A No Trace Place

Over the past couple of weeks because I've played golf and done various roadshows that prompted me to drive past a place I haven't in a while. It's the intersection of State Route 303 and I-271.

Do you know what's there? Nothing, just a big field of two. And that's the shame of it all. If that intersection sounds familiar, it should. Years ago it was the home of the Richfield Coliseum. The RC has been gone a long time now. Torn down in the early 1990's after the Cavaliers and others moved into the Gund Arena (The Q now), and left it for dead in northern Summit County. I'm not looking back and saying things should have been different and we should still be playing ball there, but I am saying it's sad that it seems like it never happened.

If you are too young to remember, The Coliseum was built in the early 1970's after the Cavs came into the NBA. The Cavs were playing in the worst building in the world, the old Cleveland Arena. They then moved into the greatest building in the world, at least we thought so, The Coliseum. It was built in the era of The Spectrum in Philadelphia, and the Omni in Atlanta. New, exciting arenas that were like nothing we had seen before. With restaurants, private suites, and amazingly comfy seats. This sounds so basic now, but it wasn't then.

Some fantastic things happened in that building in the middle of nowhere. The Cavs Miracle In Richfield, The Cleveland Force and the great soccer played there, and too many concerts to mention. From Frank Sinatra who opened the building, to Micheal Stanley and everything in between. She had her naysayers too, being out there on some farmland far from any real city. But many of us grew up there along with the Cavs, Force, the circus, the rodeo, and cars shows, everything you can imagine. Then, the doors closed...and that was it.

I think it is sad that there's not a single thing there that commemorates or reminds us that the once mighty building even existed. There should be! I think as a people we are really saddened when a place closes where so much fun had been had. Schools, theaters, amusement parks, and stadiums are good examples. Heck even Chippewa Lake somehow managed to stay standing for 40 years after it closed and over grew itself. And I'm not saying that the Coliseum should still be out there in the forest crumbling down like Chippewa Lake.

I am also glad that the Coliseum didn't get a reprieve on life for life's sake, with some of the silly ideas that floated around at the time. I am glad it's not an outlet mall like some were hoping for, or a prison like was being talked about too. The old girl certainly deserved better treatment than that. And I am not saying that maybe her time didn't come. But I am saying that there is no sign, no marker, no single trace that she was ever there. I think she...and we deserve better than that.

All of us had so much fun there, and have so many memories that it would be fun to take note when you drive by. That in this massive overgrown field at one time, there was great human joy, and heartbreak, and such outpouring of emotion to the to... and the fro. That pretending it never happened is no way to go.

But as it is, the memories of an era gone by with only the whispers of cheers and joy that now are a faded memory that gently blows through the trees and meadow that is 303 and 271. She deserved better when she was alive, and absolutely more now that she's gone.

The Coliseum site has become a true no trace place.