My son, Ben, and I were part of the Rangers' paying crowd Friday night of 37,645 -- a wonderful night to watch baseball at Globe Life Park ... with no need for a roof, even an open one, over our heads. And I was there in the press box Saturday to see a sellout crowd cheering Yu Darvish to victory.

It was then it hit me what a ridiculous money grab by ol' Bob and Ray it is to tear down this 22-year-old structure to build a newer, slightly better retractable-roof stadium next door. Nothing about this wonderful ballpark says it's deteriorating and that it needs to go. Are there hidden problems in the Warren Spahn Suite they aren't telling us about?

Let me admit off the top I'm more sentimental than I need to be about my sports memories being torn down around me. It's amazing that I can still venture into the Cotton Bowl end zone and recall Bob Hayes coming straight at me, beating the Giants' Clarence Childs in "The Great Race" in 1965. I just have to imagine the splintered seats.

But I'm still upset when I drive past the corner of Cadiz and Industrial, and the old barn and the bright orange lights of the Sportatorium are gone. I saw Fritz Von Erich battle NWA champion Lou Thesz there when I was in fifth grade, a birthday promise that haunts my father to this day.

But the building was pushing 70 when it hit the dirt in 2003. I wish it could have been saved, but I do get why it wasn't.

Same for Yankee Stadium, site of my first professional sports experience in 1961. Roger Maris hit his seventh home run that day. I didn't know he was on his way to 61. I only cared that I got to see Mickey Mantle and tell my kindergarten friends in New Jersey about it.

I covered Rangers playoff games there in the '90s, saw President George W. Bush throw that pitch and those magical Yankee comebacks when we were all cheering for the team and the city of New York six weeks after 9-11.

Even though the new Yankee Stadium resembles the original as much as reasonably possible, I hated that it had to go. But I read enough to understand that -- unlike the much smaller Wrigley Field and Fenway Park -- this one was going to come crashing down some day.

None of that applies to a baseball stadium that came to us the spring before my 21-year-old son arrived. In this case, he's the one who's really not happy about having his 2010 and 2011 memories torn away so soon and for such a nonsensical reason.

In the worst of summers, there might be 20 nights out of 81 where it would be really great to have a little air conditioning and a roof. But for the most part are fans here really grumbling about this? I don't hear it.

And for those that are, have they been inside closed-roof structures like Minute Maid Park in Houston or Phoenix's Chase Field? They're OK when the roof is open, but it's still not quite the same as sitting in a truly open air stadium like Globe Life Park.

Are we sure the Rangers won't close the roof for some of the same nonsensical reasons the Cowboys do it?

If you're thinking about rain, don't bother. It may rain in Texas, but actual rainouts are rare.

A roof is simply not enough of a reason to bulldoze an otherwise perfectly good ballpark. OK, perfect is incorrect. The folks in Arlington have never figured out the proper ratio of concession stands to customers. Fans are there to eat first and watch baseball second. And heaven forbid if your kid demands ice cream, that's a two-inning wait on a good night.

Of course, fixing issues like that or the smaller one those in the media would like to address -- press box windows that actually open so that Nomar Mazara home runs aren't viewed in a soundproof booth -- aren't what the new stadium is about.

It's about money. It's about new seat licenses for loyal fans who feel like they just finished paying for the last round in 1994. It's about taking the mostly good, occasionally great product that GM Jon Daniels and his crew have consistently produced for a decade and marketing it for all it's worth in new suites and box seat prices.

It's about scaring the taxpayers in Arlington that the evil rulers in Dallas were this close to making an offer that Rangers management couldn't refuse ... even though those of us who live in or near downtown Dallas know how big things get down around here.

Slowly. If ever.

All I know is more than 129,000 fans made their way through the turnstiles for the weekend series with Pittsburgh. That might be as much as the new stadium will hold by the way although no one doubts ticket revenues will increase under the glorious roofed structure.

I got it when we said so long to a cramped Reunion Arena, built without the foresight of suites. This is a different deal.

Ever spent an August afternoon in St. Louis? Gets pretty steamy there, too, and yet the team survives without a roof. In fact, the Cardinals historically have collected championships like no team other than the Yankees.

Were you at the ballpark the night Neftali Feliz struck out A-Rod to get Texas to its first World Series? How about the night Derek Holland shut down the Cardinals one game after Albert Pujols had launched three Series home runs?

Hang onto those memories and those pictures. The old place is going to be rubble before you know it. And memories of Nolan Ryan making Ranger magic will be two stadiums old by then.

Twitter: @TimCowlishaw