It’s been a rough couple of weeks with work and I’ve been unable to get a new stadium in. I’ve tried for the past few weekends to try a college basketball roadie to Maryland and UMBC, but to no avail as January 20th was my last day completely off. I’ve got a February trip in the last few years (Rhode Island and NE Ohio), but 2013 may be a struggle. So we will play the next month by ear and go with a last minute visit. Hard to believe, but as far as winter venues go, only a small handful are left to visit within a reasonable driving distance for a day’s trip. Two places I’m hoping to a make a return stop the next few months are Stabler Arena and Nassau Coliseum. Stabler is home to Lehigh basketball and even without McCollum, I love their team this year and they are staging quite a two-team battle with Bucknell for the Patriot Title. Secondly, the Islanders are only home in the Coliseum for a few more years and I want to get back before they move to Brooklyn. Plus my pictures and review badly need updating there. As for some other random thoughts:

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- How great was it to see the Super Bowl back in the Superdome (excuse me, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). Hard to believe that 2002 was the last time the big game was held in New Orleans. Ignoring the power failure, it just feels right that the game is New Orleans. I think bringing it to Jersey next year in the Meadowlands is a big joke. Wait till they see what a pain it is to venture from NYC to East Rutherford and how crappy it is to use a cold neutral site, both for the players and fans. The Super Bowl belongs in four regions: Miami, New Orleans, Arizona and Southern California.

- Crazy that this new Markham Arena is making progress despite no promise of an NHL team. The suburb of Toronto continues it’s march towards a new facility and an NHL franchise. Not sure what to make of this, but I hope Kansas City is in the back of their mind, where the Sprint Center waits for something bigger than the Kansas City Brigade of the AFL

- Tampa recently installed a massive scoreboard at the Tampa Bay Times Forum as the Jerry Jones-inspired monster is 50 feet wide and 28 feet high. I have yet to see one of these in person (the Toyota Center has one), but I would be curious to hear if they add to the fan experience or detract from their attention on the court. or field

Some good stuff that I’ve found over the last few weeks:
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Virtual Venue - Incredible 3D renderings of stadiums and arenas. It’s being used for ticket purposes, but stadium fans will be amazed at the incredible quality of each venue. I seriously was blown away checking out Beaver Stadium and Madison Square Garden. You could spend a while on this site (click “clients” at the top to find venues)

Mike Emrick Interview - He is an icon in hockey and one of the true (and currently few) gentleman in major network announcing. Such a passionate hockey fan, I heard him call the AHL All-Star game a few years ago (you think Joe Buck would call the AAA all-star game, or how about Nantz doing the MAC championship). The link is a transcript when Emrick MC’ed an event celebrating 75 years at Hersheypark Arena. Well worth a read through

STADIAFILE - I just stumbled upon this a few days ago and it is a blog about stadiums. Not your typical blog, but one that really gets into the nitty-gritty of stadium architecture and it’s written so well. Good stuff.

I-70 from Denver to Grand Junction…what a beautiful drive.

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A huge part of the whole experience in visiting a new stadium is the journey to get there. Many times, the car and the road is the primary means of transportation. I’m not a big reader, but I just finished an interesting book “The Big Roads” by Earl Swift which is about the history of the highway system in the United States. It got me thinking about my most hated roads, along with those highways that I liked too. The hated ones are easier to think about, especially since most of my travels come in the Northeast, where the highway system can get messy.
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Least Favorite

- Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95)…This has to be the worst road in America. I am on it frequently because my wife has family in Long Island and I dread this five mile stretch in the Bronx. First, the road is in abysmal shape. There are giant potholes everywhere, along with dips and bumps that rattle your car every time. Second, your almost guaranteed traffic between 6 AM and 11 PM. Third, the drivers are from New York…Just Awful

- Capital Beltway (I-495)…I’ve only been on this road once, but I’m sure there will be many more times once my stadium visits take me down into Maryland and Virginia. That one time was filled with traffic and I have heard about the horror stories that come with the Beltway and DC traffic. In fact, many argue that this is the worst road in America.

- Connecticut Turnpike (I-95)….This is the stretch from New Haven to the NY border and I feel like every time I’m on it, there is always traffic. The one plus are the rest stops that have food/restrooms/gas and show up frequently. Otherwise, it can be a congested mess.

- Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90)….I was only on this road a couple times while out in Chicago, but my GPS couldn’t keep up (stay right, then keep left…..keep right, then bear right). The road is busy, but what got me was the many instances where it felt like I was caught in exit-only lanes for different interstates and would have to get over. Needed to stay on my toes there.

