The Palestra in Philadelphia, PA: My favorite venue of 2011

It was a great year here at Stadium and Arena Visits with several new facilities and some really great experiences at that. Its cliche to make a year-end list and it’s now become cliche to say that doing a year-end list is cliche. So enough of that word already! No introduction is needed, here is my 2011 wrap-up:

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Favorite Stadium: The Palestra……Lots of choices here, but this old building just resonates with me. College Basketball is my favorite sport and visiting an arena that brings the sport back in time (in a good way) was a remarkable experience.
………Honorable Mention: Wrigley Field, Notre Dame Stadium, Red Bull Arena

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Highest-Rated New Stadium: Thomas M. Ryan Center (81)……There is a lot right with this place. Though its a little bit of a jog east away from I-95, it’s easy to get to and parking isn’t issue. Beautiful exterior with nice concourses and a unique interior that gives the seating bowl a tall feel to it. The arena may be bigger than URI really needs, but I liked the place a lot. A little better atmosphere would be great, but I don’t see that happening as the Rams are 2-12 this year. Ouch

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Favorite New City: Chicago……Awesome! Like so many others, I fell in love with Chicago. Breathtaking skyline, great spot right next to the lake, clean with an excellent transit system, terrific food and there’s a ton to do, especially in the Loop area.
………Honorable Mention: Joliet, Norfolk, South Bend

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Weather: 6 out of 10…….Well, the most important thing was no game cancellations, which is my biggest worry when planning a ballpark visit. However, I experienced not one, but two lightning delayed games. The first in Notre Dame wasn’t bad because the extra two hours gave me more time to wonder around all the concourses. The other at InfoCision Stadium in Akron was annoying as thunder never was heard and it was a boring hour standing around. Otherwise, the weather wasn’t too bad. Driving through a steady, heavy rain to and from Hamden, CT was not fun. Nor was sitting in a cold, drizzle late in the game at Joliet. However, that was balanced out by some real nice evenings for games in Harrison, NJ and Fishkill, NY

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Best Restaurant: Market Street Inn – Salisbury, MD……It’s sporadic whether I eat at the facility, eat at home, or dine out in the town I visit. We spent the night in Salisbury and ate here before a Shorebirds game in Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. Highly recommend this place in downtown Salisbury, along the river. Both the wife and I had a great meal and dining outside by the water was a bonus. The Pork Medallions were perfect.
………Honorable Mention: Goose Island in Chicago, Capital Grille in Providence

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Best Game: Rhode Island vs Charlotte…….Without a doubt, the game of the year for me. After a lackluster first half, the second half featured a big comeback and an interesting final minute that led to an overtime. In the extra session, URI had one chance to win under 10 seconds and then had a second chance, but the long jumper went off the back rim. However, Jamal Wilson got the putback and just beat the buzzer to win the game. I loved it
………Honorable Mention: Quinnipiac vs Robert Morris, Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati

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Best Atmosphere: Notre Dame Stadium……There were some good ones, but it was hard to match Notre Dame. It’s not a crazy place, but it is loud and there was such a mystique here that it seems hard to match. Hearing the “Notre Dame Victory March” was awesome, but I actually liked the snippets of Celtic Chant played during the game better.
………Honorable Mention: Red Bull Arena, TD Bank Sports Center

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New Leagues: MLS Soccer and Women’s Volleyball…..Ten years into visiting new stadiums and I saw a few new leagues this year. I’ve only seen one other soccer-specific stadium (Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester) before attending my first MLS game in Harrison, NJ. Each year, I’ve grown more and more interest in soccer, from the international game, to the EPL and now MLS, which I followed closely this year. Attending live MLS made me crave more games and the Supporter Groups are something we don’t normally see here on a professional level. The other new sport I saw was women’s college volleyball. There are probably a couple dozen teams that play in facilities big enough for The List, and are stand-alone (not shared by basketball). This year I saw four-time defending champion Penn State at Rec Hall and just like when I’ve watched it in the Olympics, the game draws you in. It’s fast-paced, doesn’t last too long and has a lot of action.

