Nosebleed’s first edition of Nose to Nose — think “point, counterpoint” — pits hockey lover and writer of the Daily Deke, Grant Beery, up against baseball-obsessed Chris Roberts to go tit for tat on who and what should be the finale at Yankee Stadium.

(Full disclosure: Chris is a Red Sox fan; Grant is an Avs fan.)

Chris Roberts: The news of the NHL trying to work a deal to play next year’s winter classic at Yankee Stadium broke yesterday. On its surface it seems like a great idea — a struggling league finally returning to some sort of prominence playing an outdoor game at one of sport’s most storied venues. Excellent! Scratch off the veneer, and now you’re faced with what’s really about it — one of sport’s most storied venues in its dying gasp playing host to a novelty.

Grant Beery: Let’s take a look at the history of the “novelties” that Yankee Stadium has hosted, because the list is long. 30 championship boxing matches have been held there. College football hosted a plethora of bowl games at Yankee Stadium from 1925 to 1987. The New York Giants played there from 1956 to 1973, including the “Greatest Game Ever Played!” Pele called the place home for awhile. Countless concerts, religious events, etc. are also on the list. Why not take an exciting, engaging game like outdoor hockey and add to the rich tradition of versatility that comes with Yankee Stadium?

C.R.: All valid points, but Yankee Stadium over its history has become associated with baseball and is firmly entrenched in the very culture of the game. No one — all right, maybe it’s better said, “very, very few” — associates the venue to their recollections of Pele, Billy Graham, and the legendary Colts-Giants game. Not to say that the baseball memories don’t hold their own as well as those you mentioned, but that the baseball memories include the atmosphere of the Stadium as an integral part — even when you enter the Stadium for something other than baseball, you’re still overwhelmed and overtaken by the thick baseball musk that has sat in its confines since its first game. Yankee Stadium wasn’t opened as a multi-purpose venue, it was opened as a baseball stadium. Yes, it’s seen myriad other events, but to disallow the final bow to the game that brought Yankee Stadium into being seems to be a disservice to the fact that Yankee Stadium is baseball.

G.B.: I hardly see this as a slap in the face to the old stadium, thanks to the new one. New Yankee Stadium is such a (borderline sappy) tribute to the stadium of old, it’s almost a clone! Take a look over the plans for the new park and you’ll quickly realize that while the old stadium may be torn down soon, another one just like it is going up across the street.

C.R.: That’s akin to the argument made to fans in Boston a few years back — new Fenway would be such a tribute to old Fenway that the nostalgia would be transferred by default. The fans who fought against the more comfortable seats, the added facilities and concessions, and newness of the proposed new Fenway knew that the memories and even a good part of the Sox tradition would remain in the old Park even if the new stadium had Pesky’s Pole and the lone red seat in deep center field. For New Yankee Stadium the familiarity might be inherent, but it’s not the Stadium of Mantle, Rizzuto, Mattingly, and Torre. Sure New Yankee Stadium might become the House That Jeter Built, but that won’t change the fact that one of baseball’s greatest venues might end its life and begin its run as a part of written baseball history with a Rangers shootout loss.

G.B.: What it sounds like you’re saying is that even with New Yankee Stadium being such a huge tribute to the old park, the fans just won’t be satisfied. So, why, after all that effort, should anybody in the Yankees organization be worried about pleasing these clearly unappreciative ticket buyers? Besides, shouldn’t the public be more appreciative of the partnership between two New York City staples to make a truly memorable event?

C.R.: Well, I’m not saying that, but just to play to it a little bit, it sounds like you’re saying the Yankee ownership is building the new Stadium because of fan and public demand. That’s not the case. What I am saying is that even though a “clone” of the Stadium is being built across the way, ending the era of this present incarnation of Yankee Stadium with a stick and a puck and not a bat and a ball frays a long thread woven into the fabric of America’s pass time.

G.B.: I think the NHL is trying to really capitalize on that “America’s pass time” buzz to help popularize hockey more in the U.S., and playing at Yankee Stadium will most definitely achieve that goal. Too many times, fans of any sport have lamented some sort of change, only to have the fervor die down a couple months later. Having hockey close the doors at Yankee Stadium will help push hockey into the limelight around the nation, showing people the pure, fast-paced, engaging game that has held a backseat to this steroid sideshow that is baseball. It’s a fitting, progressive tribute that fans should embrace and enjoy.

C.R.: “Steroid sideshow” aside — at least our baseballers can keep their ‘roid rage in check, no pun intended, during the game for a majority of the time — I think this would actually end up doing more to alienate solid baseball fans than draw them in. If this were happening this NHL season, this would be a non-issue; the goals you laid out would doubtless be achieved. The problem is that the NHL is only inserting itself into a position to upstage nearly a century of baseball history. I understand their wanting to put their product on a highly visible stage, but the goal of exploiting the end of a baseball mecca is one that will only cause ill-will among die-hard sports fans. Wait just a few more months; why not be the first event at the new Stadium?

G.B.: For years, the NHL has expressed interest in a game at Yankee Stadium, only to be turned down by the Yankees due to fears of the temporary rink damaging the field. Now that they no longer need the old park, the Steinbrenners are willing to let hockey in. It’s just as much their fault as it is the NHL’s that the timing for this game is what it is. The NHL would have had the Yankee Stadium novelty for their game whenever, and you can’t fault them for the Yankee management letting the Winter Classic conveniently ride on the coattails of the Stadium’s closing. The Yankees clearly don’t care. The NHL doesn’t care. So let’s all just root root root for the Rangers! Damn, that has a nice ring to it.

Tags: new york rangers, new york yankees, NHL, winter classic, yankee stadium