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Enjoyable Ones

- US-13 (in Virginia)…This is in the Delmarva section of Virginia, on the Eastern Shore. US-13 in Southern Delaware is surprisingly shady and not a place I would want to stop long in, but once you pass through Maryland and get into Virginia, the scenery improves and the stop lights diminish. Then it’s on to one of the more impressive architectural structures in the US: the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which is nearly five miles over and under water. Very nice and then you’re right into Virginia Beach.

- I-70 (Denver to Grand Junction)…I’ve heard that I-70 in Kansas is the boringist road in the world as it is nothing but flat, straight farmland. But once you pass Denver and head into the mountains, the trip is unbelievably beautiful. The Continental Divide provides different types of mountain views and the four lane highway allows you to go fast and enjoy the sights. I do realize that I took this trip in the summer and that the ride can be scary and not fun during the winter season. It also is trafficy on Fridays and Sundays, when people are traveling from and to Denver.

- I-17 (Phoenix to Flagstaff)….Notice a trend here? It seems that roads with a name are bad, while those that have the straight Interstate or Highway number and are nickname-less are OK. Anyway, I was nervous starting on this drive because I don’t like if there are no places to stop for gas or bathrooms on long stretches (thus I-15 from LA to Vegas would not be for me). But I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to see enough stops and towns on this Arizona drive. Going from Desert into Forest was awesome.

- Route 17 (Binghamton to Elmira)….This is a less traveled road that has few cars, but yet is 55 with four lanes. It is in the Southern Tier of New York and the road runs along Susquehanna River with rolling hills in the background. A nice, peaceful ride and perfect if you can squeeze in a hockey doubleheader with the Jackals and the Senators as the two cities are less than an hour apart.

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Still working on the reviews and I’m half way there. On the plane ride back from Madison, I kept thinking that the Wisconsin football game might be the best stadium experience of this journey yet. Everything was right about it. The town, the fans, the atmosphere, the stadium…just great all around. Then I saw this article from the USA Today and then I compiled the review and rankings to see Camp Randall Stadium score a whopping 83.5 out of 100. That’s the highest yet, moving past Fenway Park (which has yet to be cleaned up). Man, what an awesome place. Another great facility, the UW Field House will be up soon. Anyway, here are some random sports thoughts (more like venting), bullet-point style:

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C’mon Detroit its a playoff series win, not the World Series! (picture from AP)

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- Starting with baseball, why does every team have to celebrate winning the Division Series and the LCS like they just won the World Series? Don’t get me wrong, I love a winning celebration…it’s one of the best things in sports. But c’mon, you just won a playoff series, you really feel the need to pop champagne for that? Could you imagine the Chicago Blackhawks going nuts like that for a Western Conference Semifinal win?

- Staying on baseball, it would be awesome if hitters had to stay in the batters box…that would speed the game up a half hour or so

- Another game that doesn’t need to be sped up is College Basketball. It’s nice when a sport finishes in a crisp two hours. However, there are way too many timeouts at the end of games. It completely disrupts the flow. Is there really a need for each team to have six, especially when a ton are saved for the last minute.

- Absolutely monstrous game for the US Men’s National Team tonight in Soccer. They need a win or draw against Guatemala to ensure a place in the final round (the hexagonal) in World Cup Qualifying. On that note, Ian Darke (ESPN) and Arlo White (NBCSN) are two of the greatest things going in soccer right now. They make watching the beautiful game that much better as their announcing is exquiste.

- I’m a big tennis player/fan and I’ve never understood the whole apologizing for winning a point off the net cord thing. Your not sorry that you clipped the net cord and won. I understand it is sportsmanship and what not, but I’d love to see the first pro not put up his hand in apology. In fact, it would be even better when the ridiculous media bombards him with what a jerk he is…to reply “I hit the net on purpose”.

- CBS is atrocious at the end of games. I like to watch the post-game victory and celebration stuff. The Eye network is so obsessed with getting to their precious prime-time line-up (Up Next: CSI Wichita!) that they cut away so fast and rob fans that enjoyment. It happens every week with golf and tennis’ US Open this year was a joke, but the team sports are bad too. 99% of fans don’t have the opportunity to attend a big game live. Imagine if your school wins an NCAA Basketball National Championship and you are celebrating /watching your favorite team celebrate and CBS cuts away within two minutes to go to commercial (like they did in 2003…as the video stops as they go to break)

– Dear PGA…Can you just make the winner of the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup Winner? Enough with these ridiculous calculations to try and figure everything out. The tournament is select enough (30 players) to still value the regular season and playoffs. Thankfully, it’s worked out the last few years, but it is so silly to have two champions, like in 2007 and 2009, where the Tour Champion essentially gets pushed aside

- Lastly, the line score at the bottom of TV sports broadcasts. Has that finally run its course and gone away? I am eagerly awaiting that nice, tidy little box score in the upper corner to return everywhere.

