Mount Rushmore - Sporting Event Locations

[QuikSand]

Your task -- populate a list of the four most deserving metaphorical faces to go onto this metaphorical mountain:

Places Strongly Identified With Specific Sporting Event Occurrences

As a clarification, we don't want you to offer up Monaco City as the location of the annual road race of worldwide repute. We want you to offer up Mudville, as the specific location of one particular event in sports history.

[Breeze]

August National - Golf
The Olde Course at St. Andrews - Golf

Is that what you're looking for?

[Logan]

August National - Golf
The Olde Course at St. Andrews - Golf

Is that what you're looking for?

I don't think so.

[QuikSand]

No

I want something like:

Reykjavik Iceland, site of 1972 Fischer v. Spassky World Chess Championship



Was trying to not pollute the contest by offering any legitimate entries, and given this joint I'm likely still safe. Clearer now?

[sterlingice]

Aw- there goes my first entry!

SI

[Honolulu_Blue]

Lake Placid, New York, site of the 1980 Mircale On Ice

That's all I got so far.

[Passacaglia]

I was thinking you've got to be Olympic heavy, too.

Berlin -- Jesse Owens
Munich -- USA-USSR Gold Medal Basketball in 1972
Mania -- Thrilla in Manila
Lake Placid -- Miracle on Ice

[molson]

Tricky. Not sure if we're looking for "great venues" or venues necessarily identifiable with a particular sporting event. If it's the latter, maybe Berlin, 1936 Olympics?

[albionmoonlight]

Interesting idea. In my mind, there are sports places so iconic (Yankee Stadium, Augusta National, Churchill Downs, etc.) that you cannot associate them with just one moment. I tried to focus on places that, if you thought of them in the context of sports, there would be only one thing that jumped immediately to mind.

Olympic Stadium--Berlin: Jesse Owens dominates 1936 Olympic Games. Because of the political climate, the fact that this happened in Berlin seems essential to it as a sports moment.

Lake Placid: Miracle On Ice. Not as strong of a connection as the first one on this list. But if I hear "Lake Placid," this is the only thing that comes to mind for me.

Polo Grounds: Shot Heard Round the World One of baseball's most iconic moments in one of baseball's iconic stadiums. But not so iconic of a stadium that it surpasses the moment, if that makes sense.

Pilmico Race Course: 1938 Pilmico Special--Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral. I couldn't find Pilmico on a map and thought that it was actually in California before I just looked it up. But when I hear the word, I know that it hosted one of the most famous horse races of all time.

[Jughead Spock]

Hm, the first four that popped to mind included a repeat location...

Yankee Stadium - the 1958 Championship Game between the Colts & Giants
Lake Placid - Miracle on Ice
Polo Grounds - Shot Heard 'round the World
Yankee Stadium - Louis-Schmelling II

if I had to replace the dupe, I'd go with a similarly themed Berlin/Jesse Owens.

[Ben E Lou]

Manila, The Philippines--Ali-Frazier III (The Thrilla In Manila)
The Polo Grounds--Bobby Thompson homers off of Ralpha Branca "The Shot Heard 'Round The World"
Three Rivers Stadium--The Immaculate Reception
Lake Placid, New York--The Miracle On Ice

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. I was working on mine for a while and didn't see any of the entries before mine before I posted. Can we just declare the Polo Grounds and Lake Placid as automatics? ;) (Fwiw, I went back and forth between Berlin/Jesse Owens and Three Rivers for my final slot....and I'm still wavering on that one.)

[TroyF]

Berlin, Olympics
Polo Grounds
Lake Placid

I'll add a sad one: Munich, 1972. Mention the place and the date and people will think of the sporting event along with what happened. Just mention the place in dealing with sports and most people will refer to 1972 fairly quickly if not instantly.


Honorable mention: Augusta, 1986, Jack's charge.

[Logan]

Berlin
Polo Grounds
Lake Placid
New Brunswick, NJ - site of the first college football game.

It's my Mount Rushmore, damn it.

[QuikSand]

I'm landing in much the same place as most, I guess:

Lake Placid
Manila
Polo Grounds

...and...

