A WALK IN THE PARK
Ranking New York’s sporting venues
WE ARE getting a new playpen soon, UBS Arena, which the Islanders will call home for the next couple of decades. By all accounts, it looks beautiful. But we will need to wait before we see where it settles on our list of favorite local venues, because it is noise — frantic, frenetic, desperate noise — that we remember our ballparks and arenas by.
It is one reason to hope things break the Yankees’ way the next few days so that we can get a couple of games back at a full Yankee Stadium. Maybe Yankees fans haven’t been completely in love with this team but they’ll show up for them, in full throat, you can be sure of that.
We have actually been quite lucky in terms of our deafening palaces through the years. I’m too young to have experienced Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds, or the “old” versions of Madison Square Garden (which closed in 1968) or Yankee Stadium (1973). But I’ve been to all the others. This is one man’s opinion — actually, his ears’ opinion — but here’s how I’d rank our venues on their best nights:
1. Yankee Stadium II: The one that replaced the original and stood on the same ground. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard sports louder than when Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius delivered their bookend ninthinning homers in the 2001 World Series. When I close my eyes, I hear those roars still.
2. Shea Stadium: As a fan, I was at the Bills-Jets playoff game in 1981, and my father and I both believed the stands were going to collapse during the Jets’ ill-fated last drive. And when Endy Chavez made his NLCS Game 7 catch 25 years later, it was the same sound.
3. Madison Square Garden: For sustained noise, this may rank in a category all its own. And there have been moments — LJ’s 4-point play, the Rangers winning the Cup — when you thought the famous pinwheel roof might spin clear off its moorings.
4. Nassau Coliseum: Sure, it was a dump. But the dynasty Islanders (combined with some unique acoustics) used to make the old barn shudder and shake. This year’s Isles team approximated that Game 6 against Tampa Bay, extending their Cup dreams another two days. The Nets’ two ABA clinchings were auditory delights as well.
5. Giants Stadium: The pity is that there weren’t more playoff games played there. But the ones that were — notably Giants-Redskins in 1987, Giants-Vikings in 2001, and Jets-Jaguars in 1999 — were simply spectacular and kept you trying to rub the aftereffects out of your ears for a week.
6. Meadowlands Arena: And not just for the regular visits from Bruce Springsteen. The Devils and Nets didn’t always draw great, but when they were playing big playoff games … well, ask the 1995 Red Wings or the 2003 Ducks (or the 2002 Pacers) how they felt about it.
7. Belmont Park: When American Pharoah came flying down the stretch in 2015, 100,000 New Yorkers let out a cry/scream/wail/shout that you’ll never forget if you were there.
8. Citi Field: Speaking of 2015, Citi showed what it could be as a homefield monster when the Mets took on the Dodgers, Cubs and Royals. It just hasn’t had enough reps yet.
9. Yankee Stadium III: Yankees fans try, they really do. It’s just neither as loud nor as intimidating as the building that preceded it. Blame the acoustics if you must, it’s just not quite the same.
10. Barclays Center: This has a strong chance of moving up this year. Nets fans were equal to the challenge in Games 5 and 7 of this year’s playoff series with the Bucks. They ought to have a few more opportunities this spring to climb the list.
11. MetLife Stadium: It hasn’t helped that there has been just one playoff game since the place opened, or that both teams have mostly been lousy. But there aren’t a lot of locals I know who have ever said, excitedly, “Going to MetLife today!”
12. Prudential Center: If this were a report card, to be fair I’d give it an “INC.”