| Jeffrey Smadbeck. 15th August, 2005 - 10:53 pm
 The hottest team in baseball had some big news coming out of its camp this morning; the Oakland A's owners announced the initial plans for their teams new stadium today. The plans call for a 32 to 35 thousand person state-of-the-art stadium, equipped with a gigantic scoreboard and, oh yes, condominiums.
I am actually a Red Sox fan, but I knew immediately that I wanted to write something about this announcement. See, here in Boston we have Fenway. We pride ourselves in the fact that our stadium is a one of a kind.
No one can build, or even buy, a Fenway; which played host to 86 years of pain, and last year?s glorious World Championship. Maybe, this was the reason why this story caught my eye, because when a team announces a plan for a "high-tech" stadium, I get jazzed a little bit.
The plan is pretty fun, actually. It will be a rather small stadium, in relation to the newest stadiums, as it subtly pays homage to the old-school. However, this is no old fashion stadium.
There is a pool on top of the multi-level condo ch?teaux (not really a French castle, but it looks pretty cool), a scoreboard the size of Hollywood Squares (appears to be directly eye-line with the batter, good for the Red Sox come the annual playoff series), and acres of space outside of the stadium for development.
The A's have always been a fun team to bandwagon on. They emerge, as expected, late in the season. The fans are serious and plentiful, and they gracefully (at least in the past few years) lose in the first round of the playoffs.
As a Sox fan I have no complaints, and encourage their victories, up until we see them when it counts. So, really, I hope to see this plan followed through.
It makes you wonder though, is it time to scrap the old ball park and welcome in a transformers-esque building. One that closes in on itself when it rains; stifling those rain-outs that can ruin well planned Sundays (see yesterday). I, like most fans, don?t think that is the answer, or appropriate.
In 1999, Sox owners pitched a replica version of Fenway, adjacent to the standing stadium, only much larger. This plan was just a few signatures away from completion; but in retrospect, I think most fans are happy this never happened.
The renovations that have taken place the past years, and the ones to come, respect the stadium in geography and history. I don?t think any fan wants to see Fenway gone; and even the idea of Condo?s built into the green monster, while intriguing, is just insane.
This being said, I do enjoy myself a new and improved stadium for some other club. I am even looking forward to the new Yankee stadium. The day Ortiz (although, he may be old by then) cracks the grand slam to win the ALCS, in the Yankees $1,000 a seat stadium, with personal robotic waiters, and hot tubs that line the 3rd base line, will be a glorious day. |
