Anyway, we were early to check into our hotel so we headed out for a real middle-of-the-country-steak at the Hereford House. This place was good. I got the Kansas City Strip along with a side of cheddar ranch potatoes. Basically they take scalloped potatoes and add cheddar and ranch somehow. I’m sure it was tremendously unhealthy but it was GOOOOOODDDDDDDDD.
When we finally checked in we had the added bonus of being able to see both Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums from our window. For those of you who don’t know, those are the homes of the Royals and Chiefs respectively. Side note – do you remember that snickers commercial where the guy paints “Chefs” in the end zone and a player comes up to him and says “That’s great, but who are the Chefs?” and the guy says “great googly moogly.” I think that commercial is great. Relive the magic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U_EfE-mqgE
So the next morning we crossed the “George Brett Bridge” to get over to the stadium about 2 hours early. I’m not lying. This guy is as close to a saint as you can get in Kansas City. He had the most prominent display in the Royals Hall of Fame, he’s got a big statue out in front of the stadium and his retired name and number are listed dead center on the scoreboard. Check this out.
Game Notes:
We got up to the stadium and, like I said, we were about 2 hours early. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get tickets. To the Royals. 2 hours early. Wow! And this is a team that had just the previous night snapped a 12 game losing streak! I’ve waited in line for tickets at exactly 2 other stadiums and each time there were only 2-3 people in front of me. There had to be 50 people in line in front of us at the Royals game. Later I found out they had all kinds of promotions going on but I’ll get to those later.
Before the gates opened Dad and I had some time to kill so we checked out the construction going on all around the stadium. I guess there are all kinds of changes at Kauffman Stadium planned for opening day 2009 including a brand new concourse ringing the home plate side of the stadium as well as an expanded outfield concourse with fan friendly activities and some new seating areas as well. Dad was pretty curious and took an up close peak. For what it’s worth, you can also see the new stadium design in this picture.
Finally we were let in and I started to find out what all the commotion was about. We walked right in the right field gate but fans were lined up 200 deep at the home plate gate to get in and get on line for Royals autograph day. They got in, waited in line for about a half an hour and were lucky to get one autograph because players were made available for less than a half hour. And really…they’re the Royals…I don’t know, it just didn’t seem worth it to me. This is what I’m talking about though.
As I mentioned, there was lots of construction everywhere. That means cramped quarters and concessions, especially with the hoopla surrounding the autograph sessions. The Royals even had to set up temporary concession tents and bathrooms to accommodate fans in certain areas of the park. It’s too bad they couldn’t have made these changes in the offseason but I can’t fault a team like the Royals for finally spending some money to give back to its fans. Here’s what I’m talking about though, the walkway was maybe 10 feet wide?
Initially I wanted to include 17 pictures in this post so I’m trying to find those that capture multiple points I wanted to make. This next one happens to include yours truly. It also happens to include the cool fountains you often see on TV during Royals highlights. Some of the different displays they had throughout the game were pretty impressive. And these things were going the entire time too. Also, I’m sure it was somebody’s great idea but I thought the shape of the scoreboard was a classy way to pay tribute to the Kansas City logo. It is in the shape of the crown that backs the famous “KC.” Also, and I may have been foreshadowing a bit in the St. Louis post, every fan in the ballpark can see this scoreboard from his or her seat! What a great idea!
The grass looks pretty good in the background as well, huh? Well, the credit for this next observation goes to Dad. Have you ever been on a TV show or movie set? I’ve been around some low quality productions before and things that don’t have to be perfect for the cameras often aren’t. Check out the grass behind the outfield wall. On TV you wouldn’t notice this imperfection but to the casual fan sitting in the furthest left seats of the furthest left sections of the ballpark it creates quite the eye sore!
High Points:
-No matter where I was in Kauffman stadium I felt closer to the game than in St. Louis. There are essentially 2 decks in Kansas City with a small middle area dedicated to some luxury boxes. The upper deck truly is massive but you still get the “homey” feel of being close to the game.
-The prices at Kauffman stadium, overall, have been the best so far. $6.75 for a 24oz beer; $3.50 for a hot dog; $2.50 for sunflower seeds and $6.25 for a brat which I’ll get to in a second. The other point I want to make is about draft vs. bottled beer. Usually the draft is more economically viable in terms of price per ounce of beer. At Kauffman Stadium the beer vendors charge $7.00 for a 16oz bottle! I’ve seen prices close before but never inverted. I’ll stick with the draft please (if I didn’t have to drive). Now, as promised, here’s the Sheboygan brat I had.
I will tell you this has been the best food item purchased at any park. That’s 19 parks in and I’m saying that. This thing was MASSIVE, cheap and delicious. Also, they had pale ale mustard which was a unique take on spicy brown mustard that complimented the brat and kraut extremely well.
