Right on Target?

When I showed up for the first day of law school a couple of years ago I found out that I needed to learn how to write. Apparently, meandering, flowery prose are unacceptable in the legal/business world. My professors and advisors have spent the past two years drilling out of me what was ingrained throughout my time in high school and as a liberal arts major in college. Despite Villanova’s best efforts, I plan on digging down deep inside of me and dragging these new blog updates on for as long as possible. Get straight to the point?? Bah! Who wants to do that? That’s boring. This blog has been and will continue to be an outlet of creativity. So, without further ado…

When I was in Minneapolis to review the Metrodome back in 2008 I found out the Twins were constructing a new stadium to be opened in 2010. It was clear the Metrodome was not well-suited as a baseball stadium but I also found out the new park would be an outdoor facility…in Minneapolis!! The Twinkies have been perennial playoff contenders for at least a decade now and I can’t imagine baseball being played outside in Minnesota late into October; or, for that matter, in the first weeks of April every year. Luckily, the game I went to was in July and weather (at least cold weather) wasn’t a concern. I flew out to the Twin cities to visit my friend Ellen and her dad Chris hooked us up with sweet suite seats (jeez, say that three times fast!) – so first, a big THANK YOU there for the seats and the hospitality!

As far as Target Field was concerned, it was new, it was modern, and it was…nice. I may catch some flak for this, but compared to some of the great stadiums in the country, it just didn’t blow my doors off. Obviously all of these reviews and impressions are completely subjective and many different factors affect each visit, but for this particular park I just found it to be lacking…je ne sais quoi. There was no “it” factor for me. Plenty of people are going to disagree with me though. Check this out:

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/teamrankings/_/category/stx#table

ESPN The Magazine ranked Target Field the number one venue in all of sports. This, while my favorite baseball stadium in the country – the Padres’ Petco Park – was ranked 43rd. So what do I know? Regardless, my trip to the Twin Cities this summer certainly was very different from the first time around!

Game Notes:

One of the reasons I may not have taken more away from the stadium was the fact that we simply weren’t there for very long. The game lasted only an hour and fifty-two minutes!! Yes, 1:52. At the time, it was the third-shortest game in the majors for 2010. Also, due to factors beyond our control we didn’t get to the stadium all that early so we didn’t get to catch BP or walk around an empty stadium either. By the time I completed a lap around the park we were already a few innings into the action. The trade-off, though, was that for this game we had a “suite” view from the Land O’Lakes suite!


Quite a different experience from my typical “I’ll have one of your cheapest tickets, please.” All of the suites at Target Field are named after lakes in Minnesota. For those of you keeping score at home, we were in the “Farm Lake” suite. We were greeted with a great spread of food and drink and a tremendous view of Minneapolis. I will say, the sightlines around the park were pretty well thought out and from the third base side, this is what we got to look at:


The field views from around the rest of the park were a bit…quirky. Not good or bad, just quirky. The dimensions of the concourse are really different from most other parks and there are a lot of sharp angles as you walk around the stadium underbelly. That concourse, though, is something the Twins really improved on compared to the Metrodome. Two years ago the game I went to wasn’t very crowded but moving around in the concession areas was still a nightmare. At Target field there was TONS of room to walk about freely. Kudos to them on that one.


In walking around the concourse I found some unique things. First, unlike St. Louis or especially one of the new New York stadiums (I won’t spoil which one!), the seats all over Target Field feel really close to the action. The plot of land the stadium is built on isn’t a huge sprawling area so all the seats ended up being decently close to the field. Second, the gates are all named/numbered after famous players in Twins history. Also, and I’m sure I’m forgetting other stadiums that did this, but like Baltimore, the Twins have a light-rail train that pulls RIGHT up to a gate, which is tremendously convenient for people who want to take public transport to the game. Two other local tributes that were kind of subtle was this wood engraving of Kirby Puckett behind one of the bar areas in the suite section. I didn’t even notice it the first time I walked past. Then there was a salute and pub dedicated to “Townball.” Apparently this is kind of an informal league around the state where people just get together to play every summer and there are over 300 active teams.

