Cincinnati says goodbye to historic Cinergy Field

The 32-year-old stadium was demolished on Sunday.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- It took just 37 seconds to bring down the old Riverfront Stadium, a prominent feature of Cincinnati's skyline for 32 years and the ballpark that was home of Pete Rose's Big Red Machine and of Hank Aaron's 714th home run.
With the push of a button, 1,275 pounds of dynamite and nitroglycerine went off Sunday in a counterclockwise pattern of blasts around what had been renamed Cinergy Field, collapsing the arena inward onto its former playing surface.
Onlookers cheered and car horns sounded as a cloud of smoke and dust spread into downtown.
Thousands of people lined both sides of the Ohio River, and some bars and restaurants had breakfast parties for spectators.
"Aw, wow," said David Nixon, 61, who videotaped the implosion along with his son, Jeff. "We came down from Chicago. We just had to see this. ... We just flat enjoyed it."
"When you're here, you hear the explosions, see the smoke, get some vibrations," said Jeff Nixon, 39.
Watching
Hotel rooms with a view of the demolition were booked. Other people watched it from boats on the river.
Three blocks away at Paul Brown Stadium, the home of the Cincinnati Bengals, thousands of spectators gathered to watch Cinergy crumble.
Workers had already stripped the stadium of all lighting, seats and other fixtures to prepare the ballpark for its demise.
Executives overseeing the demolition said it went according to plan, sparing the Reds' new ballpark next door and other nearby structures, including the 1866 John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge that spans the Ohio River to Covington, Ky.
"It couldn't have gone better," said Jeff Sizemore of O'Rourke Wrecking Co., the demolition contractor.
Hamilton County, which owns the stadium, is paying the company $6 million to clear the rubble, a floodwall and the parking garage by Aug. 31.
The site will become the western concourse of the Cincinnati Reds' new home, the $280 million Great American Ball Park, and will include the Reds' Hall of Fame, set to open in 2004.
Highlights
Riverfront Stadium, built for $44 million, opened in 1970 with Hank Aaron hitting a home run in the first game.
In the All-Star game that summer, Rose gave the National League the win by bowling over Ray Fosse at home plate. That fall, the stadium hosted the World Series in which the Reds lost to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Reds went on to win three World Series, including consecutive titles in 1975-76 with Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench leading the Big Red Machine. In 1985, Rose passed Ty Cobb's record at the stadium to become baseball's career hits leader.
In the winter, the stadium was home to the Bengals, who reached two Super Bowls while playing there.
In one of the NFL's coldest games on Jan. 10, 1982, the Bengals overcame a wind chill of 59 degrees below zero to beat the San Diego Chargers 27-7.
The Bengals left the stadium in 1999, moving to Paul Brown Stadium.
The Reds' new ballpark opens with a March 28 exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians. The season opener is March 31 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.