Today I watched an implosion. Veterans? Stadium, home to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, came down around 7 a.m. this morning. It had been wired with explosions moving clockwise around the stadium. Lots of people were there, and many were sad. Yes, they?d complained about rats, the grass and other problems at the stadium but now that they were losing it they became very sentimental. Home owners also worried about the damage the dust might cause.
Veterans? Stadium opened in 1971. The Phillies have been around a lot longer than that so there had to have been an earlier stadium. Stadiums are just not meant to last, I guess. There are a few originals left but not many. People want high tech and comfort and newness. There?s a lot of money to be made on stadiums in cities with popular teams.
Don?t get me wrong. I?m not against making improvements. What bothers me is that the new stadiums are large and beautiful but ? they are cold, not homey or friendly places. I say that because of the new names for the stadiums. A lot of them are named after the banks or businesses that funded construction! I mean ? what is more sterile than that?
Take the stadiums in Pennsylvania as a for instance. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh is a cool, homey sounding name. The stadium was located at the juncture of ? what else? ? three rivers. It opened in 1970 and I?m sure it replaced an earlier stadium. What a nice name though. It doesn?t sound clinical or hospital-like. Veterans? Stadium is a nice name, too, honoring the people who served in the armed forces. The new stadiums are named PNC Park and Citizens Bank Park, respectively.
What kind of names are those for baseball stadiums? Not that football stadiums have much better luck. The Washington Redskins used to play at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, a nice way to honor the late senator. His family was well known for their games of touch football on the lawn. RFK Stadium isn?t being used anymore. Now the Redskins play at Fedex Field.
Isn?t that heart warming? Now going to see their beloved teams playing at their home stadiums the fans are going to be reminded of the warm, homey memories of ? mail that arrives in 24 hours or, even better, banks that handle cold hard cash. I am really sad to see such impersonal names given to the stadiums just because that?s where the financing came from. I suppose this institutions are thinking that with a more meaningful name, 10 years down the road the fans are going to forget who the financial backers were. Well?so what? They?ll make their investment back over again several times.
I keep wondering when this is going to happen to the oldest of the stadiums, the ones that haven?t been knocked down yet. In Boston, there is Fenway Park with the infamous Green Wall (makes it hard to hit home runs). It opened in 1912. In New York, there?s the ?house that Ruth built?. Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx. It opened in 1923 and lots of baseball greats played there, from Babe Ruth on down the line. Shea Stadium, home of the NY Mets, opened in 1964. I can?t imagine these stadiums ever being replaced but it?s inevitable ? we all grow old, even buildings. There is no way I can possibly imagine such commercially cold names for the replacements. I don't even want to think about it!
I saw a movie about 25 years ago called Network. I found it shockingly funny but I had the cold chills at the same time. The country was changing and what it was changing to was kind of scary. Basically, the story is about a frustrated and slightly mad network commentator named Howard Beale who goes off the deep end and exhorts his viewers to shout ?I?m mad as hell and I?m not going to take it anymore!? Well, his antics caught the attention of the movie?s Mr. Big. I can?t remember if he was chairman of the board or the network president or what but I did remember his message. It literally gave me goose bumps.
I looked it up so that I would quote it correctly. He says to Howard Beale, ?The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. ... It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And you will atone. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21 inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.?
Howard Beale says, ?I have looked upon the face of God.? Scary scene!
Here are the names of some ball park stadiums around the country now:
I couldn?t begin to guess where these stadiums are located. They don?t honor teams, like Tiger Stadium did. They don?t honor a part of the city like Comiskey Park (in Chicago) did. They don?t have imaginative names like Candlestick Park or Mile High Stadium did. The new names just don?t roll off the tongue. They don?t inspire any warm or friendly images.
When I was little, I loved the Baltimore Orioles. At the time, they were playing at Memorial Stadium. The first game played there was in 1954 and I went to games there from 1966 - 1976 or so. The name honored those Baltimoreans killed in the wars. It was pretty to look at, made of red brick. I loved going there. I always had a great view of the game even if I was out in the bleachers. I was thrilled when the players would autograph my program book. All good things must come to an end, though. A new stadium went up to replace Memorial Stadium.
I remember the back and forth negotiating about the name. No one wanted the new stadium named after a bank, thank heavens. I don?t know if there was any fighting in the kitchen about that. Anyway, I think the new name is pretty cool: Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The name honors not only the team but also the part of town it?s built in. This new one in Philadelphia ? Citizens Bank Park ? is not only cold, it?s anonymous. What is in that name to link it to the city or to the team?
Baseball is supposed to be as American as apple pie. If that?s the case and the new stadium names reflect that, what does it say about us and where we are going? ?There is no America ?? There is only PNC Park, U.S. Cellular Field, Comerica Park ?
Scary.
I say ? and you think ?
I loved this article sweetie, I was never much of a "sports fan" but I always felt sad at the "corporatization" of America. This article's good enough for the "big time!"
Love ya,
TB