I have Olympic Fever. As the weeks start getting closer, the anticipation always builds for sports overload. Plus the Summer Olympics help to nicely break up the dog days of the Sports season. I’m firmly in the camp of having all the professional athletes compete in their respective sports for the Olympics. Why? Because aren’t the games suppose to represent the best of the best? Shouldn’t this be the (or one of the) ultimate prizes in your sport. The only one I understand is men’s soccer as they make that an under-23 tournament so as not to take away from the every four years World Cup. But I think Basketball and Tennis are that much better with the pros playing. Are you listening Gary Bettman? You better not screw with hockey in the winter. Both USA-Canada games two years ago were some of the best hockey I have EVER seen. Anyway back to Summer, I’m of course looking forward to the usuals: Swimming, Gymnastics (the women’s team competition is pretty darn good drama), Basketball and Volleyball….but here are a few that I really enjoy every four years that you should give a try. Thanks to NBC for making every single competition from every single sport now viewable online and many available on TV. Amazing how far we have come.

• Handball: I think this doesn’t catch on in the States because we have too many sports, but just watch this and most will love it. It’s a crazy combination of basketball and soccer. Fast-paced and a ton of action…definitely fun to watch
• Table Tennis: I’m biased because I played a ton of ping pong in my high school and college days. Somehow I always end up rooting for the Euros in the matches because it seems they’re the underdogs
• Archery: Not sure why, but this sport intrigues me. Maybe it’s the knockout, head-to-head style of competition, especially in the cool team format
• Water Polo: Because Doc Emrick is calling the action

The stadiums and venues of the London games have one common theme: temporary. Ignoring soccer, out of the 13 venues that can be classified into a typical arena/stadium category, four are temporary and will be taken down after the games. Then there is the Olympic Stadium itself, which was built to hold 80,000, but has a temporary upper-deck, thus reducing it to a 25,000 seat stadium following the Olympics (there’s an intriguing battle for use of the stadium after the games by some of the top London football clubs and it’s still undecided who will play there). Along with some very green methods of construction and design, which is great, another main theme with these 2012 Olympic venues is conversion. Several places are being converted to house sports, which will make for some interesting backdrops and seating arrangements. Earls Court, an exhibition venue will host volleyball. Meanwhile, the conference and exhibition center, ExCel is going to house seven sports in it’s huge facility and the concert venue Wembley Arena features badminton and rhythmic gymnastics.

Great backdrops will also be seen at some makeshift venues like the beach volleyball arena at the Horse Guards and equestrian in Greenwich Park. Possibly the highlight of the stadiums and arenas in the London Games are where soccer and tennis is played. Tennis is of course played at the All England Club and it’s famed Centre Court. Soccer meanwhile will get to showcase just a few of the terrific venues that are used for club football in the region. Stadiums used are:

• Wembley Stadium – Home of the England National team
• Old Trafford – Home of Manchester United
• St James’ Park – Home of Newcastle United
• City of Coventry Stadium – Home of Coventry City FC
• Millennium Stadium – Home of the Wales National team
• Hampden Park – Home of the Scottish National team

One note is the name changing that the IOC always does. The O2 Arena (basketball and gymnastics) will be known as the North Greenwich Arena (Also, the City of Coventry Stadium is officially Ricoh Arena). The funny thing is, The O2 isn’t even a corporation in the traditional sense of the word. It’s an entertainment district and the arena is in the district. They really had to rename it? I’m curious if it was one of their “Corporate Sponsors” who had the name on it, if it would be changed. Lastly and probably most importantly for London, the hope is that all of the construction and regeneration in the East side of the city where many of the venues and Olympic Village is, will lead to a revitalization of what has historically been a depressed section.

So definitely a wide variety of sports venues used for these Olympics with some stadiums and arenas that feature many different types of designs. Enjoy the competition!

Over the last few years, I’ve had the honor and privilege of being able to compile many reviews over at Stadium Journey and the website has really become the leader in the industry when it comes to stadium reviews and planning visits to a game. Hundreds of stadiums have been reviewed there worldwide, including all of the major pro sports in the United States. One of those sports, is highlighted in this month’s magazine as SJ takes a detailed look at all 30 MLB ballparks. Since baseball travel is by far the most popular of the sports to go visit stadiums, I highly recommend taking a look at the magazine (www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/380813). There’s also an excellent feature on the new Marlins Park as well. There’s usually a lot of good stuff packed in the magazine each month and this one is no different!

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