15.
In 2001, this park opened and honestly, about anything would have been an improvement to its predecessor. That said, the park is a good one when compared to about anything. In a trend seen in the last decade, the host city decided to exchange an old multi-purpose facility for two new venues with lots of bells and whistles. This one, of the baseball variety, boasts of a great view of the city along with a re-painted bridge that looks like a movie set from certain angles. With water just beyond the wall in right field, but not as close as McCovey's Cove in San Francisco, the 443 foot shot became a focus of local media following PNC Park's opening. The first "Allegheny Splash" was smacked by Darryl Ward during the 2006 All-Star Game's Home Run Derby and others have done so as well since. Building amenities, great sightlines and overall comfort got PNC into our top-15.
14.
The next entry in the contest is the second-oldest park in the majors. This park gets very high marks for its location since its close to restaurants and things to do. It also has a pretty special feeling despite the fact that it has some of the inherent problems found in venues from the early 1900s. It opened back in 1914 and had a lofty price tag of $250,000 when it was built. It'll hold just over 41,000 fans...and most games every seat, including the bleachers are full (with a bunch of bandwagoners and fair weather fans), even during afternoon contests. This year, Wrigley Field is especially energetic as the Cubs are playing good baseball and have the league's best record. Oh yeah, don't forget to get a Chicago-style dog if you're in Wrigley, but as for me, I'll pass on the ice-cold Budweiser or Old Style...call me a beer snob, I don't care.
13.
I think if you stop by BS often, you know that we're pretty fair and call it as we see it. Sure, we love our Boilers, but we try not to be homers. For that reason, it may not be surprising that this venue checks in outside of the top-10. Granted, all three of us love coming back to our alma mater to take in a game at this beloved and recently-renovated stadium, but Ross Ade Stadium has plenty of cons to go along with the good feelings that we have about it. The new concourses and improvements to the press box and luxury seats made the stadium respectable, because the old Ross Ade wouldn't have come close to making our countdown. That said, I've been going to football games in West Lafayette since Young prowled the sidelines...and my two cohorts have been doing the same since Coletto was the man in charge. Classic victories of the Brees era along with upsets over various Notre Dame teams and even a Michigan team during our four years on campus definitely don't hurt the rating of Ross Ade...But the South end zone seats and a bevy of horrible losses in our collective consciousness kept the scoring relatively low.
12.
Another college football stadium is up next on our countdown. This is currently the largest in America that often gets overshadowed by some of its in-conference counterparts. Over 107,000 can be seated in this venue...and unlike UM's stadium, each will actually get a seat. Originally opened in 1961 after literally moving the old facility from their old field across campus, Beaver Stadium was a 46,000 fan stadium. Unlike a couple of the larger venues we've visited, BS actually impressed the staff of BS with its decided homefield advantage as well as the setting. Not many college stadiums are nestled into the mountains...That's part of the reason Penn State's football stadium lands at number 12.
11.
Rounding out today's segment is another shiny, new park in the Northeast. Just as its counterpart in Pittsburgh had previously done, this ballpark replaced a decidedly-worse venue and has been a draw itself. With a capacity of nearly 44,000 and a ton of creature comforts, this park that was completed in 2004 was designed very well for watching a baseball game. The sightlines, atmosphere and comfortable feeling earned it high marks, but not quite high enough to get it into our top-10. Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies checks in at number 11.
(This is a part of the Boiled Sports Best Venues Series...The fact that three of the five in this group were in Pennsylvania is merely coincidental)
11 comments:
I'm not sure Ross-Ade belongs on this list. I remember the Iowa and NU games last year where an entire section in the corner of the endzone was empty at kickoff.
Matt, it belongs on the BS list because it scored pretty well. I do think Purdue's fan base bring it down quite a bit, but the product on the field doesn't help much either (lately).
i hated citizens bank park when i first went there, but i've been back many times and have grown to love it. good pick, one that's probably underrated by a lot of folks.
oddly enough, i've been to all five of these and agree with every inclusion. that makes six out of ten. not too bad.
Good point on Ross-Ade. It will never win awards or be as well known as other stadia, but damnit, it's ours!
Mo, you'll find we're very aeroidite...
We've got ten more you can disagree with, so you might want to wait on your final comments.
about wrigley, i agree that it is a great stadium, but i have to disagree with the bandwagon/fair weather fans. they havn't won one in 100 years... theyve been selling out the stadium even when they were in last two years ago. im a cardinals fan, and i HATE the cubs... but lets give credit to their fans where it is due... you cant be a bandwagon fan if you havn't won in any of your fan's lifetime.
vin, many Cubs fans root for them simply because it's a stylish and fun thing to do...they jump on the bandwagon because their buddy in the Pike house did so back in college...and when they get their first job up in Chicago, they become a Cubs fan because it's great just to be there for a game...problem is, they have no clue there is even a game going on by the 4th inning...and they don't care either.
The weather is always fair in the local tavern...but this tavern, Wrigley Field only serves crappy brew.
Sure, they might have grown up rooting for (insert team here), but now they over-bend their bills and head to Wrigley to pretend they're Cameron of Ferris for the 2:30 game.
Posers.
No offense to real Cubs fans out there, you shouldn't take any...but to the others, suck it.
Wrigley also serves Corona, St Paulis Girl and Heineken. Not exactly top shelf but decent. Also your rant against Cubs fans makes no sense. You hate people who move to Chicago for a job. You hate frat boys and you hate people who dont pay attention to the game. I get that, but dont call out Cubs fans like you know who they are, because Chicago is much more than the frat boys you saw in college or the business men in the box seats.
Read it, review it, love it, comprehend it.
If you're a real fan, good for you, you're not the problem...If you're not, which it sounds like you may not be, I can understand why you're bothered.
You honestly believe I have a problem with anyone who gets a job in Chicago??? That's a whole bunch of people...I'd venture a guess that the majority of them, even those who land on the Northside don't like the Cubs.
Go ahead, go back and re-read, you know you want to.
I'm from the Chicagoland area, I know exactly the people Ryan is talking about and he is spot on. Yes, there are diehard real fans of that crappy ballclub. But they are outnumbered by the trendy fans that just cheer for the cubs because it is the cool chicago thing to do. They are all over, thanks to WGN. I went to a Nats-Cubs game here in D.C. I counted 4 Mark Prior cubs jerseys in my section alone. Get a clue, people, he plays for San Diego now!
If you don't like Cubs fans, then you just don't like the Cubs team, plain and simple. Of course, the same case could be made for any other "trendy" team that people like. So don't single out the Cubs as the only team with fairweather fans and fans that used to be in fraternities. I think a lot of Cubs fans are Cubs fans because they grew up watching them on WGN or they like the tradition and feel of Wrigley Field. I think there are a lot more reasons to like the Cubs than most other teams. Who cares if its trendy? You want to fault the Cubs marketing department for that?
Post a Comment