Rainbow Stadium

[damontucker]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Hilo Stars!!!

What they seat maybe 1000.... I think that's actually pushing it!

[Linkmeister]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Unless I'm mistaken, what they're talking about is locking the grandstands into football configuration at Aloha Stadium. I believe they can still play baseball in that configuration, and I remember (while Chavez Ravine/Dodger Stadium was being built) watching the Dodgers play baseball in the Coliseum, which is a football field. For baseball, set up kinda diagonal and with temporary fences to mark the outfield boundaries. And yes, some of the far grandstand seats don't get used for baseball games.

You too? I saw my first MLB game ever at the Coliseum. Left field was about 250 feet away from home plate, but there was a huge fence (70 feet high, maybe? Big, anyway) to make homeruns a little more difficult. Wally Moon used to hit balls over it; because of the necessary height, the sportswriters started calling them "Moonshots."

[LikaNui]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

You too?

Yep. And I remember as a small child going to the ceremony at the Chavez Ravine site for the new Dodger Stadium on the day they turned the first shovelful of dirt.

there was a huge fence (70 feet high, maybe? Big, anyway) to make homeruns a little more difficult. Wally Moon used to hit balls over it; because of the necessary height, the sportswriters started calling them "Moonshots."

Yep. And then there was the biiig man, Frank Howard, who used to blast them farther than Wally did. And Sandy Koufax was at his prime, and Vin Scully was the best ever announcer... those were the days. [/sigh]

[Linkmeister]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Ahem. Vinnie still is the best announcer. Don't you have cable?

Prime Ticket (Digital 228) carries 3 or 4 Dodgers games a week, and Vinnie does all the interdivisional games. He doesn't travel beyond Arizona these days, but he still looks and sounds hale and hearty.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Honestly, I don't think the NFL is attracted to the stadium itself for its Pro Bowl more than Hawaii is an attraction in itself. The stadium's on it's downside, and I'd love to see a new stadium. But if we started to build a new one, that could mean displacing families in Halawa (again!), major traffic problems, higher state taxes, blah blah blah.

If they tear down Aloha, I want my usual seat from my days in the UH Marching Band as a souvenir!!!

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

I want my usual seat from my days in the UH Marching Band

A marching band that was seated? What kinda sedentary "marching" is that?

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

One of the reasons the Islanders left was that it got too expensive to rent the stadium based on the revenue they brought in. I attended a lot of Islander games at Aloha Stadium the summer of 1978 and later, and it got to a point where it cost me $3 to park and $2.50 to get a General Admission ticket. That made no sense.

I don't know what the policy was when the Chicago White Sox had the Islanders as their AAA franchise in the mid-80's, but I think when the San Diego Padres had the team as their AAA, and whoever it was before that ( I think it was the Angels), the Islanders had the burden of having to pay for the costs of transporting all of the visiting teams coming over to Hawaii. That was tough, but if I recall, it was a rule the PCL instituted when they granted Hawaii a franchise in '61(?). It had to have been tough financially, especially after the team moved from the old Termite Palace to Halawa...the crowds weren't the same at Halawa as they were at Honolulu Stadium. The first Islander game I went to (against Portland, in '79) looked as if it was being played in front of maybe 500 fans, though I think the crowd was higher...Aloha Stadium, by virtue of its size, just seemed to swallow whatever crowd that happened to show up. One thing I remember about that game was the size and price of beers attendees were drinking...36 oz. servings of Olympia for $1.25. They were huge!

[LikaNui]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Ahem. Vinnie still is the best announcer. Don't you have cable?

Yes, basic cable, not digital. Don't know why I thought Vin Scully had passed away. Guess I was thinking of Chick Hearn. Between the two of them, L.A. had the two best announcers ever!

As for Aloha Stadium, I'd love to see it rebuilt, but the cost frightens me (and my wallet).

