The Spectrum: America's Showplace 1967-2009

Greetings. For those who haven't seen my personal blog before, my name is Donna and I am a Philadelphia Phantoms season ticket holder. I shared a season ticket subscription with a friend for the first two years of the team's existence 1996-97 and 1997-98. In 1998, I subscribed to a full season ticket plan under my own name, and I've continued that subscription ever since.

I have been an avid hockey fan since age 10. As such, I have attended countless Flyers and Phantoms games at the Spectrum over the course of 30+ years. The Spectrum is my hockey home, and it's also the source of my earliest memory. The first thing I can clearly recall in my life is standing on the floor of the back seat of my grandpop's car, gripping the base of the window for balance because I was JUST barely tall enough to look out the window when standing at full height, and looking at the frame of metal girders that formed the skeleton of the under-construction Spectrum. In the years since then, I did the math and realized that at the time of the memory, I must have been two years old, and was approaching my third birthday.

It's a cool thing to be able to look at the building and KNOW that it's the site of the first thing you can remember in your entire life.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to do that for very much longer. The Spectrum is slated for demolition some time in 2009, and this will be the Phantoms' final season in Philadelphia. I am heartbroken about both those facts. It doesn't help that every promo I've seen for the Phantoms this year includes a mention that it's the final year of hockey in that venerable venue. It still hurts to be reminded of that fact, and I suspect that I'm for a whole lot of painful reminders in the coming months. For example, here's an image that can be found on multiple pages on the Phantoms' website:


My way of dealing with this situation is to set up a separate blog, JUST for this season, where I can record the day-to-day events of the season. Photos, game recaps, opinions, line combinations -- I'm going to include as many of them as I can. If I can't have the Spectrum forever, and if I can't have the Phantoms' home rink within walking distance of my home forever, then at least I can make a point of recording and remembering as much as humanly possible of their final season at Broad and Pattison.

If you would like to take this ride along with me, and view this year through my eyes, then follow this blog and feel free to post comments.