#Belson Stadium

[baddawgsports]

J.J. Sends Switchback Packing

JJ Fernandez and Jovan Mijatovic lead NYCFC2 of MLS Next Pro to victory over Colorado Switchbacks of USL Championship in the US Open Cup, advancing to face New Mexico United in the Round of 16.

The matchup at Belson in Queens, NY will see the Colorado Switchbacks come to town to face the last MLS Next Pro team NYCFC 2 in the Round of 32 (4th Round) of the tournament. New York comes in the favorites despite being the lower seed team for the match. New York City opens the scoring with a goal by J.J.(Jonathan Jiménez) in the 6′ when he split the center backs off a through ball assist by…

[bluesrocknrollingstones]

Ron , Mick , Billy , Keith and Ollie at the Hughes stadium, 1975 photos by Janice Belson

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: ‘It’s a Money Day’: Detroit Businesses Are Loving the Lions’ Playoff Run by Emily Elconin and Ken Belson

By Emily Elconin and Ken Belson The Detroit Lions’ playoff run has provided much joy and a boost for local businesses around Ford Field, the team’s stadium. Published: January 23, 2024 at 05:02AM from NYT Business https://ift.tt/DY3mFde via IFTTT

[gregarnott]

Ron Wood, Billy Preston, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at the Hughes stadium, 1975 (Janice Belson)

[fuojbe-beowgi]

"New York City Reaches Deal to Build Soccer Stadium in Queens" by Dana Rubinstein and Ken Belson via NYT New York https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/nyregion/soccer-stadium-nycfc-willets.html?partner=IFTTT

[bitchardhendricks]

Well I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma) pt 11

As you can imagine, I’ve been having a lot of feelings about my hometown this week in particular. But while on a national stage it’s painted as being full of fanatical zealots hellbent on worshipping at the altar of a fascist demagogue, the reality that I’ve seen from the majority of its citizens this week is compassion, empathy, care, and concern. That mix is the brutal reality of the place that made me - a place not unlike a lot of your own hometowns, if I had to guess. I think overall, that’s the feeling I want to capture in all the parts of Tulsa fic. I wrote this part weeks and weeks ago, before any mention of the rally, but it feels fitting to post this week. I hope you’re all doing well out there, staying strong, staying safe, and taking care of each other.

***

They spend a few hours exploring the myriad shelves at Gardner’s; every time they walk into another room, Jared expects them to finally reach the end of the labyrinth, and every time there’s yet another room beyond. Richard shows Jared the spot tucked into a corner by the sci-fi section where he would spend long summer afternoons discovering new worlds with Bradbury and Asimov, Heinlein and Herbert. 

Jared finds a used Pioneer Woman cookbook to buy for Diane - “Do you think she’d like this? I noticed she didn’t have this one when I was perusing her cookbooks this morning.” 

Richard has no idea, but tries to be enthusiastic. “Um. I mean, yeah, probably, she’ll love it.”

Richard wonders what it must be like to be a person who notices things like that, makes notes of gifts to buy for people. Someone who’s thoughtful and kind and just fucking nice. He wonders, not for the first time, why Jared isn’t somewhere better, with better people, people who are like him. He wonders, also not for the first time, if his vision - Pied Piper, the company, changing the world one compressed byte at a time - is worth enough for Jared to stick around when the reality (when Richard himself) is so vastly disappointing. 

He stops paging through back issues of Fantastic Four and looks up to watch Jared flipping through records in the section across the aisle from him. Sometimes Jared’s very existence throws Richard off-balance. His posture, his competence - everything about Jared is so put together and accomplished, like he’s been practicing for hours every day to make being a grown-up look so simple. His long, nimble fingers move over the records with ease and surety. Like a pianist, Richard thinks. Good with his hands. Jared must feel the weight of his gaze, and he looks up with a bemused expression that Richard knows means, Goodness, I’m so sorry, was I being too distracting? Richard’s face grows inexplicably warm. He shakes his head sheepishly - no, you’re ok - and Jared goes back to browsing. 

He only watches for a minute or so before another guy squeezes past him trying to get to the Daredevil comics, and he jumps guiltily out of the way. “Hey Jared, we should ah, get going. Lots more to see.”

As they pay for their purchases, the sunny blonde cashier’s hand lingers against Jared’s long pianist fingers when she hands him his change. 

Richard snatches his bag of books out of her hands and stalks off before she can finish saying, “Have a nice day!” 

***

They drive for 15 minutes or so, the air conditioner cranked up, until Richard slows down in front of a huge pavilion with a banner advertising GUN SHOW flapping disconsolately in the muggy June air. Jared pales, hit by a vivid memory of a Saturday afternoon spent with Uncle Jerry and his friends at a civic center filled with the smell of testosterone and gun oil and the sounds of boisterous laughter and Lynyrd Skynyrd bouncing off the concrete walls. “Richard, I don’t--” he begins, but the car pulls into a neighborhood directly across from the huge building.