[kimo55]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

As for Aloha Stadium, I'd love to see it rebuilt, but the cost frightens me (and my wallet).

don't worry. some ambitious polititian will push it thru. so his name can be attached to it. and it will last 20 years. Aloha stadium, decrepit at 30 years. Honolulu Stadium lasted 50 years until fasi decided still another beloved Hawaii landmark should come down.
so he destroyed it.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

A marching band that was seated? What kinda sedentary "marching" is that?

haha...we're in the stands when it's not halftime.

stop teasin us nerds...we will inherit the earth

[Linkmeister]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

I don't know what the policy was when the Chicago White Sox had the Islanders as their AAA franchise in the mid-80's, but I think when the San Diego Padres had the team as their AAA, and whoever it was before that ( I think it was the Angels), the Islanders had the burden of having to pay for the costs of transporting all of the visiting teams coming over to Hawaii. That was tough, but if I recall, it was a rule the PCL instituted when they granted Hawaii a franchise in '61(?). It had to have been tough financially, especially after the team moved from the old Termite Palace to Halawa...the crowds weren't the same at Halawa as they were at Honolulu Stadium. The first Islander game I went to (against Portland, in '79) looked as if it was being played in front of maybe 500 fans, though I think the crowd was higher...Aloha Stadium, by virtue of its size, just seemed to swallow whatever crowd that happened to show up. One thing I remember about that game was the size and price of beers attendees were drinking...36 oz. servings of Olympia for $1.25. They were huge!

Er, not to tout my own website, but...the guaranteed ONLY Hawaii Islanders website around.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

haha...we're in the stands when it's not halftime.

You'd love Seattle's "Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band" - they ONLY perform sitting down. Even in parades - they are in chairs on their float, being pulled down the street. They sometimes have a baton twirler leading them...also seated. (Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle.)

(Now, how do I get this posting back on-topic? Oh, I know!) And I'm sure they would love an opportunity to play in either Rainbow Stadium OR Aloha Stadium! Sitting down.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Er, not to tout my own website, but...the guaranteed ONLY Hawaii Islanders website around.

Thanks for the link...great info on the Islanders! I never knew Harry Kalas announced for the Islanders way back when....out here on the East Coast, Kalas has earned a spot with some other great baseball radio voices, such as Jack Buck and Vin Scully. I've found myself Dxing to Phillies broadcasts on summer evenings just to hear that low voice of his doing play-by-play. He's a classic.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

When the Halawa Stadium (Aloha Stadium) was built there was a lot of settling problems with the concrete foundations that the movable bleachers rode on (on a cushion of air) to change the configuration from FB to BB.

It didn't take rocket science to figure out that even when they stopped the settling, the long term settling remained. I understand the stands cannot be reconfigured because of the settling issues surrounding the foundation. Remember, the stadium was built on reclaimed marsh lands and there were all these stories of faces in the pits of the digs that scared some of the biggest unionized Hawaiian construction workers out running like screaming babies.

Too bad Honolulu Stadium (The Termite Palace) was torn down. I remember when the word was the "new" stadium was to be built out in the sticks. The Hawaii Islanders played there but they could never get the draw of crowds that Honolulu Stadium could and eventually the team folded and the franchise was sold to some mainland outfit.

The Aloha Stadium was built at the wrong time in the wrong place and was never loved by the sports fans then. Too far for the drive at the time and when it opened it hosted the UH Rainbow Warriors under coach Larry Price against Texas A&M as the first game to play there. And we lost. What a bad omen. Then the beams started to rust thru, then there was the costly renovation (that cost more than the build itself), then there was the sad ticket sales, then came VonAppen, then came Jones, then came pay per view and no wonder the stadium is such a lost cause.

The biggest draws at the stadium were the swap meet and the mud bog races.

I think one of the good things the Stadium preserved for us here in Hawaii was the prevention of overdevelopment of high rises that I think would have surely gone up on those grounds if that rusting hulk wasn't built instead.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Rainbow Stadium

Thanks for the link...great info on the Islanders! I never knew Harry Kalas announced for the Islanders way back when....out here on the East Coast, Kalas has earned a spot with some other great baseball radio voices, such as Jack Buck and Vin Scully. I've found myself Dxing to Phillies broadcasts on summer evenings just to hear that low voice of his doing play-by-play. He's a classic.

Don't forget Joe Rose and Les Keiter.