up and its impact on society, every weekend there are people taking their children to stadiums, forming bonds and creating traditions. It's not a solution to anything, but it is a postive thing.

    My only other nomination is more for the principle of the thing: Rome's Colossuem. One of the very few places I have actually been, the thing that amazed me was the way that basic stadium design hasn't actually changed that much. And, while I'm not advocating a return to feeding people to the lions or gladiatorial death matches, it does go to show that gathering together to watch sport has a long, proud tradition in human history.

    Sorry if this sounded a bit pretentious at times.
  • onewildonewild
    Posts: 37
    The KC is one of the better new modern stadiums and we certainly prefer it over the Boulevard, but then again that is because we hardly ever lose at the KC and we always seemed to lose at the Boulevard. Apart from twice, once in the cup and then once famously in the league when Danny Ward scored a drop goal! (he is prop forward)

    The great thing about the old grounds is that you tend to be right on top of the action, well apart from at Odsal. Although they do need replacing, grounds like Wheldon Road (Cas), I will miss going to them because they have their own atmosphere which can not be easily recreated.

    Great call on the Colossuem.
  • mekkamekka
    Posts: 4
    Being a lazy, disloyal soul who gets my sport via the TV I haven't a huge amount to say about stadia.

    I did however really enjoy and learn a lot on a guided tour of the Nou Camp.  A tour I highly recommend.  The history of the stadium and its symbolism for the city was quite moving.

    A trip to the San Siro was quite fun.  Just to see how Italian rival fans celebrate.  It was quite spectacular if not seemingly a little dangerous.  The drums and the flags were quite fun.  The flares they were throwing over the huge fence they behind not so fun.
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