At the main entrance gate I found two cool things. One was this farmers market:


Small but effective? I guess it’s just a nod to the local produce producers (yeah, I just went there). The other thing was this weird metallic “wind thing.” I don’t know how else to describe it and this picture does it no justice at all but when the wind blew, these metal plates moved in random wave formations. It looked really cool, you’ll just have to take my word for it.


What else…food? You should all know I always love checking out the food/prices. The Twins stepped up their prices from a couple of years ago but overall it was still more reasonable than many of the other parks around the country. Of course, they had more “brats” than you could shake a stick at, a hot dog runs ya $4.50, 16 oz. beer for $7.00, $4.50 for nachos…then they had these “tator tot boats” that I was too intrigued by to write down the cost! Also, I completely forgot to get the cheese curds again. Oh well, next time, yeah?

Finally, before we get to some high and low points, we saw “Wally the Beer Man” on our walk around the park! For those of you who don’t know, apparently he’s been a staple at Minnesota sporting events and especially Twins games since the Metrodome opened. If you’d like to know more, here’s a Sports Illustrated article from 23 years ago!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066153/index.htm

High Points:

-As mentioned, the intimacy of the seats at Target Field stood out and virtually everywhere in the park that I walked to felt pretty close. Also, they have real-live metal bleachers for that extra-special, traditional, back-cramped-by-the-fourth-inning baseball experience!

-The Land O’ Lakes suite, complete with food/drink spread and fully stocked dessert cart certainly was a high point of the day. On a related note: the bathrooms in the suite section were immaculate but I neglected to check out the regular ones. 1000 pardons for that, please.

-The scoreboard(s) at Target Field may have taken over as the best in the country. I remember that Arizona’s and Washington DC’s scoreboards had previously been up there in my book, but the amount of information you could get at a second’s notice in Minneapolis was truly impressive.


Between the main scoreboard above, and the two below, fans have at their fingertips all kinds of “modern” numbers (please tell me you know what OPS means by now), the current pitching line, the batter’s season stats, who was due up, and virtually any other info you could want. Finally, have a look at the right-hand side of the picture. Ellen and I tried to recreate the magic of “Minnie” and “Paul” shaking hands but I don’t think we got it quite right…mostly cause we turned out way more blurry than they are in real life.


-The aforementioned open concourse was a definite plus.

-The retired numbers at Target Field took up about 1/100th of the space they did in the Metrodome.

-The highest point of the game was probably when Chris took me down to the VIP area behind home plate. They have a separate club down there with all the food and drinks you could want. There is a little peephole for fans to watch players take BP inside before the game. And, I’ve said it before, but Major League Baseball is just a completely different game from down at the field level. It was only for a couple of innings, but boy was it worth it!


(See also more scoreboard information in straightaway centerfield. I’m telling you, this place was a wealth!)

-The last high point was probably the bullpens. Tons of fans in the left field bleachers can easily peer over a short wall and check out players from both teams warming up. But when I checked them out, all I could picture was the amount of trash talk that must happen between teams. I guarantee you it’s not “hey, how are you, how’s the family” type stuff. It has to be pure venom that is spit back and forth between competitors, separated only by a few millimeters of chain-link fence, ready to do battle in front of an arena filled with thousands of screaming fans, all calling for blood and…what? No? OK, maybe that’s just me. Here’s what I’m talking about:


Vicious, huh?

Low Points:

-Despite the very “new” feel and modern décor that accompanied my visit to Target Field, the stadium left some things to be desired. First, the condiments at this brand new stadium really let me down. We all know I loves me some spicy mustard yet the best the Twins could do was the generic Heinz products (yellow mustard, ketchup, and sweet relish). Wait till you see what one of the New York teams did…

-The fan-to-scoreboard interaction was a little metza metz. Granted, it’s the Midwest, but even accounting for that, the scoreboard was doing a lot of cheerleading throughout the game. Also, the Twins got rid of the “No Rules Fish Race!” (see Summer of Matt, post 27, para. 11 “One Day Honey, One Day Onion” discussing general awesomeness of said race). Sorry, sorry, I know I said no more of those. So the in-person fish race was replaced by a computer generated, rigged to win, cartoon sports car race featuring Babe the Ox and other indigenous Minnesota creatures. Lame.


