Monday, March 22, 2004
Veterans Stadium, RIP
This has been a tough topic for me to articulate.
On one hand, I loved the Vet. I went to my first NFL games there, saw a ton of Phillies games, and even went to an NWA wrestling event in 1987 with my Dad and brother.
On the other hand, put bluntly, it was a shithole. No guess work there, and not one person on the planet would disagree with me.
The strange feeling in me is that it was OUR shithole. Broken down, infested with rats, and home to the NFL's only on-site prison, in many ways it suited the city perfectly. (I'm not calling Philly a shithole, so get that out of your head!) It was a tough place, but Philadelphians are tough people...
For this reason, I really wonder if Citizens Bank Park or Lincoln Financial Field will ever fully capture the essence of a unique and often misunderstood city.
What if the boos don't resonate as well?
John Smallwood delivers a fantastic account of the implosion of the Vet.
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