Teams In The Wrong Stadium

[2001mark]

That's awesome.  Not often those formal halls are house lit - it looks great.  Knicks should play the Nets annual preseason there.

[dont care]

4 hours ago, LMU said:

The New York Liberty at Radio City Music Hall

Weird but not surprising that they kept the Madison square garden logos on the court

[ltjets21]

[TBGKon]

28 minutes ago, ltjets21 said:

How is this wrong?  DCU has played there since their inception.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, but I think that was more about them finally getting a proper stadium...

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I worry that by the time I actually make it to DC and the United are playing, I'll miss seeing them at RFK.

 

I have a real soft spot for outmoded stadiums, and RFK is a dying breed. I'd love to see a game there.

[ltjets21]

4 hours ago, AstroBull21 said:

How is this wrong?  DCU has played there since their inception.

It is like the Marlins playing at Joe Robbie, sure they played there for almost two decades but it was a football stadium and often all you saw was orange seats. A soccer team doesn't have any business being the primary tenant at an old broken down cookie cutter stadium.

[kroywen]

It was obviously a road game for them, but seeing the San Francisco Giants playing at the Polo Grounds always seemed terribly wrong to me:

 

 

It was completely understandable that they moved, given that they had become the third wheel in a three-team market, but talk about salt in the wound of old Giants fans in New York...

 

(Especially given that in 1962, the year this photo was taken, the Giants went on to win the NL pennant, while the Mets were... well, the 1962 Mets.)

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, kroywen said:

It was obviously a road game for them, but seeing the San Francisco Giants playing at the Polo Grounds always seemed terribly wrong to me:

 

 

It was completely understandable that they moved, given that they had become the third wheel in a three-team market, but talk about salt in the wound of old Giants fans in New York...

 

(Especially given that in 1962, the year this photo was taken, the Giants went on to win the NL pennant, while the Mets were... well, the 1962 Mets.)

I mentioned recently that I was listening to the radio call of the first game that the Giants played back at the Polo Grounds, on June 1, 1962.

Here's Willie Mays entering the field from the centrefield stairs that led to the clubhouses.




For that game, the Giants' players -- and only the Giants' players -- were introduced individually on the field.  They all got a big hand, even the players who had never played in New York, such as Willie McCovey.  The biggest ovation went of course to Mays (though it was sprinkled with boos, because Mays had been involved the previous week in a fight with Mets' shortstop Elio Chacon).  

 

The attendance was well in excess of 40,000, or about four times the Mets' average.  In the first months of their first season, the Mets still had no real identity; they hadn't even become the lovable losers yet.  So the crowd cheered more for the Giants than the Mets.

 

On a tangentially related note, I just read a great book called Bottom of the Ninth by Michael Shapiro.  It's an odd book, ostensibly about Branch Rickey and Casey Stengel.  The two of them don't interact; the book looks separately at the formation of the Continental League and at the Yankees' 1960 season.  The most interesting part of the book is the former; I learnt more about Bill Shea than I had ever known.  And the cast of characters includes Yankee owner Del Webb, Commissioner Ford Frick, A.L. President Joe Cronin, columnist Dan Daniel, and even some AFL owners, as the Continental Leagus's Denver interest was originally controlled by Bob Howsam, who founded the AFL's Broncos.

But it is in the narration of the Yankees' season that I found the very interesting mention of the fact that, in 1960, recreations of the Giants' games were still being done on radio in New York.  This was the third and final season of these broadcasts, which were broadcast over WINS by Les Keiter.  

So fans of the New York Giants really held on to their team after the move, right up through 1962, when the team's first appearances as visitors at the Polo Grounds served as a kind of passing of the torch to the Mets.

[PGH412]

Cant find any pictures, but when the Steelers played at Pitt stadium pre 3 rivers 

[monkeypower]

On 3/9/2017 at 7:49 PM, dont care said:

Weird but not surprising that they kept the Madison square garden logos on the court

 

The MSG company owns Radio City Music Hall.

[cmm]

1 hour ago, PGH412 said:

Cant find any pictures, but when the Steelers played at Pitt stadium pre 3 rivers 

[Graham_Clayton]

The Sheffield Shield cricket final in Australia which starts on Sunday will be played in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Victoria won the right to host the final after finishing 1st, but their preferred venue, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is being used this weekend for the opening round of the Australian Football League season. It seems that no venues in regional centres in Victoria are deemed suitable, so the Victorians have chosen a neutral venue instead. The NFL equivalent would be having the Superbowl being played in Lincoln, Nebraska!

 

At least Tregear Park has a better natural backdrop than the MCG.

[LMU]

2011/12: UCLA moved back to the now demolished LA Sports Arena while Pauley was gutted.

 

 

[JayMac]

On 3/22/2017 at 9:08 AM, kroywen said:

It was obviously a road game for them, but seeing the San Francisco Giants playing at the Polo Grounds always seemed terribly wrong to me:

 

 

It was completely understandable that they moved, given that they had become the third wheel in a three-team market, but talk about salt in the wound of old Giants fans in New York...

 

(Especially given that in 1962, the year this photo was taken, the Giants went on to win the NL pennant, while the Mets were... well, the 1962 Mets.)