-I again was swindled into drinking Michelob Golden Light. Luckily, because of the “suite” perks, I didn’t waste money on it this time around. But I clearly didn’t remember the marketing lesson Dad gave me two years ago. Those guys are good!

-The Bud Deck was closed off to fans without tickets to the Bud Deck. Jerks.

-TC the Bear is the Twins mascot. He showed up a few times throughout my notes. First, on the left, he can be seen absolutely demolishing the competition in the pre-game home run derby. Random fans are selected to try to hit softballs over the outfield fence. Then this TC character comes out of nowhere and obliterates the high score. I would LOVE to have that guy’s job. To just be some washed up minor leaguer or college player who gets paid to come in and ruin the hopes and dreams of random fans before every game. Haha, sounds awesome! On the right is “Creepy TC.” Creepy because he’s wearing a skinny mustache and huddling around a group of unsuspecting youngsters…yikes.












-The pregame field grooming guy did not drag his mat in perfect circles. Obviously a low point.

-Another low point, and obviously this is the Twins’ fault, was the game time. An MLB game lasting under two hours is just unacceptable, especially when I’ve got a ticket to a suite! Luckily, it started pouring (and I’m talking big, strong, Midwest rain – not some little drizzle like back home. Seriously, hardest I’ve seen it rain in years) after the game so we got to hang out a bit while everyone else had to unsuccessfully dodge the sheets of water on their way out of the stadium.


-The Twins kept their old-school, campy intro music but, unlike 2008, didn’t mix it into something new and fresh. Lame.

-Whoever sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was pretty off key!

And just for the heck of it, here’s a few more pictures:


The illusive “Bud Deck” and Twins retired numbers


Trippy painting


John, Ryan, Brenda, Ellen


Land O' Lakes Jersey!

OK, I reckon that’s all I’ve got for Minneapolis. On to Citi Field in New York!

Overall Grade: B+

Game Stats:
Teams: Twins vs. White Sox
Final Score: 3-2 Twins
Extra Innings: 0
WP: Carl Pavano
LP: Mark Buehrle
Time: 1:52 (?!?!)
Announced Attendance: 40,637 (102.9% full)
Ticket Price: $0 (Thanks, Chris!)
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:
Home team record: 23-8
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 10,702
Speeding Tickets: ZERO!
States Visited: 27
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 34
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Mets (Citi Field)
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
Twins (2008): B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
Phillies: A-
Nationals: B
Mets: C+
Yankees: B
Red Sox: A-
Twins (2010): B+

Update

Hi!

Well, I’m kind of shocked that it’s been over TWO YEARS since I updated this blog. The time has flown by for me. Also, I guarantee you my summer of frivolity and lack of responsibility was miles more interesting and worth your time reading about than the last two years which, as predicted, were spent mostly in the library.

So, what’s been going on with me? Well, the first year of law school was pretty much the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I spent my first summer working for a commercial litigation firm and it cemented my previously conceived notion that I am NOT a litigator and will never see a court room in my career. I enjoyed second year way more, especially after I ended up getting a Nintendo Wii second semester :-) This past summer I worked in the legal department of a company based in Boston that builds wind farms all over the country. That was really interesting as I’ve been fascinated by wind energy for a few years now (see Summer of Matt, post 27, para. 1 “One Day Honey, One Day Onion” proclaiming author’s adoration of wind farms). OK, no more of those, I promise! Anyway, I managed to survive the first two years of law school physically intact and, for the most part, mentally as well. I made the most of my time at Villanova but now I’m heading off to start yet another adventure – this time it’ll be ‘cross the pond! I was lucky enough to be accepted into a program where I’ll spend my third year of school studying abroad with one of Villanova’s partner schools – the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I got the chance to work in Edinburgh for two months during 2007 so I know what I’m going back to and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ll get to spend 12 months there and earn my JD from Villanova as well as an LLM of U of E. As of now there are no plans to tour the rugby stadiums in the UK but I will certainly keep you updated if that changes.

This summer though, I was fortunate enough to make it to the baseball stadiums that have opened since I completed my trip back in 2008. That means I went to Minneapolis to check out the Twins’ new outdoor (?!) stadium and also took two trips to NYC to see the dew digs of the Mets and Yankees. It may take another few weeks but I promise to get all those stadium reviews up for your viewing pleasure...as if anyone is still checking this blog, haha!

