Renegade7 Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Its about time!!!! * Blow it up, but don't tear it down http://nfl.com/news/story/7187369 by David Jason Fischer Special to NFL.com (March 19, 2004) -- At 7 a.m. on March 21 in South Philadelphia, someone will push a button, starting a process that will physically destroy Veterans Stadium. If history holds, they'll probably have to push it more than once to blow up the former home of the Eagles and Phillies. It was that kind of place -- tough, dysfunctional and oddly compelling. NFL Network NFL Network NFL Network Analysis, opinions, features and more! But despite its national image as something between a nightmare and a punch line, we Philly fans really will miss the big concrete bowl where our teams played from 1971 to 2003. The Vet was unique with its own weird charm. Not that you'd know it by the endless repetitions of announcers and journalists who filled God knows how much air time and column space regurgitating its reputation for squalor, brutality and generally uncouth behavior. I'll grant that some of this is deserved. No, they didn't boo Santa Claus here: That was at Franklin Field, the Eagles' previous home, in 1968. (The defense points out that an apparently inebriated Santa staggering around at the end of a 2-12 season might irk fans anywhere.) But the real record is damning enough: The turf voted the worst in the league year after year, the collapsing guardrail at the 1998 Army-Navy Game, the rats and cats that prowled the bowels of the stadium, the infamous "Eagles Court" set up for dispensing rough, time-sensitive justice to rowdy fans. After a while, Philly fans felt they, too, had a reputation to live up to, and they did: Future Mayor (and current Pennsylvania governor) Ed Rendell probably did his political career a world of good when it became known that he was among fans in the 700 level chucking snowballs at the Cowboys toward the end of an Eagles win in 1989. On the other hand, the teams won there -- not like the Packers at Lambeau or the Yankees in the Bronx, but pretty darn good by Philly standards. In 1980, the Phillies claimed their only championship in 121 seasons -- with Tug McGraw's triumphant leap into the October night the unquestioned highlight of Vet history -- and the Eagles reached their only Super Bowl just three months later with an unforgettable NFC Championship Game win over the Dallas Cowboys. In all, the Eagles went 139-108-2 at the Vet -- compared to 317-404-23 everywhere else they've played since starting as a franchise in 1933. Rowdy fans and sometimes unsafe facilites were all part of the Vet mystique. Rowdy fans and sometimes unsafe facilites were all part of the Vet mystique. The home-field edge was real even if the team's recent rep of being unbeatable there was overstated. The Eagles went 7-1 in 2002 to close the Vet, but just 9-7 there in the previous two years -- compared to 13-3 on the road. But the real story was the fear and loathing the Vet inspired across the league on a scale no other venue could match. Between the hard turf, locker-room facilities that could scare young children, and fans whose lung capacity was matched only by their creativity for insults, it probably seemed like the place was designed by some unholy amalgam of W.C. Fields and Satan himself. A list of Vet casualties, led by Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin, who finished his playing days in 1999 laid out on the green concrete, just added to the morbid mystique. But the thing about the Vet -- and maybe about Philadelphia as a whole -- is that while the bad stuff is universal and easy to describe, the good memories are unique to individuals and harder to get across. For me, it's mostly about sore throats from screaming, regardless of outcome or the team's general state; QBs Randall Cunningham and Donovan McNabb defying physics and belief with raw playmaking skills; Buddy Ryan's almost Nixonesque exit from the coaches' parking lot under the stadium after the last loss of his Eagles career, a playoff defeat in January 1991; Eric Allen's two interception returns for touchdowns almost three years later against the Saints; the incredible crowd noise that fueled the Eagles' legendary "fourth-and-1" defensive stand against Dallas in 1995, and a blowout Sunday night win in 2001 over the same hated Cowboys, the last Eagles game I saw at the Vet. Lincoln Financial Field, the Birds' new home, has it all over the Vet in terms of aesthetics, high-end accommodations and adequate toilet facilities. When it comes to character, though, it has a long way to go before it can match the parking-lot-to-be across the street. David Jason Fischer is a writer, public policy researcher and fatalistic Iggles die-hard. He lives in New York City. :eaglesuck --------------------------------------- 0-16, 19-0, skins fan till i die!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsonny Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 hope all the Drunks from the Championship Game got out alright......from the last 2 times they lost it there......hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turdfurguson Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 A rat's haven The Vet is well known for its rat population. Former Eagles coach Richie Kotite once told me that one morning he was at his desk in the process of recruiting a free agent they wanted to sign. During the meeting, they both heard a rat running across the tiles in the office ceiling. Kotite just kept talking and on the rat's next trip across the ceiling it fell onto his desk. Needless to say, the player signed elsewhere. A couple of my friends who worked at the Vet said that when they arrived at work in the mornings, it was common practice to bang on the office doors a number of times to let the rats get back into their hiding spots before the coaches would enter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief skin Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 it is and was a dump full of low class losers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwo40 Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 How do we get TO to wake his ass up for 7am for practice at the Vet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70Chip Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 The 62-second implosion will begin in the southwest corner and travel clockwise. Instead of a conventional implosion in which the structure falls straight down, DDC is rotating the stadium onto the old playing field. The top of the Vet will topple inward creating a pile of debris between 30 and 50 feet high. DDC said that dust will be minimal, though that could depend on the wind. :eaglesuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan44 Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Originally posted by Chief skin it is and was a dump full of low class losers :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorEastNCFan Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Poor rats. Where they going to live now? Can't someone go and round them all up and carry them over to the new stadium? I mean where would the rats be without the scum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKINZ_DOMIN8 Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 hope all the Drunks from the Championship Game got out alright......from the last 2 times they lost it there......hehehehe Please speak for yourself. :eaglesuck and always will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hail2skins Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 "Buddy Ryan's almost Nixonesque exit from the coaches' parking lot under the stadium after the last loss of his Eagles career, a playoff defeat in January 1991" Wonder who they lost to?? (heh heh.......) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70Chip Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 For those interested, the Vet implosion will be live on the Phillies website -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70Chip Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 "Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell!" -Samuel L. Jackson :eaglesuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisbob74 Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Can anyone post a video clip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeHateMe Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Wouldve been nice if the 700 section fans were allowed to be in the stadium when it was imploded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJeremy Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Originally posted by 70Chip The 62-second implosion will begin in the southwest corner and travel clockwise. Instead of a conventional implosion in which the structure falls straight down, DDC is rotating the stadium onto the old playing field. The top of the Vet will topple inward creating a pile of debris between 30 and 50 feet high. DDC said that dust will be minimal, though that could depend on the wind. :eaglesuck 30-50 feet of debris will be an improvement to the South Philly Area...I went by there last summer...what an infested wasteland...and I am not talking about the rats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_mac069 Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Good riddance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewhoos Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 God forbid they ever implode our RFK. What kind of reaction would that get?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldskool Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 good riddance to bad rubbish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade7 Posted March 21, 2004 Author Share Posted March 21, 2004 Originally posted by Brewhoos God forbid they ever implode our RFK. What kind of reaction would that get?!? It'd be the kinda mass chaos that would make LA in 1992 look like a baby shower. God have mercy on whoever's stupid enough to make that kinda decision. :twitch: -------------------------- 0-16, 19-0, skins fan till i die!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisbob74 Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Heck, they just showed it on the news here........my missus wondered what I was laughing at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.