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Can I get a Home win?: 5-12…..That is the record for the home team in games I attended at new stadiums this year. Ouch! And it’s not like I attended a ton of games where the home team was a huge underdog (maybe one or two). There were some ugly ones like Temple’s 41-3 blowout of Akron and Aberdeen’s late inning beatdown of Hudson Valley 10-3. There were blown games like Notre Dame giving the game to South Florida in every conceivable way and there were close ones the Chicago Cubs and Norfolk Tides both losing in extra innings. I always love watching the home team get a win, lets hope for a better 2012.

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Championships: Joliet Slammers…..There was one team that I saw this year, who ended up winning a championship. The re-branded Slammers took home the Frontier League title a few weeks after our visit with a 6-5 victory over River City at home. I’m really happy for the team, city and organization as I enjoyed a lot of aspects of my visit there. Nice downtown area and a terrific ballpark that is beautifully designed to fit right in architecturally with the city. Would’ve liked to seen more fans enjoy the playoffs, but that’s life in minor league baseball. Also, kudos to their organization for making a pair of inspiring intro videos (here and here).

OK, so I know this isn’t stadium-related, but it does have to do with sports. When I’m watching sports on TV, I’m a sucker for cheesy opening montages, great announcing and cool sports themes. With the last two weeks featuring a couple of my favorites, its the perfect time to talk about the best theme music. This post has been a long time coming and I’m sure down the road I’ll delve into my favorite (and most hated announcers). First, the current ones:
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1) Golf – US Open – NBC

Rock on Yanni! Arguably my favorite and I look forward to June just so I could hear this and hum it while I’m hacking away trying to break 90 (and sometimes 100)

2) Olympics – NBC

Still awesome, even if you might get sick of it by the time Week 2 of the Olympics rolls around. John Williams is great. I think the opener is made even better now that you get those beautiful sweeping HD helicopter shots of the host nation and city. Nothing beats those amazing Vancouver shots last year

3) Golf – The Masters – CBS

As much as I love that opening piano, it’s probably not the Masters theme your thinking of. Click the link above and the music by E.S. Posthumus is played a lot of times by CBS during highlights and going out to commercials in the Masters. Gets me pumped for any sport, can’t get enough of hearing that!

4) Soccer – World Cup – ESPN

A newbie to the list! That theme last year was great and I’m glad to see that ESPN is keeping some variation of that song going as I’ve heard it used for US matches lately

5) College Football – CBS

Classic. Rare that CBS has held onto this for so long, definitely nice to continue hearing

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Unfortunately, none of the four major sports have a TV theme that I can say I’m enamored with. If I had to pick one, I would probably pick ESPN’s Baseball theme. OK, the next set are my favorite classics that I miss hearing:

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1) NHL Hockey – CBC (1968 – 2008)

Even though I grew up close to Canada, we didn’t have CBC and it wasn’t until I went to college in Oswego, that I found out how much better Canadian broadcasting of hockey was. The second anthem of Canada is in a crappier form now in TSN and its not the same. Somehow CBC lost rights to this song? Still doesn’t make sense.

2) NBA Basketball – NBC (1990 – 2002)

So many memories as a kid hearing that. Way too many thoughts to write

3) College Basketball – CBS (1993 – 2003)

Same here. My favorite sport and event (March Madness), I can’t tell you how excited I was (and am) when this played and the tournament was about to start. Nice job by CBS in that they’ve kept some variation of this song going through the years as they’ve tried to make it more “current”. Never beats the old-school versions, but its still with us in some form

4) MLB Baseball – CBS (1990 – 1993)

Short lived, but an underrated great theme. Hearing this makes me think of World Series Day games, Joe Carter and the start of one of the best play-by-play men around, Sean McDonough. When NBC had baseball playoffs in the mid-late 90s they had an awesome theme as well, but I can’t find it

5) NFL Football – CBS (1998 – 1999?)

Sticking with CBS, they’ve had some good themes. I’m still pissed about this one as I think it was used only for a year when they returned to football. This one is much better in my opinion than the one they have now

6) College Football – ESPN (1990s)

Great theme. I always loved this theme, especially hearing it during their 7-8 PM slotted games. Makes me think of Ron Franklin saying “Timeout on the field and we’ll take it with them, 9:05 to go and our score, 17-17″ as the music would cue up in the background

100 stadiums feels like a bit of a milestone to me…so what better way then to rip off a perpetually replicated “Best/Worst” list.