Regards,

Mgmt

African or European Swallow?

A lot of people have asked me if I planned to continue this blog while at school. Fearing such continuation would lead to the mass boredom of all 12 of my readers, I decided against it. I did not want to have to start every entry with something like "Today when I was studying at the library..." but forgive me when I say:

Today when I was studying at the library, I was deep in thought about whether it is possible for someone to own the air space above their property when all of a sudden a pigeon of some considerable size flew right into the window next to me!! It made quite the thud as it went limp and fell towards the ground below. Heads popped out of cubicles everywhere and I got up to see if the little fellow was alright. Alas, I couldn't see that far down.

I may have a headache from the reading I have to do but I'm sure I've got nothing on that poor guy! It's all about perspective, right?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls…Welcome to Fenway Park.

Well, this is it. We’ve reached the pinnacle, climbed the mountain, saw all there is to see, etc. etc. etc. I really did not want this journey to end but I thought there would be no way more fitting than to finish at Fenway Park. To be fair, I will warn you all that this post will be the longest of the trip and most likely will take up quite a fair amount of your time. The word "EPIC" comes to mind.

All over the rest of the country I had compared bits and pieces of Fenway to each stadium and now it’s time to see how Fenway, on the whole, stacked up against the other 29 major league parks. Truth be told, I actually was lucky enough to attend two other games in Boston this year (one with Lindsay early in the season and one with Brandon which I’ll explain in more detail – thanks guys!!) but for my “official review” I went with Gretchen to a game against the A’s and tried to move around the park, just like always, and also stay sober enough to take coherent notes and give the stadium a proper review.

Brandon invited me to a game against the Angels on Wednesday July 30th and my “official” game was on Friday August 1st with the team having an off day on the Thursday in between. Normally this wouldn’t be significant, but given that the MLB trading deadline fell on that particular Thursday, in between the games, it turned out to have quite an impact! Having seen those two games means I saw the end of the Manny Ramirez era in Boston (great pictures to follow below) and also the beginning of Jason Bay’s time patrolling left field.

Before the Angels game I went to the new “Bleacher Bar” on Lansdowne St. with Brandon and Riley. For those of you who haven’t heard about this, the bar is located under Fenway’s bleacher section, is new this year and gives patrons a field level view of Fenway Park from straightaway center field! There is a garage door size opening in one of the walls and the warning track is literally on the other side of a few inches of glass.

The bar isn’t directly affiliated with the Red Sox and is open year round. Given that it’s inside Fenway Park, I can’t even begin to imagine what they’re paying in rent! A few other stadiums around the country had something similar to this (US Cellular in Chicago comes to mind) but I thought this was the best just given how close you are to the field. During the game a player could literally crash into the wall right at your table! As if that wasn’t enough, check this out.


Apologies again to those who are easily offended but if you hadn’t figured it out, this is the view from one of the men’s room urinals. This way you’re guaranteed never to miss a second of the action; this place thought of everything!! I even managed to get myself a few suspicious looks while snapping a photo of my friends in action.


The Bleacher Bar is a great “pregame” location because the beers are WAY cheaper than inside the stadium. This is a theme among all the bars surrounding the park though. I didn’t see a comparable selection of watering holes anywhere else in the country. The bars in Chicago surrounding Wrigley were great but I still have to give Boston the nod on this one. We even had the number 2 baseball bar in the country, the Cask ‘N Flagon. I’m not sure why they’re so happy to tout their status as number 2 but I do know there’s always a line to get in before and after games.


I’d also like to point out various other goings-on in the above picture. There is the famous Citgo sign on the left, the sign on the Cask singing its praises as baseball’s number 2 bar, the street sign for Lansdowne St. (which, by the way, was undergoing massive amounts of construction when I was there) and also the “Dice-K” sign, the significance of which is lost on me.

Aside from the bars, the area surrounding Fenway had plenty of other great things to offer. Like many other teams, the Red Sox have paid homage to their greatest player ever; in this case they built a statue of Ted Williams.


