Vonwolf: I’m Anti-Ballpark Bowls, But Petco Pack is a Beauty

When I randomly watch bowl games, two thoughts are usually repeated each year; 1) Why the hell are some of these bowl games on at 2:30? and 2) I don’t like them being played in a ballpark.

The latter might change for the Holiday Bowl.

Changing My Mind

I love baseball. I’ve been fortunate enough to have gone to my fair share of MiLB and MLB ballparks nation-wide. Towards the top of my list? Petco Park in San Diego.

Maybe it’s the brick warehouse feel in left. The skyline wraps around the park, in the most gorgeous of manners. Overall, it’s just an awesome environment. And no sane person could keep it out of their top-ten MLB parks.

But I don’t like football, in ballparks…

It just always seems like they are awkwardly squeezed in. Then you have the issue of the endzone ending, to a three-foot gap before a padded wall. Player safety issues galore. And no disrespect to Fenway or Yankee Stadium, but you place a football field in those environments and it’s just stands facing opposite way weirdly. You’re in a historic park, but the atmosphere kind of ends there.

But look at this beaut…

I don’t know how to describe it, but it feels like it’s better for football, no? Still the endzone issues, but overall, it doesn’t take too much imagination to see it converted to an awesome football stadium. (If Padres left and Chargers came home, it wouldn’t take massive changes to make it right).

Looking forward to watching this gorgeous ballpark on Tuesday night.