Roaming The Rinks

Today is a sad day for hockey fans.  The beloved Spectrum in Philly is being demolished.  Yes, the home of the Broad Street Bullies will be no more soon.  I am fortunate to have attended a game here in November of 2008, during the final season of the Philadelphia Phantoms.  Luckily, although the building will soon be gone, I was able to capture a piece of it for Roaming The Rinks.  No, I am not a huge NHL fan, choosing rather to seek out the less travelled path of arenas, but we need to still recognize the greatness of the Spectrum as a legendary, timeless arena.  I am glad that it also became a part of minor league hockey history during the Phantoms years.

                                                

I did find a lot of irony in the rather undramatic swinging of the wrecking ball attempting its first blows to bring down the mighty Spectrum.  Trying to knock down this famous building with a crane and relatively puny wrecking ball just doesn't seem right on one hand, but on the other hand it seems like the spirit of the building was fighting back during the first couple blows.  Just like Dave "The Hammer" Schultz it will take more than one punch to knock this building out.  Sadly as the news report says this will be a four month process and the bulldozers will take over where the Bullies once ruled the hockey world.