5 places where football is foremost

Born before the Civil War, refined by Walter Camp, elevated by Knute Rockne and Pop Warner and raised to an art form by the likes of Lombardi, Landry and Walsh, American football is the love child of strategy and chaos. Brute force meets ballet’s grace in hopes that a game of inches will turn to yards. And as the 49ers face off Sunday against the Ravens in the sport’s top game, here are a few arenas in the West where gridiron is still sacred ground.

- Spud Hilton, travel@sfchronicle.com

1. Ricky’s Sports Theatre and Grill, San Leandro

This Raider Nation outpost “was a sports bar before there was anything called a sports bar,” says co-owner Ricky Ricardo. Proof? The restaurant has more than 90 televisions and a host of satellite dishes (and free Wi-Fi for checking the scores you can’t find on all those TVs). Don’t be surprised to see former Raiders walking by. 15028 Hesperian Blvd., (510) 317-0200, www.rickys.com.

2. “The Football Players,” UC Berkeley

Created in Paris by artist Douglas Tilden, in 1898 this bronze sculpture became a prize awarded by then-S.F. Mayor James Phelan to either Stanford or Cal, based on which team won two Big Games in a row. Berkeley shut out Stanford the next two meetings, and the sculpture was installed on the campus in 1900. (Tilden also sculpted the Mechanics Monument at Market and Bush streets in San Francisco.) Location: Off Campanile Way, between Strawberry Creek and the Valley Life Sciences Building.

3. Tony Morabito Bench, Candlestick Park

During a game against the Bears at Kezar Stadium, the 49ers’ first owner died of a heart attack in the stands. The 49ers rallied from a 17-7 deficit after hearing of Morabito’s death and won, 21-17. The bench, a memorial to Morabito that sat on the sidelines in Kezar, was finally moved to Candlestick in the 1980s, where it sits near the St. Francis of Assisi statue in front of Candlestick Park. 490 Jamestown Ave. (the knoll is outside the southern end of the stadium), www.49ers.com/team/history/founder.html.

4. San Jose SaberCats, San Jose

If you can get past the paddled walls, the rebound nets and a field just 50 yards long between end zones, the Arena Football League is perfectly legitimate. If nothing else, it moves faster and the players are, in general, hungrier than their big-budget NFL brethren. HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St., (408) 673-3400, www.thesanjosesabercats.com.

5. University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

Plenty of stadiums have retractable roofs, but this is the first one that also has a retractable field. The natural-grass surface slides out a back door, where it sits in the sunshine. Home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals (the college the stadium is named for doesn’t have a football team), the 63,400-seat stadium offers a host of high-tech features and oddities of convenience – most of which you’ll hear about on the 75-minute walking tour. Tours go year-round (and often sell out). Admission: $7-$9. 1 Cardinals Drive, (623) 433-7165, www.universityofphoenixstadium.com/tour.

5 places where football is foremost