Richard puts it in park and turns to see the look on Jared’s face. “Oh - fuck, Jared, did you think I was taking you to an actual gun show? Jesus, c’mon man. No, it’s ah,” he opens his door and stands up, wedged in the vee of the car door and turning to point. “Better angle from here. See the statue? It’s the Golden Driller.”

Jared also gets out of the car to look and follows Richard’s indication. Towering above the pavilion is what looks to be a giant man made of stone the color of sand standing next to an oil derrick. The figure he cuts is imposing - Jared estimates he must be at least 7 stories tall, with his workman’s boots the size of school buses splayed shoulder-width apart, one hand on his hip and one hand resting possessively on top of the massive derrick like a hunter posing with a prized kill. His face is cut in austere lines, a square jaw, a long slash of a nose, a heavy brow hidden under a hard hat of some kind with a wide brim. He’s shirtless, and his broad shoulders narrow to a waist with a belt around it that says TULSA.

“He’s very tall,” Jared says, which makes Richard laugh. With a darted glance to confirm Richard isn’t laughing at him, Jared also laughs, surprised and a little dizzy. 

“This is like - he’s THE symbol of Tulsa, you know. The baseball team is named after him, the stadium. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with this statue, we’d pass it and I’d just start like,” Richard mimes shaking his fists back and forth in the air in wild jubilation, “‘It’s the Tulsa Driller!’ I don’t even know why, heh. Kid stuff. I think probably everyone who lives here has a picture of themselves with that statue. It’s like a Tulsa rite of passage.”

He reaches over the roof of the Camry palm up and looks at Jared, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Wanting, expectant. Jared can hardly stand it, rooted to the spot and captured by that look as neatly as a rabbit in a snare. With a sly grin, Richard finally speaks. “C’mon, gimme your phone. You wanted to document the trip, right?”

A Tulsa rite of passage, he thinks, and fumbles in his pocket for his phone. Richard unlocks it with his fingerprint - thank goodness for the day Jared had insisted they spend setting up their emergency contacts and preparedness protocols - and gestures for Jared to come around the car and pose in frame with the colossal statue. “A little to the right - ah, my right, sorry - and uh, put your hands y’know - “ Richard half-attempts the Driller’s pose and ends up more akin to a little teapot before he aborts the gesture, embarrassed. “OK, look stern. You’re an oil man now, you gotta - yeah, that’s, that’s great,” he says, giggling as Jared puts on an exaggerated scowl. The shutter clicks in rapid succession as Richard crouches down, getting a better angle. “Yes, perfect, you’re a natural, Jared,” he teases lightly and Jared’s scowl disappears, replaced with a grin so wide he hears his jaw creak. 

Richard lets the phone fall from in front of his face for a second, faltering, and just looks at Jared with a matching grin that’s febrile, electric, before taking a few more photos. When he hands the phone back to Jared, he avoids any further eye contact, looking down at the ground and hurrying back to hop in the car. 

Jared follows, hoping the spell hasn’t been entirely broken on this inexplicable wonder of a day. As they drive to their next destination, Richard is quiet, contemplative. Just as Jared is about to ask if there’s something bothering him, Richard breaks the silence. “There’s a plaque by the Driller - we went to Expo Square there, that building, on a field trip in middle school for some like, multicultural fair, I don’t know. But my teacher, she made a huge deal about this plaque, right, and I still remember it, it, it said something like um, ‘Golden Driller, dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry, who um..with their uh vision and bravery uh, benefitted all mankind.’” 

“Ah. Perhaps not all,” Jared cedes, and Richard nods furiously. 

“Right, like, I mean look how that fucking worked out for everybody. And they’re y’know, displacing Native Americans and like, if you’re not white you’re fucked, and just annihilating the goddamn planet, and they’re building monuments to themselves like they’re so, so fucking magnanimous. Right?” He grips the steering wheel with knuckles going white and Jared nods along with him, attempting to remain afloat on the tempestuous sea of Richard’s emotions. 

“You’re thinking of Gavin,” he says, and Richard’s jaw clenches mutinously in a way that tells Jared he’s right. The wound that Gavin has inflicted upon Richard’s soul is so raw and ragged, even after all this time, and it makes Jared ache to see him lash out like this, a proud lion tortured by the venomous thorn in his paw. 

“He doesn’t have a case, Richard - you know that and I know that. In the annals of history, people will remember Richard Hendricks far longer than they’ll ever remember Gavin Belson, and not because you erect monuments to your greatness in the sky. The most enduring legacies are built by leaders who inspire love, not fear.”

Richard snorts, “Great. I can’t inspire either one for shit.”

The words clamor in his throat like a swarm of bees, and he can’t quite keep them contained. With his hands clutched tight in his lap, Jared says in a rush, like a compulsion, “Oh, Richard, that’s just not true.” 

Richard glances at him, looks away. Glances back. Jared offers up a smile he hopes is reassuring rather than ghoulish, and decides the safest course of action is to redirect Richard’s focus away from Gavin. This is supposed to be a vacation, after all. “Anyway, let’s focus on Tulsa and all her hidden wonders. Where are we going next on the grand Hendricks magical mystery tour?”