I don’t fancy myself much of a sculptor so I’m not an expert on proportions or anything but doesn’t that hat look like it’s just going to swallow the child hole?? Either way, something was off about this statue and it creeped me out. Moving on a bit further I discovered a sight I hadn’t seen in a long time. I think the media coverage of the Red Sox is directly proportional to the passion of the fan base. Take a look at all of these media trucks lined up outside the park.


I didn’t see anything like this at any other stadium in the country. Granted, this picture was taken one day after the Manny Ramirez trade so there was all kinds of national attention swirling around the Red Sox but I’ve seen similar sights almost every other time I’ve been at Fenway Park. All of the local news stations always have a truck and a reporter to cover the game and then there are all of the cable stations that also follow and report on the team. NESN (the New England Sports Network) is one of the few stations of its kind where a localized region has a fan base interested enough to support an entire sports channel devoted to the teams from that area (in this case the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins). That’s mighty impressive! To wit, here you can check out Tom Caron, Jim Rice and Gordon Edes doing what they do best.


Side Note: If anyone can let me know whether that usage of “to wit” was appropriate or not it would be greatly appreciated. I’ve been trying to work it in for the last 29 parks and it just never seemed appropriate :-)

OK, I’m 1200 words into this post and we haven’t even got inside the stadium yet! There’s still one bit I have to cover though. I can say it definitively now: on Red Sox game day, Yawkey Way is like no other street in the country. It runs adjacent to Fenway Park’s 3rd base/home plate area, stretches roughly 150 yards and is the picture of absolute pandemonium before each game. I could never get enough of the atmosphere and the buzz that permeates the entire block. Without fail, you always find the die-hard fans with their thick accents talking about what Francona is going to do with the lineup that day, the recent bandwagon jumpers wearing their pink hats and talking about how cute Varitek is or saying they’ve never heard of a guy called Jason Bay, the first-timers who completely pack the largest souvenir store in the country and the drunks stumbling their way towards the bleachers, trying to avoid getting ejected before first pitch. It is a kaleidoscope of passion, unmatched anywhere else in the nation.

The street was filled with masses of people decked out in their sox gear, sausage carts, peanut/pistachio venders, purveyors of that liquid gold we like to call beer and, of course, “Big League Brian!” This guy has the greatest job. He just walks around on stilts before every game and takes photos with fans, plays catch with them and generally seems to have a good time.


One last note I want to mention about Yawkey Way is that for the game against the Athletics I ran into Steve’s uncle Harry! Steve and I stayed with Harry and Diane in LA when we were there for the Angels and Dodgers games and Harry had just come over to this coast to catch a game at each of Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. Small freakin’ world, huh?!

Harry: if you see this, I'd love to get the picture we took to put on here for posterity!

Game Notes:

It’s not really fair to include updates and renovations at Fenway because I didn’t get to do that for the other stadiums but, too bad, I’m going to do it anyway. The Red Sox have really made some nice upgrades since I was a little kid. The stadium is still old and definitely feels it at times but the new management team that took over earlier this millennium have done a great job of adding bits and pieces here and there every year. One of those renovations was to add seats atop the Green Monster. No, I didn’t have tickets there and, sadly, this was as close as I could get.

I don’t know what the big deal is; the view isn’t even that great, right?? This turned into somewhat of a theme though. I knew it going in but was still disappointed with the lack of unfettered access to many parts of the stadium. Pretty much the entire “upper deck” section ringing the infield is off limits to the common fan. Thank God Susan got me those EMC tickets for a game two years ago or else I think I would have had a tantrum then and there not knowing what I was missing. It’s too bad that most of the luxury seats are sold to corporate sponsors but at least the boxes get used, unlike in some other cities *cough*Cleveland*cough*.

One of the newer areas I did get to check out was the Budweiser roof deck in right field. This is the view from below.


And here is me, wistfully gazing into the distance contemplating why, oh lord, WHY I decided it would be a good idea to go into 6-figure debt instead of finding someone to pay me to travel and write for the rest of my life!

Anyway, this area had tabletop seating and plenty of standing room. They also had a very large, full-service bar if you just wanted to hang out and drink with the game in the background. This was very similar to the “red porch” in Washington and considering tickets up there cost $115 it really is not a bad deal to try and get a standing room ticket for $20 then head on up to the bar for the game.

