I have lived an hour from New York city for 9 months but had yet to visit Citi Field. The promise of free tickets, a bonus to working with so many military people, drew me out last night to visit the stadium of my favorite baseball team. I did not have high expectations for the actual game, the Mets offense of late has been pretty horrid. Actually to call it horrid is an offense to the word, and any other part of the lexicon does not do it horrible justice. Just take a look at this:
(Mets fail via TSH @ TBL)
So I decided to take the stadium in and forget the Mets. The rain was threatening when we arrived into Grand Central but we figured the game would go on despite the threat. I had never traveled to the game by the train but I knew it was the number 7. Why? John Rocker. Yep, Public Enemy #24A in Flushing and his damning quote in Sports Illustrated over ten years ago reminded me of which train to hop on. Once we arrived I saw banners hanging off the light posts. On one side of the one I was looking at was David Wright, the other side had Tommy Agee. Right away you could tell there was a determined effort to remember the Mets and National League baseball in New York. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda was as great a tribute a stadium can make to a player that never played for the team. Upon entering the rotunda we were blessed with a surprise; a Mets lunchbox. Awesome! I am making that the method of conveyance for my lunch everyday to work from here on out.
Once inside we discovered our seats were 2nd row behind the visitor's dugout, drizzle aside it was badass. The view from inside the park is fantastic and the great thing is that when you walk around the park from the concession area there is always a view to the field. I was very impressed with the park and the asceticism actually convinced me to make it back soon.
Some of the highlights from the game:
- The most player jerseys I saw were Reyes jerseys believe it or not
- Philly fans were boisterous and I couldn't blame them. It must have been how the Mets fans were in Veterans stadium when the Phils sucked.
- Closest Phillie fan to me was a dude who looked like a chunky Adrien Brody, only way, way greasier.
- I overheard a Philly fan refer to the Mets lunchbox with the following when I was walking over the Shea Bridge: "Now I have a new poopbox." I am not surprised that people from Philadelphia crap in small metal boxes.
- Before the 8th inning to rally the Mets they played footage of the 1-2-3 Met hitters Reyes, Pagan and Wright set to The Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight" to pump up the crowd. Even though that song was totally the soundtrack to my 1996, I found it lame because I knew the Mets would do nothing in the inning and they did not. In fact the Mets scored 2 runs the whole series.
Overall the stadium exceeded my expectations while the Mets met my expectations, because they blew. Bonus news from this afternoon, K-Rod injured his hand when he punched his father in law last week, he's out for the year. That's ok though, I will never disown the Mets, they remind me too much of my own inadequacies. As my favorite Mets sign said, "To err is human, to forgive is a Mets fan."
Monday, August 16
A Night At Citi Field
Monday, April 13
RIP Harry
Harry Kalas passed away at the age of 73 today before the Phillies were to take on the Nationals. Not only was Kalas beloved in Philly, but he truly is a member of the pantheon of great sports announcers for his work on NFL Films various radio broadcasts that included baseball, pro and college football and college basketball.
Thursday, October 30
Phillies Win World Series
Bud Selig and Fox can try all they want to dampen the national past time, but baseball is not lousy and is also resilient. Credit goes to the Phillies for ending a long stretch of heartache for a city and an organization. It was also great to ehar Harry Kalas give the call of the final out. Despite the bad judgment in game starting times, letting the players continue playing in muck, the shaky umpire calls, and the ear-splitting commentary of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, whenever a team captures the crown it is a special moment. The 2008 Phillies will not be remembered for being the greatest of teams or winning the most exciting series, but it will be there on the trophy for years to come. Congrats to the Phillies and their fans, maybe now they can be quiet about being starved for a title.
Series Links:
Deadspin
CBSSportsline
ESPN
The Love of Sports
Sporting News
Tuesday, October 28
The World Series: Bud Selig Strikes Again
The first five and a half innings of game 5 of the World Series made a mockery of baseball. The Phillies and Rays play 162 games just to make the playoffs, defeat all comers, and their reward: on the most important night of the season they play in near-freezing temperatures, with atrocious officiating and a driving rain storm. It was like a reality show, but without the snarky comments of one of the judges (although McCarver tried his best).
The comedy of errors began with the scheduling of the entire postseason. Late starts, AM finishes, trying to compete with college football, allowing Fox to dictate the schedule all pointed to disaster for the ratings and baseball, as a whole. The crescendo of the postseason debacle appeared to be the Saturday night game that ended with people on the West Coast complaining about how late the games went, but oh no. In potentially the series clinching game baseball decided the getting the game in was more important than showcasing the best of the best under optimal conditions. The Commissioner’s Office made a farce of their sport playing in that weather. It’s not hard to imagine a dry Bud Selig sounding like Monty Python’s Black Knight when describing the rain, “Tis but a drizzle. I’ve seen worse.” Watching the players with their hands down their pants, guys in the dugout drinking coffee, and the grounds crew taking every opportunity to attempt to make the infield playable was laughable and painful at the same time. It seemed like baseball was about five minutes from a massive rush order of ShamWows to force the game to continue.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the home plate umpire squeezing pitcher’s in a driving rain, the most ridiculous performance by an ump since Frank Drebin was calling the balls and strikes. The cherry on the top was listening to the dulcet tones of Joe Buck, who would rather have been making a bunt cake watching Paula Dean instead of at a baseball game. He, along with his cohort Tim McCarver have been in attack mode since the Series began. Rest assured Buck won’t be as critical of the league officials when he steps back in the booth to call NFL games. Listening to Buck describe the bad calls sounds like an abusive husband who has no fear of repercussion from his battered wife. Fans should be hoping that the MLB or Fox goes Laura Burney on Buck’s baseball broadcasting responsibilities before next season.
Instead of the World Series being baseball’s showcase and the coronation of an unexpected champ, it’s been turned to a circus. Bud Selig seems more interested in ending the season at the behest of Fox than in providing a grand stage for the young stars. They bended to the whim of Fox in eliminating the team introductions and Fox’s marketing department sees fit to (brought to you by Sprint) interrupt (Drinkability) each pitch (House is grumpy) with advertisements. Major League Baseball has written off attracting young fans with the start times and is content with being a second-rate professional sports league. David Stern would never play a Finals game with an eight foot rim, Roger Godell would never play a Super Bowl with a deflated football, hell even Gery Bettman wouldn’t play the Stanley Cup Finals with melted ice, but that’s exactly what Selig did by undermining both teams by allowing game 5 to continue. The nation’s past time has become a national after thought, and baseball owners have themselves to blame.
Wednesday, October 22
The Fall Classic is Upon Us
The World Series starts tonight; here is a preview from Deadspin. Word on the street is that the Backstreet Boys will be singing the game 1 national anthem. As Bob Saget once said, "They are back, they are street, they are boys and they are men and they rock my fucking world."
