I was thinking about this other day, when I was trying to figure out the home field advantage for certain teams!! I personally think that the Chiefs and the Raiders have to be considered two of the most grueling places to play at for a visiting team!!

If we went back to the past and included places like Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Houston's Astrodome, Washington's RFK Stadium or Philadelphia's Veterans' Stadium, the results might be a tad different.

When the NFL first started to penalize for crowd noise, the USA Today ran a poll to find out which city they thought would be the first to be penalized. Among the domed stadia and Municipal Stadium with its 70,000-plus capacity was good ol' RFK Stadium with its barely 55,000-plus capacity. That stadium is built in such a way that it holds in the crowd noise. I've been to soccer matches there with just under 16,000 fans and my ears were ringing afterwards because it was so loud. Also, the stands bounced.

OMG that is more stupid than the rule about keeping your socks up. We want to see calves!!! wink

I would have to go with Green Bay in November/December as most intimidating. Having spent plenty of time in that area eek! it's DAMN COLD. I would not want to be playing football there.

Speaking of crowd noise....

Shouldn't there be a rule in the NFL that the noise actually has to come from the crowd, not the speakers? From the Dick Vermeil radio show Monday night after this past Saturday's game in the Metrodome:

DICK VERMEIL: “The noise level on that field was unbelievable. We could not do any of our ‘check with me’ running game. In fact, there were times when we were in the huddle they put different kinds of sounds that weren’t true solid music, but just noise coming through the speakers. I called the official over and said, ‘what’s that? I said that’s not music; that’s noise and it’s only on when we’re in the huddle.’”

SIDELINE REPORTER: That’s true. Being on the sidelines it was by far the loudest environment I’ve been in in a long time and there were things coming out of those speakers that had nothing to do with music or crowd noise. Sounded like they had recorded a jet engine and decided to run it.”

Com'on Minnesota fans, you play in a dome, you shouldn't have to pump in noise to disrupt the play of the other team, you should be able to do it on your own legitimately like they do in Nashville and Kansas City. Weak.

Destiny - I think you're right about Cleveland Municipal Stadium. My pick now is Arrowhead.

After today, I believe I will add Gillette Stadium to the list. HOW 'BOUT THOSE PATS!!!!

What are you talking about?

I watched the whole game today, what in the world did the fans do today to make Gillette Stadium intimidating?

I didn't see anything. The broadcasters didn't comment on anything...

I dunno. Winning a lot of games, especially at home, can make just about any place intimidating to play in.

The Rams squandered away any chance of going to the Super Bowl yesterday but losing to the Lions and losing homefield throughout. They are a dome team and won't fare well at the Linc on a cold Jan day. The only team I see that can perhaps challenge the Eagles in Philly will be the Pack.

The Eagles can and will beat themselves.

I wouldn't forget Old Mile High in Denver

My pick is obvious... the Colesium here in Nashville. We're the best fans in the NFL and the loudest. Kansas City is a close second.

hey,

I'm no expert here....but I can say that I have attended a game in each of the NFL's 31 stadia and yes, I have seen both the Giants and Jets at Giants Stadium. So without further ado, I will give my own humble opinion on intimidating places with a few of my favorites.

Loudest place I ever heard- The Coliseum in Nashville(this was at the moment when Kevin Dyson was racing up the sideline executing the "home run throwback" to perfection against my beloved Bills).

Other places I can remember for the noise level-
In no particular order.

Arrowhead(for a Monday Nighter....impressive)
Metrodome-very rabid fans
Superdome-had to cover my ears here and there!
The Linc- the entire building sings their fight song- E A G L E S EAGLES!!!

And places that suck-
Atlanta(Pre-Vick)- maybe things are different now.
FedEx Field - Fans miss RFK dearly!
Pro Player- hell I'm a Bills fan....what do you expect!

But one place stood out amongst them all as the craziest, zaniest, place in the NFL....and a place I would NEVER show up wearing opposing teams colors....

NETWORK ASSOCIATES COLISEUM, OAKLAND.

I was there for a night game in 2000 and let me tell you, there is an unbelievable feeling of being surrounded by 65K silver and black clad maniacs under a pitch black sky!

Do you ever see Raiderfan at the game dresse up in some sort of inhumane attire-THESE PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE!

DAMN I WAS CUT OFF!

anyhow...those freaks are almost the norm and not "that cool dressed fan that cameras searched for hours to find".

If you have ever seen "Attack of the Clones"....this place resembled that coliseum where they had the gladiator style match near the end...the place had that kind of frenzy to it!

Win or lose, look at the job Seattle is doing today in Green Bay.

I'm becoming convinced that if you have good players and a decent coach, NO stadium is intimidating.

JIP- I agree with you for a change. That performance by Seattle, even though they lost, was unexpectedly good. I thought it would be a Packer blowout, by Seattle was in the game until the very end. Ever since Holmgren gave up that GM title, they have played much better. They are only a couple of players away from being a very good team.

According to the Accoustical Design Group, Inc. of Mission, Kansas, here’s how the crowd noise at Arrowhead Stadium ranks in maximum sound levels, dBA:

Threshold of Pain - 130
Arrowhead Stadium - 116
727 Landing Overhead - 106
Average Office - 25

Raymond James Stadium-Miami Dolphins.....


Are we trying to add insult to injury ???