My favorite stadiums

Last night I watched a very interesting and entertaining program on PBS about the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park in Boston. I highly recommend the special.

The show got me to thinking about what my favorite stadiums are (or were) and what was likeable about them. I certainly cannot claim to have visited or seen very many, but here’s my list of the one’s that impressed me the most, primarily from their outward aesthetic appearance, location, and compatibility/context sensitivity with the surrounding neighborhoods. This list includes stadiums used for American football, soccer, cricket, rugby, and baseball. Also, here is a weblink to a cool website called world stadiums.

• Wrigley Field – (Chicago) – when you are a diehard Cubs fan, this place is heaven.
• Stamford Bridge (Chelsea -London, England) – you hardly know it is there until you walk up to it.
• Old Trafford Cricket Ground (Manchester, England) – very nice and quaint – tea anyone?
• Oldsmobile Park (Lansing) – excellent center city baseball stadium, though I prefer this name to its new one – Cooley Law School Stadium
• Michigan Stadium (Ann Arbor) – sunken bowl, except the press box and suites.
• Fenway Park (Boston) – two words – Green Monster – nuff said
• Spartan Stadium (East Lansing)
• Lambeau Field (Green Bay)
• Old Trafford (Manchester, England)
• Orioles Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore)
• Comerica Park (Detroit)
• Ford Field (Detroit)
• Murrayfield Stadium (Edinburgh, Scotland)
• Louisville Slugger Stadium (Louisville)
• Victory Field (Indianapolis)
• Easter Road (Edinburgh, Scotland)
• Crew Stadium (Columbus, OH)
• Ross Ade Stadium (Purdue-West Lafayette)
• PNC Ball Park (Pittsburgh)
• Notre Dame Stadium (South Bend)
• People Natural Gas Field (Altoona, PA) – the name alone deserves recognition as an unintended bad pun. A very nice facility though.
• Lane Stadium (Virginia Tech-Blacksburg)
• Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown, MD) – small but loads of fun for baseball fans
• Soldier Field (Chicago)
• Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)
• Canad Inns Stadium (Winnipeg)
• RCA (Hoosier) Dome (Indianapolis) – no longer with us
• Heinz Field (Pittsburgh)
• Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
• Memorial Stadium (IU- Bloomington) – should have been named “lean forward stadium” the way the upper seats make you feel like you could fall onto the field.