-The mascot again fit the bill. It was a lion with a crown but lions are the “kings of the jungle” and the team in Kansas City is called the “Royals”…not that much of a stretch.
-Circle K convenience stores were running a promotion where your ticket stub was worth a 32oz soda or small coffee AND a snickers bar if the Royals pitching staff, as a whole, struck out 6 opposing hitters. I know it’s the Royals but that’s a pretty easy target and I’d love to know how many times they have to pay out during the year. Needless to say they ended up reaching the goal while we were there but the only bad part was the promotion didn’t start until the next day and Dad and I had to drive to Iowa right after the game. Somehow I managed to persevere sans snickers bar.
-Remember I mentioned all the Texans singing “Deep in the heart of Texas” during the 7th inning? Well, via the massive video board in center field Garth Brooks did the honor of leading the Kansas City crowd in a stirring rendition of “I’ve got friends in low places” and everyone in the stands got quite into it.
-I wasn’t so into the song but I sure loved me this bucket of popcorn. For $10 you could buy a giant popcorn tub and two small sodas. The popcorn tub was refillable not only at the current game but you could bring it back to any Royals game you attend and keep getting refills that way. GREAT promotion!
OK, OK...I suppose I should address the elephant in the room regarding the picture above. I know you’re all thinking it and some of you have emailed me questions about it. I may as well take this opportunity to acknowledge publically that the rumors are NOT true. I did NOT finish this entire tub of popcorn. Are you crazy? This thing was massive. Dad loves popcorn and the two of us together didn’t even finish it. Maybe that was out of courtesy for having to sit together in a car for the next 5 hours or so. Either way, let this statement be the answer to all of your questions. I did NOT finish the tub of popcorn. I hope that ends it.
-Almost every stadium has a “kiss cam” on the scoreboard in the middle of some inning where they put a heart graphic around two people and they are supposed to kiss. The Kansas City fans were the most attentive to this promotion, by far (mayhaps because fans can actually SEE the scoreboard?!). The best part was towards the end when a heart was put around a young guy and his girlfriend. Well, before either of them could react the guys friend comes out of nowhere from off camera and plants one on his cheek. The crowd went nuts!
-Dad noticed this one too. If you look to the right of the Royals dugout you can see a second dugout with fans in it. I’m sure this was some sort of promotion and you had to win your way in but wouldn’t it be cool to have a dugout view of a game, even if only once??
-The Royals scoreboard was big enough that they could put as much information as you would want up there. Maybe I haven’t been paying attention at other stadiums but at Kauffman they provided the last play at the end of the lineup. So if you’re keeping score and say to yourself “shoot, did he ground out to third or short” you can just look at the bottom of the lineup and find out. I don’t think other stadiums keep it up there as long.
-You should all know by now that I love the condiment races. Well, Kauffman was another stadium that does a live version. It wouldn’t have been funny except that Mustard had a brain fart and totally didn’t get the concept of the race. Basically the condiments had to run a hundred yards on the first base side dirt. You can see the finish line in the picture on the left. You can also see mustard taking off for parts unknown. In the picture on the right you can see the aftermath where the race is over and everyone is wondering what the hell mustard was thinking. High comedy.
Low Points:
-The Royals rolled autograph day, free stuffed otter day, family and friends day and everyone runs the bases day all into one. It’s a long season guys, couldn’t you spread it out a bit to keep the hysteria at a dull roar?
-Given that it’s an understandable necessity I’m not going to dock the Royals points for the construction and cramped nature of the stadium but it still was a low point of the day.
-The Royals had a luxury restaurant and “luxury” picnic table area down the left field line. Dad and I got to check out the views from these places and, to be honest, I was left very unimpressed. I was much happier with our upper deck view of the game.
-At many stadiums across the country the scoreboard has to get fans into the game. The Royals fans have been the worst offenders to date. They would start cheering when prompted by the scoreboard but as soon as the graphic was gone, so was the noise. It was uncanny, it’s like the cheering had an on and off switch. Usually the scoreboard will start fans cheering for a bit and it will gradually die out but for the Royals fans it was all or nothing, no grey area for them!
-Again with the annoying host. These things need to stop. When I own a major league team we will never ever employ a “host” for a baseball game.
-The tops of my feet got sunburned. Not the Royals fault but it was still a low point of the day.
Overall Grade: B
Game Stats:
Teams: Royals vs. Indians
Final Score: 6-1 Royals
WP: Brian Bannister
LP: Paul Byrd
Time: 2:32
Announced Attendance: 22,345
Ticket Price: $9.00
Parking Price: N/A
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 13-6
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 7654
States Visited: 17
Countries Visited: 2
Beds slept in: 23
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Minnesota Twins
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)
Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
1 comment:
Heat, I have to say the Great Googly Moogly Snickers commercial might be one of my favorites ever. Props to you for incorporating it here. Side note: do you have a beard now?
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