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Favorite Stadium: Fenway Park……When you first walk into a stadium, you always get that first initial impression once you enter the playing field and nothing made me say “wow” like Fenway did. Just an incredible rush of history hits you here and the ballpark is so unique, yet they found a way to make it work in the 21st century. Then add on the awesome atmosphere and it stands out as my favorite.
……….Honorable Mention: PNC Park, Wachovia Arena, The Palestra

Least Favorite Stadium: Rothman Center……There is absolutely no way that this arena sits 4,000 like Fairleigh Dickenson says it does. It wouldn’t have been on my list if that was the case and this tiny gym was just awkward and high schoolish.
……….Dis-honorable Mention: Pepsi Arena, UB Stadium, Nassau Coliseum

Best City: San Antonio……We were here last year and got a chance to see a game at the AT&T Center. What a great city and I think what really made it stand out on top was the RiverWalk. We could have spent hours just lounging around here. Throw in the Alamo and beautiful spring weather, I’m ready to go back
……….Honorable Mention: Austin, Toronto, Boston, Las Vegas, Montreal

Worst City: Bridgeport……Connecticut’s second-largest city just came across as grimy, dirty and dull to me. I’ve now driven by it so many times on I-95 and the only place I would really spend time at (even if I wasn’t a sports fan) would be the sports complex. At least the city is by the water.
………Dis-honorable Mention: Worcester

Best Small City/Town: Hershey……Yeah, I know its kitschy and mostly for the kids, but we’ve been here twice (for the Giant Center and HersheyPark Arena) and both times had a terrific time. Lots of cool things to do while spending a weekend here. Call me a kid, but I could go on that cheesy train ride in Chocolate World all day.
………Honorable Mention: Cooperstown, Ithaca

Worst Small City/Town: East Rutherford……This town has been crapped on enough that I don’t even need to explain. The other place I would choose is Erie, but this was the very beginning of my road tripping and I had good times going with my brother to see the Otters and Seawolves.

Worst Drive: Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena……At the time of this visit, I was in college at Oswego State, which is right on the Southeast shore of Lake Ontario. It’s a pretty easy, straightforward drive that’s two hours down I-81. Getting there was no problem, though parking was a little odd, I didn’t have an issue. Heading back home was a different story. Before the time of GPS, it took some effort to get back to the highway. Once I was on I-81, a freak snow squall just after Cortland was blinding and pretty scary. This came on the section of 81 that is all open with farmland on both sides, so it felt like you were driving in a white hole. After my old Toyota Tercel came through in the clutch and made it out, everything was going fine until I got stuck behind a car full of punks who thought I flipped them off when I was tapping my finger on the steering wheel. At the light, the driver decided to get out of his car and start screaming at me. Ugh. The only consolation was a great game in Binghamton and that Oswego Sub Shop was still open to deliver my cheeseburger sub.

Best Restaurant: Trudy’s in Austin, TX…..Let me preface this by saying it is quite rare that I go out  to eat before or after a game and most times if we do, it’s when we’re spending a day or more in that town/city. With that being said, we were in Austin for a few days and the Tex-Mex at Trudy’s was excellent. I forget exactly what I had, but I know it was awesome and had some green dipping sauce.
………Honorable Mention: Fore Street in Portland (ME), Cask n’ Flagon in Boston, Primanti Bros in Pittsburgh

Weirdest Visit: Richmond Coliseum…..What started out as any other normal stadium visit turned wacky as soon as we stepped into Richmond’s downtown arena. Being that it was indoor football we were seeing should have been a clue. First, the game was delayed 45 minutes because the Baltimore Mariners bus was late. That would have been fine, except they never told us! So we sat there and waited. Then after the anthem, there was a prayer (???). This was then followed by “Proud to be an American”, which the home team then walked out together holding arms (remember this is football). Once the game started, the unintentional comedy scale was broken as one of the cheerleaders lead all of the in-between games and contests. The highlight was when she couldn’t get a tug of war game to stop. Needless to say, this was one of the wife’s favorite stadium visits.

