On a second implosion attempt, the Pontiac Silverdome finally goes down

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

For a short while, it seemed like the Pontiac Silverdome might outlive us all.

On Sunday, there was an implosion attempt of the Detroit Lions’ longtime home (and, let’s not forget, the site of historic WrestleMania III). But when the explosives went off, the Silverdome decided it wasn’t going anywhere. The stadium didn’t go down, leading to many jokes.

But crews hurried to try another implosion on Monday afternoon, and this one worked. The upper bowl came down.

The vice president of the demolition company working on the Silverdome implosion told the Detroit Free Press that some charges didn’t go off on eight columns Sunday, which prevented the structure from falling.

The Silverdome had been long forgotten and in ruins for years, but it’s still sad to see a historic sports site fall. It hosted the San Francisco 49ers’ first Super Bowl win, World Cup soccer matches in 1994, an NBA All-Star Game and the NBA Finals, countless highlight runs by Barry Sanders and Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant. It wasn’t the prettiest venue, but it had its moments.

After being ignored for so long, the Silverdome got one last run in the news for refusing to go down. That seemed fitting.

The Silverdome, shown in Pontiac, Mich., is seen in a Nov. 2, 2005 photo. The former home of the Detroit Lions will be sold at auction to the highest bidder _ regardless of the price. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The Silverdome, shown in Pontiac, Mich., is seen in a Nov. 2, 2005 photo. The former home of the Detroit Lions will be sold at auction to the highest bidder _ regardless of the price. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!