I guess now is as good a time as any to address the ticket prices at Fenway Park. On the right side of the first Bud roof deck picture above you can see some steel bleachers; these are called “Conigliaro’s Corner.” This was an addition by the Sox last year to make the park seem more family friendly. Can we pause there for a second though? I just paid an average of $14 per ticket at every single other stadium in the country and now I’m going to get the privilege of shelling out $25 to sit on freezing cold or burning hot steel (pick your month, maybe May is tolerable?) while craning my neck from the highest point in the park to try and get a glimpse of a game being played below? Where do I sign up?!

I understand the whole “supply and demand” thing and that Sox tickets are THE thing to get right now (trust me, I paid $110 per ticket back in March for $50 seats behind a pole for my game) but it still sucks that the scalpers/third-party agencies can’t be better controlled. Outside Fenway there were scalpers EVERYWHERE and they all had handfuls of tickets. I’d like to think something could be done about that. But I digress, after one more of me, it’s back to the park!


I was actually quite pleased with what I picked up on when I returned to Fenway after having seen the rest of the country. Purposefully or not, I’ve definitely become adept at picking up on things that are important to me at a baseball stadium and Gretchen and I discovered a few other things that I normally don’t notice or don’t think are cool/important.

This was the first time I had seen one of these machines at a park, at least for the fans to use. The Yankees giving out free cups of ice water trumps it but here’s a picture of Gretchen and her very talkative new best friend getting cooled off.

The grandstand section at Fenway makes up the vast majority of the seats in the house and almost all of them down the first base/right field line are TERRIBLE. They face straight ahead so you have to turn your neck or body for the entire game (you know how much that sucks, people with back troubles!) and usually there is a pole blocking your view of some of the game. Plus, the seats themselves are old, hard, wooden, dilapidated pieces of crap.


For as terrible as their condition is though, if you somehow manage to score free tickets to the lower levels or otherwise shell out half your life savings, the “close” seats at Fenway are closer than anywhere else in the country. Take a look at this next picture. Fans in the seats right near the field or dugout are RIGHT THERE. I sat in the second row behind the dugout a few years back and I haven’t had that kind of experience at any other time in my life. It’s pretty much like being courtside at an NBA game, only better because you’re at a baseball game!


When my lap around the stadium finally ended and we found our seats it seemed only fitting that there was a pole blocking my view of second base. Frankly, I wouldn’t have expected anything else.

High Points:

-The above picture is a great example of the first “high point” I want to make about Fenway Park. My notes, from both games, are filled with little tidbits about how great the fans were and I don’t know if I can stress this enough. My recent stadium reviews have found me doting on the “east coast” stadiums and how the crowds are more into the game than elsewhere around the country. Well, I really tried to not let my Red Sox bias influence my review of the stadium but please believe me when I say that Sox fans truly are a different breed. Getting back to the picture, the stands were virtually packed by the first pitch for every Fenway game I attended. If you look at the stats below you’ll see that the stadium was filled over capacity at 103.6%. The atmosphere at Fenway Park, even on a Wednesday night in late July, was like no other stadium in the entire country, period.

-I got to see Josh Beckett pitch. It’s always fun to see the ace of a staff work his magic (even though we lost that game).

-I mentioned this on a few occasions in other posts and my theory rang true. Other than guarding the various “exclusive” sections of the park, ushers were only around and in my business if I needed one. Given that Fenway sells out on a regular basis the ushers aren’t going to concern themselves with fans sitting in their exact assigned seats because, for the most part, people are able to police themselves and the ushers can stick to their real duties of helping people find their section or kicking out the meatheads who can’t correctly read their ticket.

-Rachel gave me this idea and it actually worked out pretty well! If you let peanuts soak in your beer long enough they’re absolutely delicious when you eat them whole, shell and all! At first I gave them maybe 5 minutes and they were disgusting but I left them in a bit longer and, lo and behold, c’est magnifique!