Most Stadium Name Changes: Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center……Let’s see, it started as the CoreStates Center, when it opened in 1996. I actually thought that name wasn’t bad for being corporate and all. Then the fun began as it became the First Union Center, followed by the Wachovia Center, when I visited it last March, and then one more name change as it is now the Wells Fargo Center. Ugh, I guess a sign of the times.

Best Game: Thomas M. Ryan Center – Rhode Island vs Charlotte……I don’t think this is the best game because it is freshest in my mind, but so far nothing has topped the ending. This was a college basketball contest a few weeks ago and after a lackluster first half, the second half featured a big comeback and an interesting final minute that led to an overtime. In the extra session, URI had one chance to win under 10 seconds and then had a second chance, but the long jumper went off the back rim. However, Jamal Wilson got the putback and just beat the buzzer to win the game. I loved it

Best Atmosphere: Beaver Stadium……College usually offers the best atmospheres and so far nothing has beat Penn State football. Even though we saw a game against an FCS opponent, the crowd and passion could not be beat. What a sight it was to see over 100,000 in one stadium, I couldn’t get over looking around and seeing that. Everyone was cool and laid back when we were walking around the tailgating scene, while inside was amazing. Pretty decent stadium too. Yelling “We Are…Penn State” was probably the highlight for me
………..Honorable Mention: Fenway Park, Madison Square Garden, Ralph Wilson Stadium, Tullio Arena, The Palestra

Underrated or Unnoticed: Mohegan Sun Arena……If I had to recommend one stadium to someone that does not get a lot of publicity or notice as a great place to see a game, I would have to pick the arena in Wilkes-Barre. When I made the visit, it was called Wachovia Arena and I was lucky enough to attend an AHL playoff game between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Bridgeport Tigers (now Sound Tigers). Everything about this place was great: the exterior, the seating design, concessions. The atmosphere and fan support was tremendous too and even though the novelty of the now 12 year old franchise has worn off, they still do very well. I can’t believe its been seven years since my one and only visit and I play on returning sometime soon.
………..Honorable Mention: Frontier Field, Tullio Arena

It’s been a busy, rough stretch of work and I’m itching to get back on the road, but I’m not sure when the next stadium trip will be. Likely not this weekend and really hoping for next weekend as I’ll have three options available. I love college basketball and would like to try and get to a couple new buildings before tournament season hits. (EDIT…going to the Rider-Iona game at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville tonight. It’s a tiny building not on The List, but nonetheless should be a good MAAC game).

I updated The List last week and a couple notable updates include the mid-season moves of the Oregon Ducks basketball team (to Matthew Knight Arena) and the University of Minnesota-Duluth hockey team (to Amsoil Arena). Also made a couple other housekeeping fixes on there.

Won’t be making any baseball updates ’till the season gets going again, but interesting happenings in the independent leagues as big changes likely result in the Northern League, Golden Baseball league and United Baseball League with  the formation of the North American League, which to me seems bound for failure. You can read updated news on the situation at the great site: Ballpark Digest. They also reported some bad news today as Skylands Park, the closest stadium to my house, will be tenant-less next season as the Sussex Skyhawks (Can-Am) fold.

Could the Nassau Coliseum be without the Islanders?

- Saw a great article on Fanhouse from Kevin Schultz regarding the New York Islanders and the Nassau Coliseum that really sums up the whole situation out on Long Island really well. A few months ago, the proposed Lighthouse/Arena project looks dead and the Islanders seem stagnant in a dump of an arena. Attendance is woeful and inside feels like a minor league game. It’s a shame because that place was absolutely rocking nine years ago when there was a resurgence. Then when they played Buffalo in the playoffs four years ago, it just didn’t seem the same. I know there is a hardcore group of Isles fan (in fact, I know a couple) and hopefully the situation gets better out on the Island.