Mexico City, 1968, Bob Beamon crushes the long jump world record. I think it's easy to forget how unreal this occasion was in sports, and the fact that it happened in the altitude of a semi-exotic Olympic location seems to fit pretty well with the theme.

[QuikSand]

Oh, and gratuitous semi-inspired laugh entry:

Iceland
Philippines
Hastings
(Bangkok)

[TroyF]

I'm landing in much the same place as most, I guess:

Lake Placid
Manila
Polo Grounds

...and...

Mexico City, 1968, Bob Beamon crushes the long jump world record. I think it's easy to forget how unreal this occasion was in sports, and the fact that it happened in the altitude of a semi-exotic Olympic location seems to fit pretty well with the theme.


When I'm thinking of a MT. Rushmore for this, I'm thinking places you can just name the town and year and have a majority of fans understand what you are talking about instantly. I understand how important to Beamon record is, but I think Mexico City, 1968, and I'm thinking Tommie Smith.

I love the importance though, and kind of wish I'd thought of the small track that Bannister ran the four minute mile on. Of course, I don't know the name of it, which is sad. Runs to wikipedia. . .

[JPhillips]

Manila - Ali/Frazier
Fenway - Game 6 1975 WS
Lake Placid - Miracle on Ice
Belmont - Secretariat wins by 32 lengths

[JPhillips]

There has to be a huge soccer event I'm just not dialed in to.

[cuervo72]

Oh, and gratuitous semi-inspired laugh entry:

Iceland
Philippines
Hastings
(Bangkok)

Heh.


Only other location I can think to add here might be Green Bay, the Ice Bowl.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The Polo Grounds (first thing that came into my head)
Manila
Lake Placid
SF Bay Area - 1989 World Series (Earthquake)

After reading the other entries, I'd probably put Berlin in there instead of the quake.

[sabotai]

The Polo Grounds, 1951
Manila, 1975
Lake Placid, 1980
Tokyo, 1990

[britrock88]

Only other location I can think to add here might be Green Bay, the Ice Bowl.

I was waiting for this.

Quirky entry, possibly: Yankee Stadium for the 1958 NFL Championship? It'd probably only work if you thought of it as a football venue...
(edit: I now see Jughead Spock beat me to this.)

[Ajaxab]

There has to be a huge soccer event I'm just not dialed in to.

I'm thinking Wembley Stadium, November 25, 1953. Hungary beats England 6-3 and changes English, and perhaps, world football in terms of tactics and the approach to the game from that point on.

[fortheglory]

Augusta National

Yankee Stadium

Rose Bowl

Wimbledon

[JonInMiddleGA]

Manila - Ali/Frazier
Lake Placid - Miracle on Ice
Munich - 72 Olympic Village
Yankee Stadium - Gehrig's "Luckiest Man In the World" speech

Very tough question, I opted against the Polo Grounds & "The Shot" because I'm not sure how many people today could actually tell you where that happened. I had the same problem with the 4th slot I eventually chose, but felt like the odds were better.

Tell you one that tempted me pretty good -- Ripken's streak at Camden Yards. The "2131" sign on the warehouse was a heck of an image & one that connects the event to the location for me.

[nilodor]

Ebbets Field - Jackie Robinson breaks the colour barrier

Kinshasa, Zaire - Rumble in the Jungle

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Usain Bolt 100 m

To compensate for you guys being a bunch of homers :)
Luzhniki Ice Palace Moscow - Game 8 Summit Series - Henderson!

[TroyF]

Manila - Ali/Frazier
Lake Placid - Miracle on Ice
Munich - 72 Olympic Village
Yankee Stadium - Gehrig's "Luckiest Man In the World" speech

Very tough question, I opted against the Polo Grounds & "The Shot" because I'm not sure how many people today could actually tell you where that happened. I had the same problem with the 4th slot I eventually chose, but felt like the odds were better.

Tell you one that tempted me pretty good -- Ripken's streak at Camden Yards. The "2131" sign on the warehouse was a heck of an image & one that connects the event to the location for me.

