THESHOW A behind-the-scenes look at sports

RFK Stadium could hardly be further removed from the brick-encrusted, sushi-serving, retro-crazed baseball venues currently in vogue. Pete Farrell thinks that's a good thing.

"After you've seen [retro stadiums] for the 83rd time, when you walk in there with the musty concourse and the paint peeling, it's like 'Ahhhhh, this feels right,' " Farrell said.

He knows of what he speaks. In 2002, the 35-year-old mail carrier from Buffalo and his close friend Andrew Kulyk , a 47-year-old exterminator, finished their mission to visit every NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB venue, earning mentions on "The Today Show" and "SportsCenter" and in Sports Illustrated. Pro leagues, though, are not static things, so as new venues have opened and downtrodden Canadian baseball teams have relocated, the rules of their game have kept Farrell and Kulyk on the road.

They make a sports-related trip about once every six weeks; they've also started visiting minor league baseball and hockey venues, and lately have been taken with college football stadiums. All the venues are photographed and then reviewed on their Web site, http://www.thesportsroadtrip.com/ .

Last weekend, they crossed RFK off their list, taking in the Nationals and Game 4 of the Wizards-Heat series for good measure. Kulyk wore a Heat polo shirt on Saturday but promised he was rooting for the Wizards; the shirt was merely to honor Miami assistant and Buffalo legend Bob McAdoo , Kulyk explained at a downtown restaurant before ordering a Buffalo chicken sandwich.

So how will RFK fare when its rating is revealed later this week?

"All the newer buildings, they are nicer from the opulence standpoint, they do have more amenities, they are more fan friendly than a building like RFK," Farrell said. "It's just a place to go in, grab a hot dog and a beer, grab your seat and watch some baseball. . . . And that's good, especially in these days of overly corporate venues like that one out in Landover."

Oh, do tell.

"Okay, FedEx Field -- you go to a football game you expect to see guys in jeans, the smell of brats in the air, guys chugging beers," Kulyk said. "There's guys in their Dockers, on their PDAs. Not a single open flame. I'm like, what's wrong with this picture? . . . You folks need to recapture what actual football games look and feel like."

FedEx received 2 1/2 stars out of five in Farrell and Kulyk's rating system. Despite sound system problems and RFK's limited concessions -- mostly "old-fashioned ballpark dreck," Farrell said -- the duo predicted Washingtonians would be very pleased with RFK's score, which as of yesterday, had not been posted on the Web site.

Between sightseeing trips, Farrell and Kulyk also went to the site of the Nats' future home on the Anacostia River, "walked among the cement plants and hustlers and drug dealers," Kulyk said.

And their recommendations?

"Other than not leaving the cement plant next door, do something dramatic," Kulyk said. "Do something that says this is the nation's capital. Do something architecturally bold. Don't just do Camden Yards South."

-- Dan Steinberg