Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
because of the stadium's design and the proximity of the fans to the field when configured for football, the stadium was extremely loud when the usual sell-out Redskins crowds became vocal. Legend has it that Redskins head coach George Allen would order a large rolling door in the side of the stadium to be opened when visiting teams were attempting field goals at critical moments in games so that a swirling wind from off the Potomac and Anacostia rivers might interfere with the flight of the kicked ball.
sheajets wrote:Not really a quirk but I always liked those palm trees in the open end of the Orange Bowl. Just a signature Miami/Florida things. They would always show up in NFL Films highlight packages as Marino throws another bomb to Duper or Clayton...and they're running towards the palm trees. I'm a Jets fan and looked forward to night games there, just the ambiance and atmosphere of it during those wild 1980s nights in Miami. That's the last time the Dolphins ever had any sort of home field advantage too
I might be imagining things, but I seem to remember that for a while, the Dolphins actually had real dolphins in a pool behind the end zone in the Orange Bowl. I have a really faint memory of watching a game and seeing an actual dolphin lifting his head above the water. I was really young at the time so maybe I'm confusing memories, but I'm pretty sure I was watching a Dolphins game.
sheajets wrote:Not really a quirk but I always liked those palm trees in the open end of the Orange Bowl. Just a signature Miami/Florida things. They would always show up in NFL Films highlight packages as Marino throws another bomb to Duper or Clayton...and they're running towards the palm trees. I'm a Jets fan and looked forward to night games there, just the ambiance and atmosphere of it during those wild 1980s nights in Miami. That's the last time the Dolphins ever had any sort of home field advantage too
I might be imagining things, but I seem to remember that for a while, the Dolphins actually had real dolphins in a pool behind the end zone in the Orange Bowl. I have a really faint memory of watching a game and seeing an actual dolphin lifting his head above the water. I was really young at the time so maybe I'm confusing memories, but I'm pretty sure I was watching a Dolphins game.
It was also shown in a movie from the 90s...Ace Ventura. Though by then the Dolphins had gotten rid of the pool and dolphins behind the endzone. But yea it was definitely there for a period of time
Yeah -- then I wasn't getting things mixed up over the years. I remember it from an actual game -- though that's a nice touch that they included it in the movie.
because of the stadium's design and the proximity of the fans to the field when configured for football, the stadium was extremely loud when the usual sell-out Redskins crowds became vocal. Legend has it that Redskins head coach George Allen would order a large rolling door in the side of the stadium to be opened when visiting teams were attempting field goals at critical moments in games so that a swirling wind from off the Potomac and Anacostia rivers might interfere with the flight of the kicked ball.
Just the Anacostia river. Potomac river is further west. I can't recall swirling winds coming off the Anacostia but if it did, George would use it to his advantage for sure.
Of course the quirkiest was Milwaukee County Stadium, which had the 6-foot endline stripe go under the left-field wall, players overshooting the opposite end zone wound up in the dugout, and the benches were on the same side of the field with the chains operating from the other.
