Best/Worst Stadiums you've visited (stories appreciated)
Got the case of the Mondays. The children are going to be stampeding around the streets very soon around here, so I am getting fist ready to shake at them whilst yelling at them to get off of my lawn.
This was a thread awhile back ago. I'm talking 2-3 years ago on here when I was a non-member. Anyways, what is the best stadium you have been to and the worst stadium?
Would love to hear experiences, especially stories about bad ones since the last time we did this I got quite a laugh from some stories.
My best- Fenway Park. One of the true grand old houses of baseball left standing. They don't make them like that anymore and it was a throwback to Tiger Stadium.
Worst- BY FAR, spartan stadium. Went there in 2003 and 2007. Place is a dump, fans are assholes, upper deck felt like it was swaying at times. They can put up all the HD video screens they want. Just like you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.
Honorable mention for best: Tiger Stadium (one of the last ones to leave the stadium when it closed. Very sad day for me. Remember crying as I was leaving for the final time).
Also I visited this piece of baseball history last weekend-
Hamtramck Stadium. Home of the Detroit Stars of the Negro League back in the 1930s. One of very few Negro League stadiums still surviving. Some great players played on that field like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Turkey Stearnes of the Stars.
I really enjoy the environment at Beaver Stadium at PSU. The tailgating is great, the fans are a lot of fun and very inspired, they are also fairly understanding of other fans as I have seen UM play there a number of times and wore UM gear and didn't get too much crap, and the student section is really big. All in all for college football it's the best place I've gone to a game, and it's super easy to get in and out of as it's in the middle of nowhere. FYI I haven't been to Michigan Stadium since I was a child and don't remember it.
For baseball I really like Fenway. The fans are great, the stadium is old but has a lot of history, and Boston is a great city with lots to do and tons of sports bars around the stadium. Parking sucks, but if you take the train in it's awesome. For a small venue, I love Hadlock Field where the Portland Sea Dogs (Portland, Maine) play, who are the AA affiliate to the Red Sox. I used to work for them, but it is an awesome place to watch baseball if you like baseball. There aren't many minor league experiences better than the Sea Dogs.
I never liked the old Yankee Stadium, but I haven't been the the new one yet. I didn't really like the Old Three Rivers Stadium either or the old Vet in Philly, but Three Rivers was worse IMO. But, Camden Yards is also a great place as is Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The University of Phoenix Stadium is really nice and easy to get in and out of, but the fan experience isn't quite the same as it is in a college town. The Phoenix area is cool, but is by no means a football town, but the stadium itself is pretty nice.
Favorite:
Beside the Big House, Lambeau Field. It's awesome seeing the most historic stadium in the NFL right next to a KMart in the middle of a small town. The tailgating is second to none, and during the winter there's more hunter orange in the stands than green. You can feel the history in that place, and it has great additions like a Hall of Fame and a beautiful atrium to hang out in.
Least favorite:
I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of old Tiger Stadium. Maybe I was too youg to appreciate the history at the time, but the place was a dump, a lot of the sight lines were bad, and the stadium was always 85% empty when I went because the teams were awful. Didn't shed any tears when they moved to shiny new Comerica.
Also not a big fan of Ford Field. Just a giant warehouse with no personality. It isn't a dump by any means, just a little big and sterile.
But you were so much closer to the action in Tiger Stadium than Comerica, I don't know how you can prefer the sightlines there. Now when you went, it was a dump, because Ilitch spent a decade letting it go to hell so he could get people to fund him a new stadium in his Foxtown area rather than fixing that one up (which they could have). But it was a better building in a more classic area, and most importantly, much better to watch baseball in. Comerica is fine for what it is- a modern stadium that's a knock off of every one before it, which is great if you want to ride a ferris wheel instead of see a baseball game.
Having recently moved to the Bay Area, I have gone to Candlestick, the Coliseum, AT&T, and HP. Candlestick was awful. We were told that the lines were terrible so it would be wise to try and get a seat early. I remember getting into the ticket line about 50 or so minutes before kickoff and we didn't get to our seat until around 5 minutes into the 1st quarter. No organization whatsoever. The Coliseum was actually a much more entertaining gameday environment and Raider fans were generally more cordial and interesting than Niners fans. Though I detest the Sharks, HP is a really, really nice hockey arena and AT&T offers some of the most gorgeous views around. Of course, no gameday environment will ever compare to an Ann Arbor Saturday but I suppose that goes without saying.
Best
Michigan Stadium
Wrigley
Rose Bowl
Worst
Ohio Stadium - Wear a rain coat to shed the beer or worse that will be dumped on or thrown at you. But every Michigan fan should make the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime. Just to know who and what you're dealing with when it comes to Ohio.
LA Coliseum - Julius Ceasar would feel at home. Flak jacket is optional.
Worst stadium (based on experience): Camp Randall in Madison. I was there in the 70s my freshman year with the Michigan Band. The students were either allowed to drink or smuggled in bottles, but there were lots of them. By the second half, the bottles started raining out of the upper deck at the band. Fortunately they were too drunk to have good aim as I don't recall anyone being hit.
The same year we went to the Horseshoe and as our buses were leaving following the Mike Lantry missed FG that cost us the victory, the line of C-Bus cops that was directing traffic stood in a line and flipped off our buses. Class act. The students there were the same mouthy, beligerent ones that attent today, but at least they didn't throw anything at us.
One of my personal favorites was watching the Red Wings play at the old Olympia Stadium. The place was a dump, but there wasn't a bad seat in the house.
1. Parking sucks and is expensive. Typically have to walk along ways to the stadium.
2. Horrible asshole fans! Probably worst in all of sports
3. Views being home, first and third suck!!!! Poles in way of view.
4. Shitty location outside of town.
5. Old as hell, bathrooms falling apart smell like hell.
6. Logistically is a nightmare walking around
Note: I get its old which makes it cool and but these are important to me above and Fenway does not have them.
And that's not being a homer. I've been there twice and both times was shocked at what a dump it is.
I expected it to live up to its reputation in stadium rankings and what I got was a cynder block. The whole thing is solid concrete, and what few parts aren't concrete are painted grey to match the concrete. Even the routunda was riddled with cracks and off-color patches to the concrete all around it, while the upper bowl looks like it has gotten zero maintenence since it was first put in. Its cracked, chipping, and ugly.
By far the worst stadium I've ever seen. This is out of Michigan Stadium, Spartan Stadium, Ross-Ade, Bryant-Denny (not for a game), and Bronco Stadium (also not for a game, loved the smurf turf though) for reference.
Haven't been to enough other venues of different sports or the NFL to make a call on any of those, although I will say I liked the Superdome when I went for the Sugar Bowl, and I thought Progressive Field was pretty nice when I went to the Frozen Diamond against Ohio, in terms of non-Michigan, non-Detroit venues I've been to.
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