-I’m going to keep referring back to this but I can’t help it. Throughout the game there were ZERO scoreboard prompts or little matching games or condiment races. At Fenway Park it was all about the baseball with zero frills attached. Fans went absolutely bonkers over pregame introductions and even the most routine plays, then the decibels jumped up ten-fold when anything meaningful happened. At each game I went to I paid attention to the baseball, not the scoreboard or the music or the food or the mascot, just the game. The fans got their own chants going at just the appropriate times and I realized that was what had been missing around the rest of the country. It just didn’t happen in places like Kansas City or Texas or Florida. I LOVED it!

-I love the creativity shown by the young entrepreneurs who peddle the tee shirts outside the park.

Hmmm…Bartles and James? Smirnoff Ice? I wonder…

-I guess at most other places in the country this would have been a low point but I was actually pleasantly surprised at the prices in Fenway Park. I had expected the Yankees and Red Sox to charge the highest prices in the country but I’d have to say the Nationals and Mets were the worst offenders. At Fenway you could get a hot dog for $4.75, a pretzel for $3.75, candy for $2.50 and a foot-long hot dog for $5.00. The beer was “one size fits all” at $7.50 for 16oz. and, frankly, I was expecting much worse across the board.

-Good old northeast liberalism reared its head as in between a few innings during the game “Rosie the Recycler” girls trotted up and down the aisles collecting things that could be recycled. That was nice to see and also a first in the country. Also, for the record, I don’t know if these girls had a name or not but I think it should be "Rosie the Recycler" if it isn’t already.

-The most beautiful wall in the country.

-Most likely it was due to the game being sold out but there was always a vendor around when you needed one (save for beer vendors, but more on that later). With their bright yellow shirts it was easy to pick them out of the crowd and all you had to do was raise an arm if you needed something. The peanut and cotton candy guys also delivered in a big way. I knew I wasn’t crazy when I kept talking about them throwing things across multiple aisles. It was nice to be home!

-Beach balls being batted around the bleachers!!

-Like the guy who was on point in Philly, the music people at Fenway played “a little less conversation, a little more action” when the A’s pitching coach went to talk to his pitcher. Good stuff.

-You can chalk up this next one as the only thing the scoreboard does to get fans “into” the game. After the top half of the 8th inning the scoreboard always plays “Sweet Caroline” and the fans get all kinds of into it. I’d say half the stadium was at least tipsy at this point so everyone thought they could actually sing and you should have heard some of the notes and words coming out of people. The fans behind us on Wednesday were from out of town and I’ve never heard Mr. Diamond’s song butchered so badly. That part wasn’t what I’d call a “high point” but the tradition itself certainly is.

-You may be wondering what the scoreboard actually does do in between innings if not showing silly graphics or condiment races. Well, most of the time between innings they play highlight montages. Gretchen brought up the good point that on Friday I’m sure some poor intern had to spend hours either editing Manny OUT of all of those highlights or creating new, fresh ones instead. Either way, I’m glad I’m not that poor sap.

Wait, what am I talking about? I would LOVE to work for the Red Sox!!

-Here’s me…wishing I worked for the Red Sox.

-I’m not sure if it was exactly a “high point” but it certainly was not a low point so I’m going to include the Manny Ramirez/Jason Bay dynamic in this section. During what turned out to be Manny’s last game as a member of the Red Sox he again was up to his old tricks and Brandon pointed it out so I could capture it on film. Aside from jogging down the line to first base or refusing to play, he also managed to make the inside of the Green Monster his second home for the last few months. During a pitching change on Wednesday night he made one of his now infamous trips inside the wall…who knows for what.

Gee, where’s the left fielder go??

There he is!!

But not for long, obviously. Manny was traded to the Dodgers the next afternoon and by the time I showed up at the park on Friday a fair number of people clearly had already moved on.

It was now time to usher in the Jason Bay era in Boston. Much like the fans who sell the shirts outside the stadium, these guys got a little creative as well. I thought this was the best sign in the park that night.

Of course I had to document the first time he stepped into the batter’s box at Fenway.

As well as the absolutely thunderous, prolonged ovation he was given by the sellout crowd.

It ended up being quite the debut for Mr. Bay with his new team and in his new state. He would go on to score both runs in a 2-1, 12-inning victory over the A’s on Friday night. The stadium erupted into pandemonium when he crossed home plate in the 12th. Still love that pole :-)

The fans immediately embraced him as one of their own and you could see the appreciation and sense of wonder as he looked around the stadium while being interviewed on the field after the game. The stands were still 90% full (definitely more packed than Yankee Stadium was in the 12th!) and it was clear he had never seen anything like that in his career.