- Speaking of possible relocation in the NHL, here’s my order that I would like to see with relocated/new teams: Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hartford, Kansas City, Seattle, Hamilton. I never want to advocate any city losing it’s team because it is heartbreaking, but we all know there are some cities that never belonged in the league. Anyway bringing Winnipeg back would be awesome. That city and hockey, would be amazing. Plus they have a terrific new venue in the downtown MTS Centre. I know it’s a bit small (15,015), but it’s suitable. I’m not too high on Hamilton, because of the proximity of Buffalo and Toronto…plus almost all of Southern Ontario are Leafs fans, I have hard time thinking they would switch alliances. A little like when Ottawa (Leafs and Habs mixed in there) entered the league, but this would be a to a much bigger extent.

- Looks like the trend of giant logos in the center of college basketball courts is increasing. Can’t say I’m fan of these (though I love seeing school colors/spirit) and I’m talking about ones like those at Kansas, Rutgers, Clemson, Texas A&M, etc. There are great looking courts with small or normal sized logos. I’m a fan of Wisconsin’s, California’s and Missouri’s.

- Who doesn’t love watching football in the snow? Couple possibilities this weekend. Of course, Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo has the best opportunity. My Bills are playing Cleveland and they’ve played before in fun weather. Three years ago it was a lake effect winter wonderland in Cleveland and then last year was the wind. They play some awful games though as last year’s 6-3 game may have been the worst in the modern era. The timing of the storm might catch this Sunday’s game in a precip-type switch, but it is a possibility some heavy snow is falling. Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field likely sees some snow as well.

- This weekend, I would normally try to get in a new stadium visit, but I have a couple things going on both days, so I’ll give next Saturday a shot. Certainly nothing is set in stone yet, though I do have a few ideas. There’s only a few times a year where there’s an opportunity to see a game at HersheyPark Stadium and on the 18th at Noon is the Pennsylvania AA High School Football championship, so I may check that out. We’ll see if I feel like bearing the cold. There are a couple other afternoon options available in PA and both involve College Basketball arenas: Villanova plays Delaware at The Pavilion (though that may require some ticket searching) or I could consider Temple against Delaware at the Liacouras Center. Both facilities that would be great to visit. I’ll probably make a decision mid-week, once I also see how work plays out.

Wanted to throw a quick mention to another web site that is truly becoming THE place to go to if you’re interested at all about stadiums or game travel. Stadium Journey (http://www.stadiumjourney.com) is a remarkable venture that is becoming the main resource for fans traveling to sporting events. The main guts of the site is centered around stadium reviews that give an in-depth look at what fans can expect when attending games at the facility. All four major sports are in there while minor-league, college and soccer teams are being added every day. It is also a truly interactive webpage as users can become free members, which allows them to leave user reviews, comments and feedback. I have done a couple reviews for Stadium Journey and consider myself very happy and lucky to be just a small part of this  team. Check it out, definitely some great information and worth exploring.

On an unrelated note, only a week and a half after visiting (and raving about) the building, Madison Square Garden temporarily closes after an asbestos scare. Last Night’s Knicks-Magic game was canceled because air quality detectors went off after debris was moved in the roof. Man, I would have been really disappointed had that been a few short days ago, having plans of going to MSG. Turns out there was no asbestos, but the building is still closed. Interesting to see how their renovations progress the next few years after this “incident”.

Tuesday's Knicks-Magic game at Madison Square Garden was cancelled (from the Kansas City Star, photo by Seth Wenig)

- I’m off to Florida next weekend, so this may be the last post for awhile. We’ll be splitting time between Deerfield Beach (just North of Fort Lauderdale) and Orlando with three new stadiums on the docket: Jupiter’s Roger Dean Stadium, UCF’s Bright House Networks Stadium and Port St. Lucie’s Digital Domain Park. Look for a wrap-up in a few weeks. Let’s hope that heavy downpours stay away during those games!

- Speaking of schedules, unfortunately my New England trip isn’t going to happen. In theory, it seemed like a good idea, but there were certain logistics that just ended up not working out.  Glad, I didn’t go ahead and drop $75  – $100 on the most expensive tickets in the NFL. I am still unsure of what/where I’ll be going the weekend of 9-25 / 9-26. But it will be somewhere. I did want to make a multi-stadium weekend trip, however September is the worst month for that since it’s only football and MLB playing. There weren’t any combinations within a decent driving distance, so I’m leaning towards my long awaited visit to Rutgers Stadium (for Rutgers-North Carolina).

