Monday, March 23, 2009

More about the Food at the New Yankee Stadium, Ticket Sales, Stadium Tours and More Monday Night Yankee Thoughts

If we didn't have a day job, this would be spread across multiple posts. Here is a day's worth of thoughts neatly bullet pointed for your reading pleasure:
  • We happened across one of the engineers working for Turner Construction (the company building the new Yankee Stadium) on Twitter, and he liked our blog. Next thing you know, we're being offered an All-Access tour of the New Yankee Stadium on Tuesday evening. We're told that posting photos from the tour are a no-go, but that is likely only for the "backstage" areas such as the clubhouses. There will be a full report up tomorrow night, and we'd like to give you all the opportunity to participate in some way. We are collecting questions that you would ask one of the engineers who worked on the new Yankee Stadium. Questions about any construction delays, obstructed seats, or anything else that someone from Turner could answer are fair game. We need to send the questions off tonight, so please fire away in the comments section.
  • The food options at the New Yankee Stadium are pretty amazing. When my girlfriend utters the words: "I'm starting to like this new Yankee Stadium," you know they are doing something right. We knew the food would be an improvement over the old stadium, but selection is truly surprising. It sure does make us look forward to embarking on our New Stadium Insider food tasting series.
  • Also from today's release, the revelation of $6 beers is a pretty big deal as well. As far as we can remember, beers hovered around the $9 mark for the past couple of seasons. Perhaps with the increased numbers of points of sale, the Yankees can afford to lower prices a bit. Bud Light or not, it will cost less to get intoxicated at a Yankee game. We've never understood people who likes to spend a small fortune to go to a baseball game just to not remember it, but to each their own.
  • Some people get pretty riled up about the Coke vs. Pepsi debate. Anyone paying attention to the photos that have been leaking out from the interior of the stadium noticed the Pepsi ads plastered all over the place. Today, Legends Hospitality Management confirmed that the "House That Big Stein Built" is a Pepsi palace. We'll stick with beer and water. What else do you need in life?
  • This morning at 10AM, the lucky Yankee fans who won the public presale lottery got their F5 on (the refresh key for those not privy to internet language) and tried to score tickets to the premium games. Sadly, it seems that the luck ran out for most of them. Many of these formerly lucky souls were greeted with the all too familiar $2,625 seats right above the Yankee dugout. Astute commenter "HorseRun" points out that if the Yankees can't sell these seats for the first ever game in the brand new stadium, when will they sell them?
  • Never has the crass term "if there's grass on the field, play ball" seemed more appropriate. There is no longer grass on the field at the old Yankee Stadium, and they will no longer be playing ball there. Back off, Chris Hansen, its just an expression.
  • We'd get all stat-heady and uppity about Joe Girardi's revelation that Xavier Nady is the opening day right fielder, but driveline mechanics did all of the work a couple of week ago and Kevin Goldstein piled on today. Some will base their argument on the 2008 season and claim that it is a coin-toss. We would like to point out Swisher's terrible luck on balls in play last season and his history of being a masher. Bold prediction: if Nick Swisher gets 500+ ABs in 2009, he will approach 30 home runs. Scott Boras must somehow be involved in this. Last year we learned that Joe Girardi reads Baseball Prospectus, now he is picking Xavier Nady over Nick Swisher in a position battle. Something is fishy here.
  • We posted on Twitter about this earlier, but since when do hookers have the right to run to the press with stories? There is something seriously wrong with our culture when newspapers provide a platform for people who have sex for money to air their secrets about superstar athletes like Alex Rodriguez. We don't condone ballplayers cheating on their wives, especially with paid whores. However, women have been making tons of money in the world's oldest profession since Wooly Mammoths were roaming the earth (OK, maybe not that long). Everyone's favorite Yankees of yester-year like Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Jason Giambi (ha) all frequented prostitutes. This Eliot Spitzer/A-Rod hooker is clearly trying to get out of the game, but all she is doing is putting the entire profession at risk. Athletes are going to start paying non-professional whores and just make them sign an NDA. Journalism isn't the only field undergoing major change.
Don't forget to give us some ideas for construction-related Yankee Stadium questions to ask tomorrow. This may be the last time to ask these types of questions, as Turner Construction will soon be on their way to building a 2 billion dollar stadium somewhere else in the world. Or they just won't be in the Bronx anymore.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi not a construction question, but a question.
Any ord on whether people will be able to bring food into yankee stadium? Some of us aren't interested in sampling the yankee food service options...

mtrico said...