The digital clock in the car reads 4:50, and Richard appears to do some mental math in his head. He shifts in his seat, perking up a little, and Jared breathes out a sigh of relief. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

“We’ve got time for one more thing and it’s...well,” Richard taps on the steering wheel in a beat Jared is coming to recognize as his tell when he’s eager, excited to show off something. “I think you’re gonna like it.”

[seeselfblack]

Serena Williams: Athletes Should Be ‘Grateful’ to Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid 

Tennis superstar Serena Williams said Friday night all athletes should be "completely grateful" to former San Francisco 49ers teammates Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid for their roles in starting the protests during the United States national anthem to oppose social injustice.

Dan Gelston of the Associated Press provided comments from Williams about Kaepernick and Reid, who were in attendance for her victory over sister Venus Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.

"I think every athlete, every human, and definitely every African American should be completely grateful and honored how Colin and Eric are doing so much more for the greater good, so to say," she said. "They really use their platform in ways that is really unfathomable. I feel like they obviously have great respect from a lot of their peers, especially other athletes, people that really are looking for social change." 

The Niners' former starting quarterback began the trend of kneeling while the anthem played during the 2016 NFL preseason.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," he told NFL Media at the time. "To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

He's remained a free agent since opting out of his contract with San Francisco in March 2017. Reid, who joined Kaepernick in the protest, went unsigned throughout the 2017 offseason.

Both players have filed collusion cases against the NFL for being unable to sign with new teams. Kaepernick scored a legal victory Thursday when arbitrator Stephen B. Burbank ruled his lawyers had discovered enough evidence to require a full hearing, per Ken Belson of the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Williams' victory over her older sister advanced her to the fourth round of the U.S. Open, where she'll face off with Kaia Kanepi. 

[supasoccer]

https://soccer.supatainment.com/union-ii-keep-six-match-unbeaten-streak-alive-in-a-2-1-win-against-new-york-city-fc-ii-union-ii/?feed_id=951&_unique_id=630711c6c55df >

[javierpenadea]

"Hochul Weighs a $1.4 Billion Stadium for Her Hometown Football Team" by BY LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ AND KEN BELSON via NYT New York https://ift.tt/noMNC3R

[emmbroiled]

Washington Football Team Plans Name Unveil Even as Bad News Mounts

By Ken Belson Two days after fans at the team’s stadium fell when a railing collapsed, the team announced a Feb. 2 — Groundhog Day — launch date for its long-awaited rebranding. Published: January 4, 2022 at 06:59PM via NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3FY9Ueb

[baddawgsports]

U.S. Open Cup New York Derby Edition

Absolute scenes at St. Johns University as NYCFC2 outshines RBNY2 in the U.S. Open Cup showdown. Jonathan Jimenez owning the field with a hat trick and Malachi Jones with the clincher. New York soccer is thriving! 🙌⚽️ #NYCFC2 #RivalryWeek #USOC

Round 2 of the U.S. Open Cup will showcase a New York Derby between the New York Red Bull 2 and New York City FC 2. The two clubs have faced off only 3 times in their club history with NYCFC 2 winning 2 matches and scoring 6 goals, while Red Bull 2 have 1 win and 5 goals. The ‘Boys in Blue’ advanced to the second round after an emphatic 3-0 road win against FC Motown in the first round of the…

[wazafam]

By BY KEN BELSON from Sports in the New York Times-https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/sports/football/nfl-salary-cap.html?partner=IFTTT If fans are in stadiums and games are played as anticipated in 2021, the salary cap for 2022 could be as much as $208.2 million. N.F.L. Salary Cap to Rise as Much as 14 Percent in 2022 Amid Pandemic Rebound New York Times

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: At Sports Stadiums, Reducing Waste Is a Team Effort by Ken Belson

By Ken Belson Leagues, teams and stadiums are working to embrace sustainable practices, fight the effects of climate change and inspire fans to do the same. Published: September 20, 2023 at 02:00PM from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/QP6jolx via IFTTT

[breakingbuzz]

The N.F.L., After Shunning Las Vegas, Doubles Down With Raiders

By BY KEN BELSON Monday night, the Las Vegas Raiders play their first game in a new $2 billion stadium, the physical manifestation of a long, slow embrace between the N.F.L. and legal sports wagering. Published: September 21, 2020 at 04:11PM from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2G1ddqQ via

[getlifehealthy]

When the Tokyo Olympics went missing — 80 years ago

By: New York Times | Tokyo | Updated: April 3, 2020 2:34:13 pm

(Representational Image)

by Ken Belson

The exhibits in the Japan Olympic Museum in central Tokyo, near the new $1.4 billion national stadium, are devoted primarily to the history of the Olympics and Japan’s participation, most notably in 1964, when Tokyo last hosted the Summer Games.

But tucked into a corner, almost as if it were…

[devilsdenbullies]

"As the Raiders Exit Oakland, Las Vegas and a $2 Billion Stadium Await" by KEN BELSON via NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2YOGJFM