Bullish (I)

Spring has been rather reluctant to show itself in much of the country, yet after gray skies, puddled potholes and schitzophrenic temperatures, today seemed to be a good day for a quick trip.

To Harrison, New Jersey.

You're probably wondering what would possess me to trek down from Harlem to Harrison while Houston's Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier were giving the Los Angeles Lakers whiplash. Well, again, it was a nice day outside, even with the wind and figuring that the next few weeks will bring about nothing but insanity and fatigue, I figured that this was as good of a time as any to check out the quiet-as-its-kept building going up in my backyard.

Red Bull New York, the organization that owns the New York Red Bulls (formerly the New York/New Jersey MetroStars), is overseeing the construction of a brand-new 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium. Red Bull Arena has been in the making for at least a decade as the team plays its home games at the soon-to-be-rubble Giants Stadium. The NFL stadium is far too big for a MLS team as the sport does not have the fan bases of the long-entrenched major leagues here. However, MLS' unique business model has allowed for the league to have tremendous and intimate control over individual team resources. In turn, controlling costs attracted outside investors in hopes of not only gate profits, but greater barganing chips in terms of stadium finances.

So here's a glimpse of the skeleton of the Arena. My hopes are to get a closer look as the Arena's completion date nears and the area surrounding it becomes far more developed than what you will see here.



Here are a few links that will tell you more about this new (and privately-funded, apparently) building going up.

• Red Bull Arena website
  
  
• Red Bull Arena video update
  
  
• Red Bull Arena webcam
  
  
• Red Bull Arena Wiki

Say What?!?!: Sticking with the Red Bulls, I figured that this would be the perfect time to bring up the best (or worst, depending on your view) celebration you have never seen. Just over three years ago when DC United came to play RBNY at Giants Stadium, Alecko Eskandarian displayed what is possibly the single most wonderfully insulting celebrations in American sports history. However, outside of a reference on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption and the beat reporters for the teams, you probably never heard about it. Many thanks to Paul Bracher of The Endless Blog for providing the visual excellence.