It was an unexpectedly cold and foggy night in the Bronx tonight and to put it lightly, well, none of the Venables were impressed with the new Yankee Stadium. All four of us took the subway up to the Bronx to see the game and I think we were disappointed to say the least. The best word to describe the place is sterile. I had been to the old Yankee Stadium three times before. The new one looks almost the same on the inside and out as the old one with the exception of the great gigantic scoreboards they have in center field.
 |
| The whole Venable crew came out to see what the Yanks had to offer. |
 |
| The CF scoreboard is nice. The biggest so far that we've seen and it does the job. |
 |
| Andie and I hamming it up for the camera |
What I was really disappointed with more than anything were the fans. In the old Yankee Stadium, the fans were running smak, and not just smak, but REALLY good smak at the opposing team and fans. This time, you might has well had been in any bad baseball town for the most part. The fans were docile and even did the wave twice during the game. The wave??? In Yankee Stadium??
Not all of the fans were boring. It is cool what the bleacher creatures in right field do to start the game. About three sections of fans in RF begin chanting each Yankee player's name one by one until the player looks to right field and waves at them. That's pretty nice to see and it shows the connection the players have with the fans. But the word from the fans sitting near us was that in the new stadium, prices for all of the seats nearly doubled and the working class fan who would usually be there with all the great smak runners have been priced out of the park, which is too bad. I've always hated the Yankees, and New Yorkers can be rough around the edges, but I have a great respect for their fans and they definitely know their baseball.
Anyway, there were some great parts to the ballpark. You have to love the section in center field where all of the monuments sit in respect to the players who have had their numbers retired. One thing the Yankees do right is tradition and history. They also have it all around the park. There's hardly a place you can go where you don't see something about Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, or Lou Gherig. I guess my belief is that if they wanted to make the new park look so much like the old park, they should have just refurbished the old one. The park does have great concessions though. The food was very good - something my kids definitely enjoyed.
 |
| Cold and foggy at Yankee Stadium |
 |
| The banners surrounding the inside of the park are very cool. |
 |
| More banners. The Yanks do history right. |
 |
Me and my main man. We can now say we've seen a game in Yankee Stadium together.
I just wish it had been the old one. |
The Yankees lost the game by the way - 4-2 to the Rockies. As for the two parks Michael and I saw in New York, Citi Field wins that competition hands down. Even the Yankee fans sitting around us acknowledged that Citi Field looks better. Overall, I would give it a 6.5/10. It's not a bad place to watch a game, but it is Yankee Stadium, and you just expect more if they were going to build a new park. Anyway, here's Michael's take:
Hi everyone. It's me Michael. It's pretty late tonight and we've got to head out to Philadelphia tomorrow morning so I'll make it quick. Yankee Stadium was not good compared to what I have seen so far. I agree with my dad. I thought it would be much better. The outside of the park was nothing special. My dad told me about all the great fans. The fans were boring to me. I did like the food and the big scoreboard was nice, but I'm not even sure it will make my top 15 stadiums. I will have to think about it some more. Anyway, I give it about a 5.5/10.
Well, there you have it. The Venable crew will head out bright and early tomorrow morning for a quick two hour ride to Philadelphia. Tomorrow night, just Michael and I are heading to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phillies play the A's. I've heard the park is really nice so we'll see how it turns out. We'll also take in some more historical sights and I'm going to race Michael to the top of the Philadelphia Art Museum to see if we can recreate the scene from Rocky. Looking forward to it and maybe even a cheesesteak sandwich!
No comments:
Post a Comment