Vet under construction

[The Duck]

Thing is it really wasn't a dump for the first couple of decades it was open. I think at some point they stopped maintaining it and the combination of no maintenance and age caused it to become a dump.

Probably after Camden Yards opened. The design became functionally obsolete at that time. It was still good enough to host the MLB All Star game in 1996.

I had season tickets at the top of the 700 level, under cover of the penthouse suites (we'd chant 'HIGH & DRY" to everyone below whenever it rained), from the late 80s on... back when seasons were $200 for the year, including the fake games. When I call it a dump, I mean it in the most affectionate way possible. I had some of the great times of my life in that stadium: Game 6 of the '93 NLCS, the Week 17 Eagles-Redskins game in '92, 4th & 1 x 2, the Genesis show in '87 (with the Flyers tying the Cup Finals against Edmonton across the street at the same time), the Wild Card game against the Lions, the epic tailgates (and free parking!) on Darien Street... there is (or was) no other structure on this earth where I had so many amazing memories.

The fact that it had rats the size of coyotes and always reeked of piss and Schmidt's only enhances my enduring fondness of the place.

Long live The Vet.

[DEERSPINE GUY]

I collapsed a lung there. Section 724, 4th & 1 game, December '95. Stayed til the end and then went straight to the ER at Jefferson. One of my happiest Vet memories.

I loved that dump.

I WAS IN SECTION 726 ROW 3. STARTING IN 1981. SMALL ROW NEXT TO THE ENTRANCE WAY. PERFECT SEATS. SECURITY GUARD KNEW WE BROUGHT BEER HOAGIES IN AND NEVER SAID A WORD WHILE WE WERE GETTING HAMMERED, AND SMOKING THE TWISTED FATTIES.

OZZIE WITH HIS SEAGULL PAINTED GREEN DOING THE EAGLES CHANT, AND THE T-I-T-S-TITS CHANTS.

WE HAD A THREAD ABOUT VET BEFORE THAT BLEW UP. THIS WILL TOO. LOVED THAT PLACE.

[The Duck]

I WAS IN SECTION 726 ROW 3.

We were probably neighbors... but I was all the way up top.

[DEERSPINE GUY]

SAW DAVID BOWIE IN 87, GLASS SPIDER TOUR. SAT RIGHT BEHIND PHILLIES DUGOUT. WAS THERE FOR GENESIS ALSO.

[TRENT]

I caught that Bowie show

I was so high I can't remember if Genesis was RFK or the Vet; prolly the Vet....Floyd in 94 was perfect in the circular venue.

[The Duck]

WAS THERE FOR GENESIS ALSO.

The night this happened across the street?



We were listening on the radio during the concert. Our whole section jumped to its feet on Gene's call, and it just spread around the stadium like a slow, roaring wave, until the "Let's Go Flyers" chants drowned out the Phil Collins/Chester Thompson drum duel. What an absolutely amazing night that was.

[The Duck]

I WAS IN SECTION 726 ROW 3. STARTING IN 1981. SMALL ROW NEXT TO THE ENTRANCE WAY. PERFECT SEATS. SECURITY GUARD KNEW WE BROUGHT BEER HOAGIES IN AND NEVER SAID A WORD WHILE WE WERE GETTING HAMMERED, AND SMOKING THE TWISTED FATTIES.

OZZIE WITH HIS SEAGULL PAINTED GREEN DOING THE EAGLES CHANT, AND THE T-I-T-S-TITS CHANTS.

WE HAD A THREAD ABOUT VET BEFORE THAT BLEW UP. THIS WILL TOO. LOVED THAT PLACE.

Shit, I didn't even see you mentioned Ozzie.

OZZIE SUCKS!

[DEERSPINE GUY]

OZZIE SUCKS CHANT WAS A CLASSIC. BUT HE LOVED IT.

T
I
T
S

TITS TITS TITS.


AND THEN THERE WAS THE CREW WITH THE.....

EAGLES GAMES
EAGLES GAMES
F**K YOU UP
DA DA DA DA, DA DA DA DA DADA.
HEY

SONG TEN TIMES A GAME.

[headknocker]

The night this happened across the street?



We were listening on the radio during the concert. Our whole section jumped to its feet on Gene's call, and it just spread around the stadium like a slow, roaring wave, until the "Let's Go Flyers" chants drowned out the Phil Collins/Chester Thompson drum duel. What an absolutely amazing night that was.

That was a GREAT Flyers squad which took possibly the greatest team in NHL history to the limit. And they did it without Tim Kerr.

I was fortunate enough to be at the Bruins game('87) when Hextall became the first goalie in league history to score an unassisted goal. We were around ten rows off the ice and the puck went into the net right in front of us...the place was bedlam. It was just total dumb luck that I was there that night in the first place as my old college roommate was given the tickets by his mom(which was given to her by a doctor she worked with in a local hospital) and I was the first person who he thought would go with him...turned out to be a magical night as the game was fierce and had a playoff vibe to it as Cashman and O'Reilly were still on the Bruins if I remember correctly.

I have waaay many more fond memories of Phillies games at the Vet(than the Eagles). #1 on that last has to be the 14-inning affair during the Sept. '80 stretch run against the defending WS champion Pirates which featured numerous fight in the stands with 53,000 on hand..Pier 9 brawls in the stands as The Bulletin described it. It was one of those games when the Phils kept falling behind and would come back to tie it. Schmidt came up in the bottom of the 8th in a clutch situation and hit one of his trademark towering blasts off the top of the LF fence to drive in two runs to tie the game...the place was going bonkers....never forget how loud it was at that moment.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe75FnQVrCs

[BirdsInNC]

FWIW I love these threads about the Vet and all the wild stories that go with it. Gold.

[RSE]

Over the artificial concrete yes absolutely, though that isn’t really “guest experience” thing. It probably falls in the lower third of grass fields in the NFL. It is brown and beat up by September, though I don’t recall it causing any playing issues.

[RSE]

The guy who showed up on Halloween 1999 in a Pukes helmet, a Michael Irvin Jersey, and a headboard. That, in a nutshell, was the Vet.