-I will admit that I don’t know if other stadiums have traditional music they play after a victory but I did get to hear “New York, New York” in the Bronx and that was nothing like coming home to “Love That Dirty Water” and “Tessie” in Boston.

-Instead of the dense leagalese I found in San Francisco, Fenway's poem was much more to the point.

-I always look forward to the street drummers banging away on their various buckets outside Fenway after the game. I will say that Boston is not unique in this regard as there were other similar performers dotting the rest of the country but they’re all usually pretty good.

Low Points:

If any of you out there are still reading, I'm almost done, I promise. Fenway did have some things that disappointed me…

-For a fleeting moment I felt like I was back in Dodger stadium with its unfair class system. For my entire life, I cannot remember there being beer vendors walking the aisles of Fenway Park. At every other stadium there were guys who came around to deliver beer to you in your seat, as is common place at many sporting events. However, I was SHOCKED when I saw beer vendors in the lower box seats at Fenway, and only in the lower box seats at Fenway. Not only did I feel jipped, I feel like I’ve lied to anyone who’s read this blog. WTF, Fenway?! Thanks for being jerks.

-This picture speaks for itself…are you serious??

-During the Wednesday game I saw with Brandon there was a church choir who sang the national anthem. They were from Ireland and I don’t know if it was a joke or what but I can say, without hesitation, that it was absolutely the worst performance of the National Anthem I’ve ever heard in public. This group was TERRIBLE!

-Right after I get done lying to you about the beer vendors I have to own up to another mea culpa. I had ranted at various times about regions of the country calling Italian Ice by other names like “water ice” or “frozen lemonade.” Well, would you know it? Fenway had vendors walking about selling BOTH! Obviously I have no idea what I’m talking about and the last 4 months of my life have been a complete and utter waste.

No, just kidding :-)

-The Bank of America ATM inside the stadium was great to see but it was less great to see that it was out of order. Boo that.

-I felt bad for this guy (and the thousands of other people like him) who felt the need to cover up the back of his Ramirez Red Sox tee shirt. The girl in front of him clearly had no problem but this guy kept his white shirt on his back throughout the entire game. However, it was little match for the flash on my camera.

-The Fenway organist is quite the talented individual. I’m glad Fenway is one of the few parks in the country to still incorporate the traditional organ songs and sounds but when the guy starts playing Rihanna’s “Umbrella” I think there’s a line that has been crossed and I’m not sure we wanted to do that.

-The scoreboard displayed the words to the National Anthem sans punctuation. Once I saw it done right at a few other stadiums I think it should be required everywhere. “Oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave?” is clearly a question and I want it displayed as such!

-The aforementioned scalpers and ticket prices definitely left a sour taste in my mouth.

-It’s never fun to try and review a park but not be allowed to enter some of the coolest areas. I understand the reasoning behind it but it still was a low point of the experience.

-My trip is over :-( That’s the lowest point of all!!

Don’t worry, I’ll try to do a recap thing soon and post some other pictures that I promised I’d get to way back in the first week of May.

Overall Grade: A-

Game Stats:

Teams: Red Sox vs. Athletics
Final Score: 2-1 Red Sox
Extra Innings: 3
WP: Mike Timlin
LP: Alan Embree
Time: 3:50
Announced Attendance: 37,832 (103.6% full)
Ticket Price: $110.00 (Yes, more than double face value. Thanks a lot, scalper jerks)
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 22-8
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 10,702
Speeding Tickets: ZERO!
States Visited: 27
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 33
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: No more stops :-(
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
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
Phillies: A-
Nationals: B
Mets: C+
Yankees: B
Red Sox: A-

Update

No, I haven't forgotten about Fenway Park. In fact, I even went to a game already, I just haven't had time to turn my experience into wonderful prose yet and probably won't for another week or so. I'm packing up and getting ready to move to Villanova this week so just hang tight and I promise I'll get to friendly Fenway as soon as I can.

Regards,

Mgmt.