Nobody likes beating traffic more than I do. I often joke about leaving in the bottom of the second – but last night there I was, watching Posada strike out in a half empty stadium.
I got off the subway and took a tour around real Yankee Stadium. It’s very sad. It is draped in black mesh and has no lighting on it. If you’re from out of town you might not even realize what it is.
One thing I got a kick out of was the official demolition sign. Property of parks department based in….Flushing Meadows Queens. Ha! That’s the kind of thing that usually goes the other way. I took
pics and will get them up in the best few days.
So, across 161st which was always a nothing street and now is like Main Street (a generic Main Street not the one in Flushing) in a good way. Big, open, lots of energy.
The new building looks great from the outside as you approach it. Really nice on the outside (cough).
Spent 30 seconds in the unimpressive Babe Ruth Plaza. The only thing that is stopping the Tom Seaver Plaza from being just as good is that we don’t have a sign declaring you’re in Seaver Plaza. If there are
Yankees Police out there you guys should bitch about this one.
(Put standings flags on Citi please..like at Shea).
Entering the great hall is nice. I like what they’ve done with the banners (read the Yankees articles over there on the right or wait a few days for new ones) and in many ways it is what Citi lacks.
Then you go inside and I don’t care what you call the place, it isn’t Yankee Stadium.
Sure, the mind plays tricks and I started having false memories that in reality took place a block to the south – but I still maintain the concrete design looks like the Washington Metro. Dull, boring, functional, no soul.
The Yanks do a great job plastering memories everywhere and I should take David Howard to a game (Dave let me know if you’re free) but then I looked up to see the traditional bunting on the uppers and it isn’t there. Why? Because there’s an advertising ribbon. The bunting has moved down to whatever Yankees call their Mezz. Is that bad? No. Should they not have advertising? I’m realistic. However that’s not Yankee Stadium.
Sat in my seat and decided that when you go to a Yankee game you have to sit on the lower level. The uppers are so far removed and cold and windy and unfinished looking that it isn’t enjoyable. I was
downstairs and had a great view.
I sat next to a cool man from Puerto Rico whose name I didn’t catch but I thought he looked and sounded like Omar Minaya so I enertained myself with that idea. I also met a cool dude from Memphis who told me
they did put tickets on sale at the box office. He got his at 5:30 (!) so you might want to spend the $2.25 and see if you get lucky.
There was some insane security and I’ll leave out any descriptions out of respect for the officers. It was a level I have never seen at a sporting event.
The Yankees have so much history they can blow the doors off the Mets so it isn’t worth comparing (I mean if Seaver dies then who is “the man?” Piazza?). This time they trotted out Yogi.
The player introductions at fake new Yankee Stadium didn’t rock the way I remembered. Paul Olden is the wrong Voice of God replacement – again, too generic. Looking out at “standard modern stadium” with Paul, I was thinking that except for the true Yankees like A-Rod and Damon, we might as well be at a Nationals game.
So the game went on and you all know how that went. I laugh at the Yankee Panic out there today, y’all will be fine. I’m also not hating on the Yankees – they went out and got actual C.C. whereas the Mets would get the the Japanese C.C. – but the new stadium is fake…and the crowd…..
Where are you people going? In the 9th it was me, Omar from P.R. and a dude from Memphis. No sign of the typical Yankees fan (look up right now, there’s probably one in eyesight) and no sign of ghosts. Why are the Yankees fans leaving early? Isn’t the World Series the whole point of rooting all year? Maybe my Flushing mentality thinks a World Series game is something so rare it should be treasured, and you guys are spoiled and trained by Rizzuto.
I enjoyed it thoroughly, glad I went….but this ain’t Yankee Stadium.
(fixed the typos – iphone’s spell-check gets aggressive sometimes).
