Clarion Content

The forty-two year old Philadelphia Spectrum closed last week with a 76ers win. This was the house where Moses declared it was gonna be, "Fo' fo' and fo'!" and then with Dr. J led the 1983 Sixers on a twelve win and one loss championship run. The Spectrum was a powerful homecourt advantage and those Sixers teams would have won a few more titles if it hadn't been for Bird's Celtics and the Jabbar-Magic Lakers. They were the third wheel to one of the greatest rivalries of all-time.

The Spectrum is a building located in one of the biggest parking lots on the East Coast. The parking lot area in downtown Philly off the I-95 is so vast that the new home of the Philadelphia Eagles was built in the parking lot of the now imploded Veteran's Stadium. The Spectrum stood even as it was replaced by the First Union Center as the home of Sixers and Flyers.

It would be nice if the Flyers, who dominated in the Spectrum in the era of the Broad Street Bullies, got to play one more game their, too. They won two Stanley Cups there. They also became the first American franchise to beat the legendary Soviet Red Army team doing it at the Spectrum. The building also hosted the 1976 NBA and NHL All-Star games during the height of the bicentennial celebration.

Labels: hockey, NBA, sports