Tag Archives: brooklyn dodgers

Things we hold dear

By David Warren | Thu 30th April 2020 - 2:10 pm

Like many the lockdown left me searching for things to do in this unique situation.

A search on the Film 4 website took me to the complete series of the hit US comedy Seinfeld so I decided to work my way through it knowing that it would make me laugh as it did 25 years ago. Throughout the series there are passing references to sport and politics which got me thinking about both in a somewhat unusual way.

Seinfeld is set in New York, a city that lost its iconic baseball team the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the late 1950s when the owner moved them to Los Angeles. Thousands had packed into the Dodgers stadium for decades but that didn’t save it from the wrecking ball.

Here in the UK too stadiums and teams have also been consigned to history. In my home town of Reading the football team I have supported since childhood moved grounds in 1998 and, although it was within the same borough, I always missed the old place where I stood on the terraces engrossed in the action. Worse still, the town’s speedway club Reading Racers, twice British champions, saw their stadium close in 2008 with promises from the local council to find a new one coming to nothing. Racers fans are still waiting. Now the economic crisis brought about by Coronavirus threatens the existence of many more sports clubs.