I thought of Camden Yards as well. Even with all that has happened there over the years, that has to be the defining moment of that stadium.

[Neon_Chaos]

The stadium that held the Thrilla is Araneta Colisseum.

[Big Fo]

Camp Nou, Barcelona - Manchester United scored two goals in injury time to defeat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the 1998-9 UEFA Champions League final. It was the most dramatic ending in the history of European club soccer's Super Bowl equivalent.

The Country Club, Brookline, MA - 20 year old local amateur Francis Ouimet won the 1913 US Open, defeating British stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray (regarded as the two best players around back then) in an 18 hole playoff. This victory helped to significantly increase golf's popularity in the United States. According to Wikipedia, three times as many people played golf in 1923 compared to 1913.

Miracle on Ice as mentioned numerous times.

And the 1958 NFL Championship game at Yankee Stadium as mentioned previously also. For giving pro football a huge push on it's way to eventually becoming the most popular sport in the country.

[Critch]

Medinah Country Club - Europe comes back from way behind on the last day to clinch the Ryder Cup yet again.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm pretty much on the same page as everyone else... I'd go Berlin, Manilla, Lake Placid, and probably Munich. I'm not sure Polo Grounds fits, since I'd be willing to bet a surprising number of fans know the name and the home run but couldn't tell you where it's actually located.

One darkhorse from a Canadian perspective: Piestany, Slovakia... Well known among hockey fans for one specific event, virtually unheard of otherwise (according to Wikipedia, it's otherwise best known for a spa).

[corbes]

I'd vote for Lake Placid, Berlin, Munich (1972 Olympic Village) and Belmont Park (1973 Belmont Stakes). He is moving like a tremendous machine!*

*Maybe there should be a separate Mt. Rushmore for iconic calls.

[QuikSand]

While I don't own the thread, I confess to a personal strong preference *against* the site that is just the usual location for a series of annual events (Masters, triple crown race, home field to team, etc) where one specific thing happened during that long string of events. Yes, that tends to skew toward Olympic locations, I guess.

Anyway, while there were certainly iconic sporting events that happened at Yankee Stadium or Indianapolis Motor Speedway or Augusta National, whatever... it's hard to really pin the geography to the event in a way that you really can with Berlin, Lake Placid, Manila, Kinshasa, and so forth.

[revrew]

Off the wall wild card - Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, or Philadelphia as a whole - "Rocky"

Not an actual sporting event, but very iconic.

[JPhillips]

While I don't own the thread, I confess to a personal strong preference *against* the site that is just the usual location for a series of annual events (Masters, triple crown race, home field to team, etc) where one specific thing happened during that long string of events. Yes, that tends to skew toward Olympic locations, I guess.

Anyway, while there were certainly iconic sporting events that happened at Yankee Stadium or Indianapolis Motor Speedway or Augusta National, whatever... it's hard to really pin the geography to the event in a way that you really can with Berlin, Lake Placid, Manila, Kinshasa, and so forth.

I'd agree on Churchill Downs, but while there's a race every year, Belmont for me is always about Secretariat. None of the other races register at all.

[QuikSand]

No disagreement that the 73 Belmont was an all-time great sports moment, nor that it towers over the balance of the major events that have been held there. None at all.

My issue is more generic. "Belmont Park" or "Elmont, NY" as a sports locale might not have another specific event in sports that's nearly as memorable (the safety pin curiosity in 79 notwithstanding), but it is very widely known and identified with "that's the place where they run the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the triple crown, every year." For any place so identified with an annual event (Augusta, Indy, and so forth) I would just notch that location down for the strong location-event bond that I favor.

[digamma]

Manila
Lake Placid
Berlin Olympic Stadium
Oxford University (then called Iffley Road) Track (where Bannister broke 4:00)

Some may say the 4th is a bit obscure, but it was a watershed achievement and you just see this iconic image of Bannister being surrounded by folks at the tape. When you realize it's at Oxford University and they really have no relevant sporting events there anymore (heck, it was a glorified cow pasture until they revamped it for training purposes for visiting London 2012 athletes), it's a pretty amazing spot.

[PineTar]

Carnoustie?