Steve and I made sure to leave plenty of time to get to the game because of the infamous LA traffic. We actually got there wicked early and were lead across acres of parking lot to go get tickets. I mean, this thing was BIG. I had heard a rumor that if one purchases a ticket in the upper deck at Dodger Stadium, one cannot view any of the park from any point other than that deck. Well, turns out to be true! You can enter at any gate with your section or higher (i.e. field level can enter via levels 1-4 but upper deck can only enter on level 4). I asked the ticket sales person about this and she informed me that they would not be able to keep tabs on people moving lower who had not paid for those seats. Fine, it makes complete sense and here we go again with the “running a business” thing but I had an immediate flashback to my Atlanta experience. Anyway, we decided to jump up in price a bit to get down to the 2nd deck from the field so we’d have access to 3 areas of the stadium.
We were still incredibly early so we went for a drive to kill time. We headed down Sunset “boolevahd” where I was able to snap a photo with a fantastically small HOLLYWOOD sign WAY in the distance. We also took a spin up in the Hollywood Hills. That was actually rather incredible. We were winding this way and that on the streets and some of the views that these people have are just sick. We were trying to guess how much some of these palaces would cost and no number seemed out of the question. Side note: the streets up there are so windy and narrow that I feared for my life around nearly every bend.
After enough time was killed we went back to the expanse of land that is the parking lots at Chavez Ravine and tailgated while we watched the Celts game. So what if we only had a bottle each and the blackberry was on “auto refresh” with score updates? We had a damn good time!
Eventually we met up with Vinny and headed into the game. Vinny is a Mets fan and was wearing the colors; more on that later.
Game Notes:
Dodgers Stadium is a bit older and out of the way and I really wasn’t expecting too much but the overall experience kind of surprised me, in a good way. Instead of sticking with the eyesore that is exposed concrete, the concession area is completely decked out with banners, pennants, logos, and posters with pictures of past and present player/manager types. Of course, this guy was featured prominently:
Immediately upon entering the Stadium the class separation becomes apparent. However, before we get to that…check out the colors here. I know the Dodgers go with the blue and white so they’d need to add more colors but is this the scheme they really want to go with? Seems a bit odd…maybe “chalk it up to the 70’s” and move on? OK, let’s do that.
Anyway, it was clear they were the Bourgeoisie, we were the proletariat (and who said I couldn’t get to use my Sociology degree?! Oh, right, that was me…). They lived out their champagne wishes and caviar dreams in first class luxury while we were stuck with “3 hots and a cot” down in steerage…or in this case, the upper deck.
“Matt, calm down, these people were 20 feet below you at a baseball game and they probably didn’t even pay for their tickets, I’m sure they knew a guy.”
“But these seats look so cool!”
My favorite part was the guards that were stationed outside all of these field boxes. Even if some of us commoners managed to wrangle our way down a level, weren’t none of us folk getting anywhere near them fancy seats! And while we’re on this point, check out the exotic vendors these people get to throw their money at:
After I cooled down a bit we checked out the rest of the stadium. I immediately started to get worked up again, this time about beer prices. Then I realized they served almost exclusively 24oz. portions (for $10…not bad). Dodger stadium has an extreme lack of public transportation access so it seemed a bit odd they’d want to serve that much alcohol…oh well, not my call. The rest of the concessions repeated themselves over and over again. Panda Express, Carl’s Jr. and the California Pizza Kitchen were around every corner. Definitely the most fast food joints I’ve seen at a stadium to this point. Of course they had standard ballpark fare as well and tried to get me on a “Dodger Dog” but after my “Coliseum Dog” in Oakland I was a more savvy consumer and found out that this time it would have been a regular hot dog again. No dice, buddy!
We had tickets right by the Mets’ bullpen, which Vinny was down with, so we didn’t move around too much until the later innings. Interesting to note the ushers had no problems with us taking the stairs UP.
High Points:
-I haven’t mentioned a national anthem in a while because the girl in Tampa really “blew it out da box, dawg” but the woman at Dodger Stadium was a very close second. She seemed like the type that came out to LA with big recording contract dreams but is still stuck in “the second deck” so to speak. Not quite “bourgeois,” if you will.
-Andruw Jones getting booed during pregame introductions, his first at bat and at every subsequent mention of his name. The Dodgers just agreed to give this guy $30M for the next two years. We’re a month into the season. He’s batting somewhere south of .200 and the fans are livid. Wow.
-The concessions not only had spicy mustard (I’m such a sucker), they also showed the Celts/Cavs game which we crowded around for the last 2 minutes.
-OK, I’m gullible. They got $12.00 for it but it was 24oz. and it lit up!
Wait…here it is in the dark:
-A graphic about Luis Castillo was shown on the scoreboard in an early inning. It said something to the effect of “During 2003, 2004 and 2005 Castillo hit….” Well, later in the game that same stat was put on the board but this time it read “From 2003 – 2005 Castillo hit…” Way to go scoreboard guys! Someone was paying attention.
-We moved up to the very top deck for the 9th inning and when the Mets started to mount a comeback Vinny started a “let’s go Mets” chant! We were loud and banging on the seats so of course we immediately drew the ire of the LA fans. They were not pleased with us and told me I was wearing the wrong hat but I’d say that was a high point :)
Low Points:
-When Steve and I showed up really early we were actually trying to find out which gate to go in for the game and the stadium was completely open. We walked right into the concession area and I’m pretty sure we could have hid in the bathroom until game time if we had wanted. The security was pretty lax overall I’d say. (low point because we wasted money on tickets!)
-Remember the bullpen oasis in Colorado? Dodger Stadium tried to make their own and it didn’t come out nearly as well. Also, doesn’t the pitcher’s arm look cool?
-I’ve mentioned the shuffle game that happens at pretty much every stadium. A ball is hidden under a hat and they are mixed up and the fans need to choose which hat it’s under with their cheers. This was the easiest freakin’ hat shuffle I’ve ever seen! The hats went so slow yet everyone was patting themselves on the back when they chose correctly. That was just kind of weird.
-After my great bathroom discovery in Oakland the Dodgers go and pull the same trick. So much for that idea…I’ll spare you the visual this time.
-The LA fans again lived up to their “show up late, leave early” reputation. The 3rd-7th innings were crowded though!
-They spelled Dippin’ Dots wrong!
-Not really a low point again but the outfield looked like a minor league stadium. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Here’s the full thing:
Overall Grade: B+
Game Stats:
Teams: Dodgers vs. Mets
Final Score: 5-4 Dodgers
WP: Hong-Chih Kuo
LP: Nelson Figueroa
S: Takashi Saito
Time: 3:21
Announced Attendance: 43,927
Ticket Price: $30.00
Parking Price: $15.00
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 5-4
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 2660
States Visited: 6
Beds slept in: 10
Next Stop: San Diego Padres
Favorite Park: AT&T Park (Giants)
Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
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