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| - I love hearing people hate on the Vet. Every native of Phoenix knows the history of the Vet, its importance to the town, and so on. Just a few decades back, it was the liveliest stadium in the NBA, and housed the first true sports team in the valley, Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey. Now a hulk of its former self, its depressing, yes.
The Vet gets 3 stars for three seperate reasons:
1-History: Like I mentioned, this place has a lot of Phoenix history packed in it. It was THE stadium you would go to for an event. Hockey games, when played here, were very fun, boisterous, and there were very few parking issues. Every Suns fan knows this place as "The Madhouse on McDowell", and for good reason...it could get extremely loud. The seats are old-school, you can see the 70's style billboards still up there, and of course they have all of the old Roadrunners info up in the rafters...the place has history, a strong history, that can't be denied. Connie Hawkins, KJ, Dan Majerele, Dick Van Arsdale....list goes on, all of them played here. Just remember that when bashing the place.
2- Parking: For a small stadium, they do have a ton of parking in the lot. It may not seem like a lot when the fair is in town, but when a general event is taking place, they have more than enough room to accomodate space. The original planners did a good job with that, at least.
3-Architechture: Like I said, this place is a blast from the past. Everything is old-school. Who DOESN'T like old-school? I love the chairs, once again...I used to sit in those same chairs decades ago when the stadium was still in use, the Dbacks were just a dream, the Suns were at the Purple Palace (aka AWA) for a couple years now....its old, lol. The outside has aged a ton because of the Sun's rays, but the old retro stylings on the outside are funky-cool.
It loses a couple stars for just the same reasons as mentioned above. Its old...probably should be replaced because it needs repairs (despite what others have said) if you want to make it a multi-use stadium again. It has very few redeeming factors to out-of-towners or kids these days, they really do not dig history much, bank on that. To many, its just a big hulk that "smells bad".
I love this stadium. Sooner rather than later it'll get torn down, and a part of me will die. Oh well, life goes on. Go Runners'!
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