- The weekend before (9-18 / 9-19), I’ll be in Rochester and am trying to sneak out of work early on Friday, so I can make the Rhinos soccer game at Marina Auto Stadium. I also don’t want to go another year without seeing an NFL stadium, so I’ve been toying with the thought of driving to Cleveland to see a Browns game as I have that following Monday off. It’s a far-fetched thought….check the Schedule page for updates

- Over the next month, I’ll be updating the Stadium List as a lot of leagues return to action. After having a set minimum capacity requirement for over 10 years, I decided to make a little adjustment and move the arena minimum seating from 4,000 to 3,500. The reason is that I’m seeing more and more arenas built that are pretty nice, but fall in that 3500 – 4000 range. Places like Quinnipiac’s TD BankNorth Center (college basketball) and Lewiston’s Androscoggin Bank Colisée (QMJHL) would now be included. I also wanted to include more of the Canadian Junior Hockey buildings that were left off. In the beginning, I set up these requirements to make the list easier to maintain and to exclude facilities that were just some bleachers and a plain building. For example, if I include Coastal Carolina University’s Kimball Arena (seating 1037), then should every high school gym over 1000 be listed? Same type of deal with football stadiums. Anyway, that’s the reason for the standards and after some consideration, I felt it was time to include some nice facilities that were previously excluded.

- Here’s a pretty good story from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100822/SPORTS/8220337/1007/SPORTS/Batavia-Muckdogs-might-be-down-to-final-outs. It’s regarding the future of the Batavia Muckdogs who play baseball in the NY-Penn League. Batavia is the smallest city in affiliated baseball (population ~ 15,000) and is in danger of losing their team after 70+ years. I am a sucker for small-markets in sports and am always saddened to hear when any community loses their franchise. It would be great to see more fans come out and sell out the 2500 seat ballpark to at least show their support and effort to try and keep the Muckdogs.

The number of stadiums I have been to is getting close to a milestone number of 100 and I’ve started toying with the idea of going somewhere special for that when it takes place next year. Of course, logistics will have a big part of it and it may not be possible…but it’s fun to dream right? Here are some of the arenas, ballparks and stadiums that are kind of on a wishlist of mine. Some are the usual ones you might expect, while some may seem exotic. These are in no particular order:

Rexall Place – Edmonton Oilers: You might be thinking Edmonton, really? The building itself may not be spectacular as it’s from the 70s…but man is it loud! When they were in the playoffs years ago in the 2000s, I would watch games just to hear the noise. Just listen to this rendition of “O, Canada” during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Plus, it would be awesome to take an Alberta trip and visit their rivals in Calgary (which has a sweet building), along with seeing some WHL barns.

Wrigley Field – Chicago Cubs: Cue the high-pitched heavenly music.  I probably don’t have to explain why I’d like to go here.

Hinkle Fieldhouse – Butler Bulldogs: Not just for the “Hoosiers” reference, but because it is so wonderfully old-school.  What Indiana basketball is all about. A day game would be great here when the sun shines through the windows. Everything about this place just seems special and even though they knocked out my team (Syracuse) in the tourney last year, I felt a little punch in the stomach when that Gordon Hayward shot was inches from giving them a National Championship. That would have been awesome. The 09-10 Bulldogs were such a pure, fun team to watch.

College Basketball in its purest form (from Wikimedia Commons)

Camden Yards – Baltimore Orioles: The mystique of this ballpark has worn off, but this is the stadium that changed it all and made designers completely rethink how a ballpark was built. Now-adays retro may be overdone, but this is still the beginning of a wonderful era.

Raley Field – Sacramento River Cats: I don’t know too much about this ballpark, but I do know that most ballpark enficionados (and there’s a lot of them) think this is one of the tops in the minors. Terrific downtown stadium that draws really well. On the other side of the coast and built eons before Raley, I want to see a game at historic McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. I was oh so close a few months ago being in Providence for a few days, but sadly the PawSox were out of town.

