Friday, June 16, 2006

Why Can Germany Build These Stadiums and We Can't?

This is the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.  Yep, the same place where Jessie Owens shoved a gold medal up Adolph Hitler's arse back in 1936.  Of course, it didn't look like it back then...as the country has renovated and rejuvinated it.

Germany can do it.....but Los Angeles can't??

Yeah, LA can't figure out how to make their Olympic Stadium, which is 10 years older that Berlin's venue, into a football friendly arena. 

Above is AOL Arena in Hamburg.  Nice, eh?  Nicer than that RCA Dome in Indy. 

This is Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt.  Whoa!  I guess when God isn't watching Dallas Cowboys NFL games....he's watching the pitch here.  And that big thing in the middle is a scoreboard....similar to what you might find in an NBA arena. 

Above is the arena in which the Americans got hammered by the Czech Republic.

Zentralstadion [left] and Seahawks Stadium [right] look as if they are long lost brothers. 

And here is Allianz Arena in Munich.  Looks like one of those inflatable rafts. 

Okay.  It isn't like we don't have nice stadiums.  Seahawks Stadium is awesome.  So is the new Arizona Cardinals field [above left].  And the new Colts Stadium [right].  Reliant Field in Houston is magnificant.  And that isn't even mentioning the great baseball parks new [AT&T, Oriole Park] and old [Fenway, Wrigley]. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Only Americans from Georgia understand this, but there's a big difference between European and American cities... American cities weren't all destroyed in the 1940s.

Berlin was the final battleground between Russia and the Nazis- most of the city was razed. Great parts of Russia, France, Belgium and Germany were bombed silly within the last 100 years, especially so in urban areas. So... they rebuild cities in a more modern way.

America has never suffered sustained bombing campaigns... especially by America's air force. All of the cities here started off as cow towns, and grew as they prospered. Boston still has cobblestone streets that were last cutting edge in 1725.

So, they have to mash stadiums in where they can... or build it in the suburban swamps (Foxboro). Frankfurt probably got 5000 acres of prime uban property, with 5 highway exits.