Paging Ray Guy
They’re playing a bowl game at Tropicana Field this weekend. As soon as I read this, a question popped into my head. Thankfully, the article answers it:
Could a football hit the catwalks at the Trop? The highest catwalks — the A and B rings — are at least 142 feet above the field, far too high for any football. The C catwalk, which goes directly over the end zone in rightfield, is 99 feet up, leaving the only reasonably reachable catwalk as the D ring, which never crosses the field of play but sits at 59 feet in centerfield and slightly higher over the stands in rightfield.
The Times sent a reporter to Tropicana Field last week, with former USF goalkeeper and semi-pro kicker Mike Pepper attempting to hit a catwalk from the field of play. Pepper hit the D catwalk, but not in any normal game situation — he put two balls over the outermost ring, punting out of bounds from the far 20-yard line.
Awesome. As a Trop regular, the catwalks add a somewhat fascinating dynamic to Rays games and their role/potential interplay during non-baseball sporting events is intriguing. Jim Caple did a video piece for ESPN.com during the Rays playoff run that included a little information about the catwalks.
Also, this comment is added for the sole purpose of bolstering Shysterball’s comment rate/frequency.
The Saint Petersburg Bowl, eh? If the Rose Bowl is the granddaddy of them all is this one the Cousin Oliver of bowl games?