Neyland Stadium – Tennessee Volunteers: I can just hear Rocky Top being played now. There are so many special football places, but this one always resonated with me since I was kid and I’m not sure why. Could be Rocky Top or all of that bright orange. Love the location of this stadium on the Tennessee River and how people boat and tailgate to it. Husky Stadium in Washington also has that with Union Bay

Qwest Field – Seattle Seahawks: Very cool design, incredible noise and fan base…likely the place I would most want to see an NFL game. Plus Seattle always strikes me as a great, clean city.

Ralph Engelstad Arena – North Dakota Fighting Sioux: Definitely off the beaten path in Grand Forks, but just read what anyone has to say about this newly-built college hockey arena and it is nothing but terrific compliments on what a great, beautiful facility it is.

Charles Koch Arena – Wichita State Shockers: The Roundhouse, just seems like a fantastic place to get a feel for the MVC and it’s brand of basketball. Fans seem so close to the court at this arena. Other places in the MVC at the top end of my list:  Drake’s Knapp Center, Missouri State’s JQH Arena and Indiana State’s Hulman Center.

Williams Arena – Minnesota Golden Gophers: Another old barn…but this one is actually nicknamed “The Barn”. This was built in 1928 and has some real interesting features, like the raised floor. If I were to pick a city to vacation in purely for the sports stadiums, Minneapolis is likely in my top 3: Along with this facility, you have the beautiful new TCF Bank Stadium and Target Field, the Metrodome (my favorite dome from my tv sports-watching experiences) and the always-sold out Xcel Energy Center.

Trenton Thunder win their 1st EL Title in 2007 (milb.com, David M. Schofield/Trenton Thunder)

Earlier this year, I was at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for the first time, checking out the arena and attending a Flyers game. Their remarkable run to the Stanley Cup Finals, got me thinking back: how many teams have I seen during their championship season on a new visit to their stadium? The answer is six, which isn’t too bad, especially considering that I have seen a decent amount of college teams and it’s very difficult for them to win a championship with the number of competing teams between 120 to 360. Below are the six teams:

Erie Otters: 2001-02 Champions of the OHL. This one gets me all nostalgic because it was the very beginning of my travels (#8 on my list) and I was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere in Tullio Arena. It was my first minor league arena visit and though this is the only OHL building I’ve been to so far, it still holds as one of my favorites for atmospheres. The expert on OHL Arenas has it all over his review of what an intimidating place this is. The game I saw here was Game 5 of the First Round and Erie outclassed Sarnia 7-4 and they won the series. It was an impressive team as they were only pushed to Game 6 once in their four round journey to the championship.

Trenton Titans: 2004-05 Champions of the ECHL. Trenton was very good during the regular season and in the game we went to. They jumped all over Toledo and won 7-2 in a December game we attended at Sovereign Bank Arena. The Titans didn’t have any big name future NHLers, but this was the season of the lockout and there were some current pros in the league during this season.

Hershey Bears: 2005-06 Champions of the AHL. Sticking with hockey, this was the beginning of the Bears dynasty as they have now won three of the last five Calder Cups. The beautiful Giant Center was rocking for our playoff game as they took on rivals Wilkes-Barre in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The game was a blowout and they swept the series in the next game.

Trenton Thunder: 2007 Champions of the Eastern League. The city of Trenton must love me. Two teams and two titles in my first appearance at their buildings. Just like their arena, I loved Mercer County Waterfront Park and they had a quality team in the April game we saw. It was a 7-4 victory over the B-Mets. The team capped off an 83-59 season with a championship and another great year at the gate, ranking #3 in attendance.

Rochester Raiders: 2007 Champions of the CIFL. The Raiders won an indoor football championship as they were playing this season in the Main Street Armory. This was their only appearance in the converted arena as they moved around from the small ESL Center to the large Blue Cross Arena and now are settled at the Dome Arena, a small fairgrounds facility. The one interesting thing about this game (a 77-49 win) was I saw my old high school classmate play at quarterback (Mike Mikolaichek) for Rochester.

Lakewood BlueClaws: 2009 Champions of the South Atlantic League. FirstEnergy Park was the site of my visit and the BlueClaws crushed Lexington…a sign of things to come as they won both the first half and second half divisions, then went 5 for 6 during the playoffs to win their championship.

All of these championship teams won going away in the games I attended…a perfect 6-0. We’ll see what other future teams win some titles.