That must have been weird for newly minted Mets fans who were NY Baseball Giants fans. Kind of like new Ravens fans who were formerly Baltimore Colts fans. I'm not sure when the Indianapolis Colts first came to Baltimore though.

[kroywen]

8 minutes ago, jmac11281 said:

That must have been weird for newly minted Mets fans who were NY Baseball Giants fans. Kind of like new Ravens fans who were formerly Baltimore Colts fans. I'm not sure when the Indianapolis Colts first came to Baltimore though.

Their first visit to Baltimore was on November 29, 1998, the first season of the new M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens pulled off an exciting comeback victory over the Colts in the 4th quarter, and wound up giving the game ball to Johnny Unitas (who has refused to have anything to do with the Colts franchise after the move to Indianapolis). I'm guessing it was a highly charged atmosphere in the crowd that day.

 

To this very day, the Ravens will not refer to the Indianapolis Colts as the "Colts" on their scoreboard - they always simply use "Indy" on the scoreboard, and the PA announcer usually refuses to say the name "Colts." I'm sure it's still weird for older Ravens fans to see the Colts visit Baltimore as a road team, even after all these years.

[raysox]

Pre-Gillette, Hartford made a push to get the Patriots

 

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/01/23/nfl-new-england-patriots-abandoned-move-hartford-connecticut

[Sport]

50 minutes ago, kroywen said:

Their first visit to Baltimore was on November 29, 1998, the first season of the new M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens pulled off an exciting comeback victory over the Colts in the 4th quarter, and wound up giving the game ball to Johnny Unitas (who has refused to have anything to do with the Colts franchise after the move to Indianapolis). I'm guessing it was a highly charged atmosphere in the crowd that day.

 

To this very day, the Ravens will not refer to the Indianapolis Colts as the "Colts" on their scoreboard - they always simply use "Indy" on the scoreboard, and the PA announcer usually refuses to say the name "Colts." I'm sure it's still weird for older Ravens fans to see the Colts visit Baltimore as a road team, even after all these years.

 

They played each other in the playoffs at least once that I can remember. That must've been really strange for old Colts fans. At least when the Browns play the Ravens Browns fans don't have to root against their old uniforms. 

 

The difference is the Giants came back to the Polo Grounds after 5 years and played as a road team in their old stadium. When the Colts came back it was 14 years and a different stadium later. If that game had been in Memorial Stadium that would've been bizarre. 

[JayMac]

8 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

 

They played each other in the playoffs at least once that I can remember. That must've been really strange for old Colts fans. At least when the Browns play the Ravens Browns fans don't have to root against their old uniforms. 

 

The difference is the Giants came back to the Polo Grounds after 5 years and played as a road team in their old stadium. When the Colts came back it was 14 years and a different stadium later. If that game had been in Memorial Stadium that would've been bizarre. 

Not quite the same thing but still probably very strange. 

[leopard88]

1 hour ago, jmac11281 said:

That must have been weird for newly minted Mets fans who were NY Baseball Giants fans. Kind of like new Ravens fans who were formerly Baltimore Colts fans. I'm not sure when the Indianapolis Colts first came to Baltimore though.

 

58 minutes ago, kroywen said:

Their first visit to Baltimore was on November 29, 1998, the first season of the new M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens pulled off an exciting comeback victory over the Colts in the 4th quarter, and wound up giving the game ball to Johnny Unitas (who has refused to have anything to do with the Colts franchise after the move to Indianapolis). I'm guessing it was a highly charged atmosphere in the crowd that day.

 

To this very day, the Ravens will not refer to the Indianapolis Colts as the "Colts" on their scoreboard - they always simply use "Indy" on the scoreboard, and the PA announcer usually refuses to say the name "Colts." I'm sure it's still weird for older Ravens fans to see the Colts visit Baltimore as a road team, even after all these years.

 

I can safely tell you that @kroywen is 100% correct.  I wasn't at that game, but I feel pretty confident in saying that there were no Ravens fans cheering for the Colts.  Old Baltimore fans had no positive feelings for the Colts.

 

That game was 15 years after the move, so there were no Baltimore Colts on the field.  However, I'm fairly certain the feelings would have been the same if the game took place 4 years after the move, as was the case with the Mets and Giants.  That is especially so because I don't think there were any legends/future legends who made the move (no, Nesby Glasgow, Mike Pagel and Curtis Dickey don't count).

 

4 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

 

They played each other in the playoffs at least once that I can remember. That must've been really strange for old Colts fans. At least when the Browns play the Ravens Browns fans don't have to root against their old uniforms. 

 

The difference is the Giants came back to the Polo Grounds after 5 years and played as a road team in their old stadium. When the Colts came back it was 14 years and a different stadium later. If that game had been in Memorial Stadium that would've been bizarre. 

 

If memory serves me, they've played in the playoffs three times.

 

The first was in 2007 (i.e., after the 2006 season) in Baltimore.  The matchup was set for a week and all of Baltimore spent the week foaming at the mouth, ready to watch the Ravens finally exact vengeance and exorcise the demons.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.  Steve McNair threw a terrible goal line interception and the Colts went on to win 15-6, on five FGs).

 

The Ravens beat the Colts in Baltimore in 2013 (i.e., after the 2012 season).  The energy was high for that one too, but not nearly as intense as in 2007.  That was Ray Lewis' last home game, which wound up being much more of the focus.