Stadium Ramblings

I'm about to say something that could very well get me run out of Boston, but, here goes: I don't like Fenway Park. It is small, cramped and not that much fun to sit in for 4 hours at a time. The fact that you have to pay through the nose for the privilege of it all just further infuriates me. I outgrew that place when I was about 12. I truly think Fenway Park is the main reason I am not a bigger baseball fan. The people who treat it like a cathedral are idiots who have clearly never been to places like SafeCo or Camden Yards. I challenge anyone to go sit in those stadiums then come back to Boston, look me in the eye and honestly try to tell me that Fenway is better. Now, sure, I get that we needed to win a World Series before getting a new stadium because of the history of the team, the park and the city. But, now the team has won twice in the last six years - it's time.

Now, I don't want some domed, lifeless monstrosity like they have down in Tampa Bay, but if they put some effort into it then I'm sure they could come up with a plan that would make the place nice enough to appease the people who still wish it was 1940. I just think it's disgraceful that a team like the Pirates, who spend no money, never win and continually give their fans the finger have a better place to play baseball than the Boston Red Sox. Also, maybe if they built a stadium with a higher capacity we wouldn't have to pay $125 for good seats. There is a reason that Baltimore gets overrun with Sox fans every time the team comes to town - because it's cheaper to fly to Baltimore and sit in a nice stadium than it is for two people to shoehorn themselves into Fenway Park for a game. Seriously, 92 years is a good run - lets get someplace new.

-In my attempt to be more worldly and follow soccer a little more closely (it is the biggest sport in the world, after all) I stumbled upon some big news today... well, "big" could depend on your perspective and interest level in soccer. The people in charge of such things are unhappy with the progress that Brazil is making as they prepare to host the next World Cup. Officials feel as though the country is well behind their schedule to build stadiums to host the event... in 2014. Maybe they should all relax their standards a bit. Shouldn't they get through this year's World Cup before worrying about the next go round? I mean, how long does it take to build a soccer stadium? It's honestly a circle with lots of seats. New Yankee Stadium with all its bells, whistles and shitty, expensive, obstructed views, went up in no time. Also, it isn't as though they are hosting the Olympics and need 19 different venues. If you're two years out and the place isn't on schedule then, yes, you can start to get worried. But being unhappy about behind schedule four years out seems like they are just worrying for the sake of worrying. Though, I guess when you are in charge of something that only takes place every four years you have a lot of free time to kill and thus you need to look busy.

-Lastly, we bring you photographic evidence of why you should maybe not build your football stadium next to a river. There have been some big storms going through Tennessee lately and as such the rivers are rising. To alleviate the pressure on a local dam, engineers decided to open it up and let the water rush through, as a sort of controlled overflow. The only problem seems to be for the Tennessee Titans, who's stadium is next to that river, because now their field is underwater.


The engineers were nice enough to give them some warning and as a result they managed to turn the power of at the place, but, damn - that is gonna wreck the turf.