Hi, I would like to know what the deal is with the grandstand obstructed seats we saw here and elsewhere. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Construction Questions:

What is the Frieze/Facade made of and do they know of it's the same size as the original ? (1923 version)

Are there other not so obvious design/constrcution cues take from the original (1923) we may not be aware of ?

What's their favorite part of the building, any specific things they are especially proud of ?

nick2slick said...

Steven: It seems the Yankees HAVE updated their website with security guidelines and info about the new stadium. As far as I can see, the old rules apply.

"No bottles or cans are permitted in Yankee Stadium with the exception of transparent plastic water bottles. The water bottle must be full and factory-sealed. It cannot be a container from home, and it must only be filled with water."

But then this:

"Premium ticket holders are not permitted to bring food or beverages into the Suite Entrance."

Says nothing else about outside food, though, so I'm assuming a 5 dollar foot-long from Subway will pass other security checkpoints around the stadium

BPALM said...

If Girardi is a big BP type of guy then maybe Cashman is telling him play Nady no matter what so we can build trade value. If he was the back-up he would not get as much in return compared to him being the starter. Maybe an early trade is in the cards for the Yankees. Say Nady gets off to a good start and Swisher is showing he is going back to his norms and they are confident in Swisher. They can trade Nady away for a bullpen arm, a serviceable CF (depending on how Gardner is doing) or some prospects.

The idea of Nady coming off the bench might entice Yankee fans but I don't think the Yankees want to let him walk after the season without getting anything back for him. Also there were all the rumors that the Yankees wanted to trim some payroll and he would probably be the easiest guy to trade based on contracts.

Anonymous said...

Prostitutes make tons of money? Open your freaking eyes. Also, what do you want, some kind of hooker-john confidentiality? Please. THEY'RE BREAKING THE LAW.

Ross said...

High class whores like the ones who ratted out Spitzer and A-Rod make tons of money, yes. My point is not that they deserve confidentiality. My point is that the media is becoming a conduit for the messages of hookers. Do you not see the problem with that?!?

Ross said...

By the way, it is pretty awesome that your actual blogger username is "Anonymous"

Well played.

Anonymous said...

No, I see no problem with it. I see all kinds of problems with your "logic," though (and I think for some reason you have a problem with prostitutes, and possibly with women in general). A: Why wouldn't the media report a hooker's revelation that she slept with Spitzer or Rodriguez? It's news. B: Why wouldn't a prostitute who slept with Spitzer or Rodriguez give up that information? Not only don't they owe any kind of fiduciary duty to their johns, maybe they can get a book deal or something and get out of the business of selling themselves. And why shouldn't they profit from some scumbag's douchebaggery? (Especially Rod's. Not only is he poison in the clubhouse, he's a slumlord.) C: If a prostitute develops a reputation for blabbing, people won't solicit her. That's capitalism. D: "Non-professional whores"? That's a contradiction in terms. And anyway, yeah, if you want a hooker to keep her mouth shut (after your appointment with her), then maybe you should have to pay extra for that silence. E: Then again, what are you going to do? Sue for breach of an NDA? Please. I can guarantee you these ladies are judgment-proof. F: It's the madams and other procurers who run these "high-class" rings that keep the bulk of the money. Your upscale prostitutes might do pretty well, but at best they're still in the middle class. To say that they're getting rich is nonsense. G: Two leaks about Spitzer and Rodriguez do not a media-becoming-a-conduit-for-hookers'-messages make. Relax. H: And no, talkative hookers don't jeopardize "the entire profession"--neither the profession of hooking, nor the profession of ballplaying. As for hooking, anytime you do something illegal or embarrassing, you risk the whole world finding out. That's just how the world works. If johns don't know that going in, they're retarded. As for ballplaying, as you say, big leaguers have always frequented prostitutes, and they always will. And the game's as healthy as ever. Case in point: Nobody's really that surprised or cares that much that Rod banged a hooker. QED.

Unknown said...

Wow. Well done. You have a passion and believe in what you have to say. You should have a blog.

nick2slick said...

"Case in point: Nobody's really that surprised or cares that much that Rod banged a hooker."

Then it isn't news. Meaning, get hookers off of the soapbox.

Anonymous said...

ross: I'll leaving the blogging to you, sir. You are damn fine at it. You just got me riled up, is all. For some reason, repeated reference to women as "whores" bothers me, even if they are prostitutes.

nick2slick: Seriously? It's not news if it's not surprising or interesting? Have you ever read a paper?

Also, I don't think you know what a soapbox is.

Ross said...

Anonymous - I'm just honored that people care enough to comment on what I have to write.

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