Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Of all the things I never thought I would do on the blog…a link to Cindy Adams!

Cindy got a sneak peek tour of the House that A-Rod Built and was quite lengthy in today’s column about what she saw (excerpts below and the full piece here).

Their can is blue granite. Four urinals, five commodes, enough shower space for 16 naked Yankees with their bats and balls.

Alongside’s a hydrotherapy blue- and white-tiled area with whirlpools and a Swimex thing wherein the current moves but you don’t and it’s as if you’ve swum 15 laps. Plus a trainers room for massages, rubdowns, X-rays, specialists, first aid and God knows. Plus a doctor’s office. Signs signifying each room are in Yankee pinstripes. Plus, to duck the dreaded press, a hidden super-private dressing room with giant wall mirror and 12 luxury closets. Plus a wall-to-wall mirrored gym (no equipment in it yet) so elegant it looks like a dance studio. Thoughts of Hideki Matsui at a ballet barre ran through my head.

The players’ 30,000 square feet just for themselves includes a dining suite. Two rooms. One with the handmade Yankee logo rug has couches for lounging, sipping, noshing and TVing. The other, with chafing dishes plus wherewithal to prep individual menus, is a catering hall. I mean, talk of catering!

Manager Girardi doesn’t rough it, either. Not exactly Mr. Steinbrenner’s 6,000-square-foot office, but how’s a security desk in front, junior closet for Joe’s young son, who wants someday to be a ballplayer, and an anteroom in blue leather where, presumably, younger players may prostrate themselves?

And the dugout? Please. I mean, please. Heated. Air-conditioned.

That’s not even close to the entire piece .  Check it out here.

www.metspolice.com

According to the Mets website:

Citi Field will feature unprecedented sightlines, amenities, and comfort for Mets fans, sports fans and visitors to the New York metropolitan area…A contoured seating configuration will bring spectators closer to the field on all levels to provide optimal sightlines for a more intimate and entertaining experience throughout the park.

Interesting – “unprecedented” and “optimal” sightlines. Really??

According to dictionary.com, “optimal” means “Most favorable or desirable”

Well, thanks to MetsBlog for pointing this out, some of the seats at Corporate Field I would not describe as the “most favorable or desirable.”

Seems that some of the seats in the left field stands under the overhang (possibly the LF Landing or Caesar’s Club) have the out of town scoreboard partially blocking their view. Views of the field are fine – but good luck trying to track a fly ball or pop up.

Reminds one of the last several rows of Shea’s Loge section.

For the record, 40 game plans in the Caesar’s Club (which are sold out) cost almost $2,100 a seat.

Full set of pictures here on WebShots.
www.metspolice.com

We all knew that the April 13th home opener versus San Diego was not going to be the first game played at Corporate Field. The Mets have scheduled 2 exhibition games against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, April 3rd and Saturday April 4th.

But wait – it turns out that April 3rd game will not be the first baseball game to be played on the Mets new $632 million field.

Thanks to New Stadium Insider for pointing this out – the St. John’s Red Storm baseball team will christen Corporate Field with a game against the Georgetown Hoyas on Sunday, March 29th. (This according to the St. John’s schedule).

And, if this wasn’t bad enough, Met fans and season ticketholders won’t even get first crack at tickets for the game. According to the post on New Stadium Insider tickets will be offered to St. John’s students (and I presume alumni) for $5.

Meanwhile people are paying $200 for Opening Day tickets on StubHub, in what really will be the 4th game played at Corporate Field.

Seriously, who is advising the Wilpons? Is anyone?

www.metspolice.com

Driving home yesterday I was listening to The Michael Kay Show, and a caller brought up a very interesting question and hypothesis.

Just when did A-Rod know that he had tested positive?

Let’s follow this time line.

2001, A-Rod signed a 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers that would take him through the 2010 baseball season.

2003 – MLB conducts random testing for steroid use. A-Rod tests positive, along with 103 others. The union however does not destroy the results.

2004 – The FBI seizes the 2003 test results in a raid connected with their BALCO investigation. At this point therefore some people know about A-Rod’s positive test.

July 2007 – Jose Canseco says he is writing a new book on steroid use in baseball and says A-Rod will be in the book. Canseco calls A-Rod a “hypocrite.”

October 2007 – A-Rod opts out of the final 3 years of his contract and negotiates a new 10-year deal with the Yankees.

February 2009 – With 9 years remaining on his contract, A-Rod admits to using steroids.

So here is the hypothesis. A-Rod and his agent Scott Boras knew his name was on that list. They also knew that once the FBI got a hold of that list, the names would eventually leak out. There were already rumors about A-Rod, when Canseco, riding the “I Told You So” train added his voice to the mix. The walls were crumbling.

If A-Rod hadn’t opted out of his contract in 2007, next year would have been the final year of his contract. It is extremely unlikely he would have gotten anything close to the deal he did sign with the Yankees – both in terms of dollars and years. By conveniently opting out when he did, he guaranteed his continued baseball career and income well past the point where his steroid use would become known.

Given A-Rod’s disingenous nature, it really wouldn’t shock me if he and Boras were this conniving.

www.metspolice.com