A Look At The Assault On The Senses At New York Mets Citi Field…From A Season Ticket Holder

A guest column from reader JMF.

Let me preface my gripe and complaint by saying that I’m 53 years old, and have been a Mets fan since I was a kid, and the reason I offer this fact is that my gripe might simply be generational.

Or said a different way, if you’re 10 or 20 even 35 years old, you would probably think my gripe is that of grumpy old man, whereas those friends and relatives that are over say 40 or 45 totally agree with me.

And the Mets are not the only culprits of my gripe in sports, but you’d think they and old FRED W. would be above it or more sensitive about it.

Also let me say that I am mostly very happy with CitiField, and that I have attended this season a few games at Citizen Bank Ballpark and New Yankee Stadium.

Here is the gripe.

Once upon a time, we the fan could go to a game, and hold a normal conversation with our neighbor, Joan Jarvis was great, so was Eddie Layton (at Knicks games), and as years went by the Mets decided to get rid of the organ and apparently were the first to bring in annoying cheerleading canned artificial cheer music.

Between innings we could talk about the game, or life, and enjoy the baseball game experience.

I recall several years ago at a day game with my cousin there was a rain delay at Shea, and on the big video screen was an out of town meaningless game, and the sound was so loud that would couldn’t communicate.  An out of town game in a rain delay caused us discomfort, how could that be?  Who was in charge?  Were we the only people in attendance that were numbed by the experience?

And as time went by, most noticeably in the past few years, the Mets created what I call the MAKE NOISE Department, which, if you look in the Mets Media Guide is called the Broadcasting/Entertainment & Video Productions department lead by Vito Vitiello and perhaps as many as three or four other employees who are in charge of all the non-baseball audio and video, during the game.. there is a video guy, a computer graphics guy, and so on, guys who are paid to make my life as a fan an unpleasant experience.

As years have gone by, their power has increased, their presence ever greater, to the point now where I prefer it when the visiting team is up, so nice, so mellow, just baseball….

As a season’s ticket holder I was real excited about the new CitiField Experience, and recall the exhibition game against the Red Sox, which had the non-baseball artificial canned horrible noise toned nicely down, but was so disappointed on Opening Day to learn that my fears were realized.  They were back.

I had started to write a letter to Fred Wilpon about how it was hard to understand how someone who revered or appeared to rever the days of baseball glory, could or would allow such an assault of the aural senses.  In the letter I asked Fred if he had ever been to a game at Fenway or Wrigley, the last bastions of tranquil baseball, and so on, but a local new york sportswriter that is well respected wrote me back and said that my letter was too sarcastic and I never sent it.

So this year, while the Make Noise Department has cut back on the horrific Kevin James Let’s Go Mets Cheer, which apparently scared adults and kids alike, and Chris Rock and Tom Seaver video cheers, it has “stepped up” other noise.

BTW, I have no gripe with the Mets deplorable between innings races and promos (because I understand that it has to do with direct revenue generation to satisfy sponsored obligations…), my gripe is the non-sponsored cheering music, player intro music, closer music, which while it sounds better acoustically than at Shea, is still obnoxious and overdone.

Am I the only one that feels this way?  I know I’m not as I’ve occasionally heard from others on the Mets website message board.

So if I’m not specific enough, here they are…

First of all, who decided that the Star Spangled Banner should now be played 20 minutes before the game?  Wasn’t that kind of a nice traditional thing that would evoke a fan roar leading to the Mets taking the field?

Second of all, who decided and now decides  that the player music should last more than three or four seconds and should be played really loud?  Why do I have to hear, for example, Carlos Beltran’s song LOUD every time he’s up for ten seconds.  How about the fourth time, cutting it short?

Who decided and who decides how frequently we should have to hear cheers between pitches, which clearly increases when the Mets have a man on base, and increases as the game gets into the later innings…  Things have gotten so bad now that if the Mets have men on in the 8th inning, we can now be assaulted between EVERY PITCH!!!!

WHO DECIDED that if the Mets hit a home run that there should be HOME RUN music so loud that it overwhelms the cheers of the fans.  Even though I’m now going into obsessive land now, I can tell you that I was listening to the Mets at Fenway a year or two ago, in my car, and the Red Sox hit a homer, and know what I heard??  The crowd, roaring, delighted, just the roar of the crowd, no idiot music.

Is there any possibility that cheering music suppresses or represses a crowd?  I find that Mets fans tend to make a better Let’s Go Mets cheer when it’s not prodded or prompted.

Oh, and am I more or less likely to MAKE NOISE when prompted?  What about you?  Does that get your blood going?

What is this MAKE NOISE obsession in sports?  Did a marketer do a study to show that sponsors will spend more money when the fans are like sheep, following a video board’s desperate begging?

Is it better at the New Yankee Stadium and at Citizens Bank in Philly?  YES, it is better, it is not as frequent and desperate and LOUD.

I had hoped that Fred and Jeff would have toned it town, made it more like an old park.

NOPE.

As far as the visual assault?  Doesn’t bother me as much, I don’t have read the ads, but it’s hard to avoid the assault on my ears.

Again, if you’re 25 years old, you’d probably not know any different and think I’m a nut.  If you’re 50 or 60 years old, who knows?

J

I’ve touched upon this from time to time and totally agree.  One of my favorite stadium experiences was at Fenway Park about 15 years ago when they had nothing but organ music.    Haven’t been there since so I don’t know how it is now.    Sometimes the home run is enough to make us clap, you know?  I don’t need scream for a 1 and 0 count.

Good stuff.  Your guest column is welcome at [email protected]    Just mention in your email that you’d like it posted.

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