- published: 24 Jul 2008
- views: 868888
A grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way around. Grandstands may have basic bench seating, but usually have individual chairs like a stadium. Grandstands are also usually covered with a roof, but are open on the front. They are often multi-tiered.
Grandstands are found at places like Epsom Downs Racecourse and Atlanta Motor Speedway. They may also be found at fairgrounds, circuses, and outdoor arenas used for rodeos.
In the United States, smaller stands are called bleachers, and are usually far more basic and typically single-tiered (hence the difference from a "grand stand"). Early baseball games were often staged at fairgrounds, and the term "grandstand" came along when standalone baseball parks began to be built. A covered bleacher may be called a "pavilion," also to distinguish from the main "grandstand".
I always loved the Grandstand opening when growing up. That must have been why I recorded 4 of them! Sit back and relive a little bit of history. These are openings between 1993 and 1998 but not in succession.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED. If your family or friends were affected by the Hillsborough disaster, please consider whether you want to watch this. It is part of the opening section of Grandstand, recorded on the morning of the disaster. It includes the build up to the match, which is terribly sad to watch in retrospect.
Grandstand was one of the BBC longest running sports shows but ended on Sunday 28th January 2007. Here is the end of the programme, presented by Clare Balding, with some of the highlights of its 49 year history.
As best I can, a look through the changes the Grandstand titles have been through. I included a silent 8mm clip where - in 1976 - the clip was reshot with the cameraman without his overcoat to indicate 'Summer' (still had to wear a tie though)
After 49 years on the BBC, the final Grandstand edition was broadcast on 27 January 2007
Opening with the last few minutes of the senior women's race of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from Boston; then a brief jump over to rugby, followed by Final Score, and a little bit of F1 news before the credits and BBC Sport ident. Presented by Steve Rider, football results read by Len Martin, and plenty of others from the videprinter. Technical notes: Usual nice processing with AviSynth here (MDegrain2i2 and QTGMC), although a very noisy block of frames at the start were masked over with FreezeFrame (hence the freeze in picture near the start); the audio is also missing from this section.
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So many stars above our heads and yet we choose to starve
So many stones out there to turn and yet we choose to ignore
Thousands I wish to corrupt, their sons I seek to mislead
Damned forever be your dreams, I reject my destiny
To see what hides behind the mask
To live, to lust and make it last
To take the grandstand on the top of the world
And scream the truth: what does not kill, hurts us
So many ways out there to thread and yet we choose to turn back
So many choices we could have made and yet we choose to kneel down
Thousands I wish to corrupt, their sons I seek to mislead
Damned forever be your dreams, I reject my destiny
To see what hides behind the mask
To live, to lust and make it last
To take the grandstand on the top of the world