They blew up Veteran’s Stadium in Philly yesterday. Well, since it was an implosion, I guess they blew it in.
Anyway, I am sad to see it go. As a stadium, it sucked ass, but I have a lot of great memories there.
The first time I remember going there was a hot day in August when my Dad took me to see the Eagles play the L.A. Rams. The place was packed, and it actually shook from the crowd noise.
It was the place where I got to meet Tex Schramm. It was the place where either the pre-season before or the pre-season after I got to meet THE Pittsburgh Steelers before they won their last Super Bowl. I got the autographs of Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene, and most importantly, I got to meet one of my heroes in Rocky Bleier.
It wasn’t all football, either. My dad took me to see a lot of Phillies game there. I got to see such greats as Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Steve Carlton, just to name a few. I also remember the lesser guys of the team like Manny Trillo, Greg Luzinski, and Bake McBride. I also got to witness Pete Rose both as a Phillie and a Red.
As a stadium, it was a hole, and I’m kind of glad it’s gone, but I’ll always remember it as one of the few places where I actually have fond memories of spending time with my father.
Vaya con Dios.