$10 beers? Check (Ok, $9.50 - big difference).
15 minutes lines for the bathrooms? Check.
Ignorant "fans" making absurd statements? Check.
From the above statements, one would assume that the home opener was a real drag and that I hate the current Yankee Stadium experience. Au contraire! Fine - I'll admit that I would take great joy in having the opportunity to push the detonate button when imploding the current stadium. However, even a skeptic like myself has to admit there is some sort of - lets say - mystique and aura that surrounds attending a game at the current Stadium - even with all of the flaws.
On to the game - I scored a single face value ticket in the loge level from Yankees.com on the day of the game. A word of advice for other sold out Yankee games - check out the official ticketmaster page on the day of the game. A lot of the time more tickets are released for whatever reason. I was also able to score a single ticket for just about face value for a buddy of mine so I didn't have to go to the game alone.
The normal entrance to the Stadium that I use is the entrance in left field, closest to the Subway. Unfortunately, this is also the entrance to the Stadium that is directly across from the new Stadium construction site. Word to the wise - if you are going to a game at the Stadium this year, use a different entrance. Apparently, everyone and their mother decided to enter there because they wanted to gawk at the new Stadium. After a couple of minutes of standing in line further away from the entrance than ever before, we decided to circle around the Stadium and try to make it in for the first pitch.
Turns out we just missed the first pitch, but we still saw most of the top half of the first. I have to admit that the Stadium crowd was at its best from the beginning. Don't worry, I'm not going to ramble on and on with an inning by inning recap, but here are the highlights:
- Beers are up to $9.50 for a pint sized cup. I considered it a bargain when they weren't $10. The smallest hot dog ever is $5.25. I can't imagine what the prices are going to be in the new Stadium.
- New gimmicks between innings this year:
1) Guess the baby bomber - a picture of a Yankee as a child is put up on the big screen in center and the fans have to guess who it is based on three clues. Last night's child picture was the big G and it was pretty obvious from the second it was put up.
2) Someone pulls a lever and the countdown of remaining games at the current Yankee Stadium ticks down a game (see the picture to the right). This takes place after the 5th inning when the game becomes official. Last night they propped up a probably dead George Steinbrenner to pull the lever. It was a great moment. I think it would be cool if they got a different celebrity to do that every game this season. Kind of like the different celebrity singing "Take me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field during the 7th inning stretch.
- When Joba was pitching in the top of the 8th, there was some idiot behind me spewing some of the most nonsensical statements I had ever heard. Among the idiocy was "Joba's fastball isn't sh!t", "he can't get guys out with his fastball", "he's got nothing on Mo". After the strikeout of Rios "see, his slider is his only good pitch". After blowing Thomas away on a fastball? Silence. The guy had the thickest low-class New York accent I have ever heard and for that entire inning I was ashamed to be associated as a Yankee fan with that guy. Unfortunately that guy is what Mets fans, Red Sox fans and other Yankee haters around the country will reference when citing reasons for their Yankee hate. I'll admit there are WAY more of those types of Yankee fan than I would like, but every fan base has them. The Boston equivalent is the drunk dude with the thick Boston accent yelling "hey Jetah, you're gay".
- The bathroom lines were worse than ever. I broke major men's bathroom etiquette in the 8th inning after Damon's triple. I went to one of the bathrooms with an enter and an exit door and sneaked into the exit door. From there, I cut the massive line, entered a stall, did my business and was back in time to see Giambi end the threat.
So there you have it, that is the NYYSI look at the final home opener in the current Yankee Stadium. Yankees win. THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Yankeeeeeeeeees wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin.
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5 comments:
This is a classic piece man!
Funny stuff. Even the title is great!
Do they charge more for hot dogs in Loge? They were $5 in Tier Reserve.
Thats crazy! It was a hotdog from a vendor roaming around and not one in the corridors at a permanent stand. Maybe that is why there was a price difference?
This buddy of yours sounds made up. You went to the game alone, didn't you?
I don't think you're being fair to me in your post. I was simply expressing to the people around me that Mariano Rivera is a more established pitcher than Joba Chamberlain, and that just because Joba had a great year last year doesn't mean he will have the same long-term success as Mariano. I think you grossly misrepresented my sentiments on your blog. Peter Abraham is not gonna believe this...
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