Obstacles In Stadiums.

[MIKEBENNIDICT]

This may sound like a strange thread but there are some old NFL highlight films on YouTube from the 60's and 70's and one of them was a Saints film from where they use to play before I'm guessing going to the Silver done and you'd see players running into bushes.

Swear I didn't imagine that.

I remember watching some NFL Follies films where there was some rectangular hole at Soldiers Field where players kept falling into it.

[Citizen]

Both the shrubs at Tulane Stadium and the trenches at Soldier Field were longtime staples of follies films. I would love to know who thought those trenches were a better idea than benches, or why they didn't just cover them with plywood after it became clear what a hazard they were.

Speaking of Chicago, the brick outfield wall protruded into the corner of one end zone at Wrigley Field because the park wasn't quite big enough to accommodate a football field. I imagine more than one visiting receiver thought twice about going full speed into that corner to catch a pass.

There was also the "hump" in the center of the old Meadowlands and the old low-hanging scoreboard at the Superdome, which got in the way of a few punts over the years.

[Steviek]

The Jets played three 1976 preseason games at the then-newly renovated Yankee Stadium. In one of the games against the Redskins, a receiver was badly injured when he ran into the padded left center field wall, which basically abutted the back of the end zone.

[Rupert Patrick]

Both the shrubs at Tulane Stadium and the trenches at Soldier Field were longtime staples of follies films. I would love to know who thought those trenches were a better idea than benches, or why they didn't just cover them with plywood after it became clear what a hazard they were.

Speaking of Chicago, the brick outfield wall protruded into the corner of one end zone at Wrigley Field because the park wasn't quite big enough to accommodate a football field. I imagine more than one visiting receiver thought twice about going full speed into that corner to catch a pass.

There was also the "hump" in the center of the old Meadowlands and the old low-hanging scoreboard at the Superdome, which got in the way of a few punts over the years.

I always thought Ray Guy was the only guy ever to hit the scoreboard at the Superdome, in the 1975 Pro Bowl.

[MatthewToy]

One could say all of the old artificial turf rugs were obstacles.

[JohnR]

I hated that Steel Curtain they erected in the Oakland Coliseum in Dec '74. Took all the fun away.

[Gary Najman]

I remember that in Three Rivers Stadium they had many cars parked near the field. Lynn Swann had to leap one of them in a 1979 game against Cleveland.

[Rupert Patrick]

One could say all of the old artificial turf rugs were obstacles.

Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia that had that notable divet that caused more than a few injuries over the years. I know of all the rugs that players played on (and this is true of the baseball players too) they always said the rug at the Vet was the worst. There were divets and seams all over it, and whomever laid it should have been tried for Crimes Against Humanity.

[BD Sullivan]

I remember that in Three Rivers Stadium they had many cars parked near the field. Lynn Swann had to leap one of them in a 1979 game against Cleveland.

Speaking of Three Rivers, you had this MENSA candidate in 1987:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987 ... all-trucks

[Mark L. Ford]

The Packers games at Milwaukee County Stadium always posed a problem because it was designed for baseball, and there was barely enough room to fit a 360 foot by 160 foot field in there. One of the corners of the west end zone was just inches from what was normally the left field wall, so players ran the risk of crashing into a wall.