The Mets Police

Zell's Pinstripe Blog has a really cool photo gallery about fries-obstructed views at New Yankee Stadium.

Wait, I'm now being told that it's not fries-obstructed views, it's a gallery of various foods you can eat at the new place.  

Glad to see I'm not the only site with winter filler...but I actually really enjoyed the gallery.  See here.




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Let's head on out to cold fake New New Yankee Stadium with our Yankee friend, Mr. Sunshine who is as they say "on assignment."

Looks like he's climbed down the ugly cement to see the new unattractive Monument Park.  "Mystique and Aura" says Sunshine.








I love the size of "the moat."  From 500 feet away you can see it.










That sure is a large flag.  Looks like Mr. Sunshine is either sitting low or has a good zoom lense.











One thing I will give them, the color scheme sure reminds you who plays there.  











The empty seats are in the auxiliary press box.  Looks like the folks from the Yonkers Tribune got cold and left.

Chip Caray sure makes Joe Buck seem like Jack Buck doesn't he?  I wonder if that would work on Kenny "no really, this is my natural speaking voice" Albert?





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Check out this link:  Playing football in a baseball park.

Assuming it is accurate, it looks like a football field won't quite fit in New Yankee Stadium.

They have announced some college football games will take place there, and I think they will draw well (Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium?  Sell-out.)

New Stadium Insider has more info.

Anyone know if a field can be squashed into Citi?

The Yankees have something called "Old Timer's Day" where they invite back players who used to play for the team, and then 46,000 fans cheer for them.  Sure it seems like a lot of work and a bad investment on their money, but the Yankees do it anyway.  Imagine that.

The folks over at Googling God were kind enough to email me some pictures of the day.

Since the God Googler was the one who started the discussion the other day suggesting the Mets retire #8 for Carter and Berra..well thanks for sending me this picture.   Yogi is a Yankee.














This person made a bad jersey choice.  I don't think he understands the whole Yankee thing.

A real Ruth fan wouldn't even have a NY on front.  Go look at  pictures, when Ruth played they didn't have the NY on the front.

This man should be confident that if he walks around in a #3 jersey (I'll let the NY on the front slide) that we'll know who he is celebrating.









I have no explanation.   I guess it's nice that the Yankees recycle.
















Yankee aura and mystique includes a few lame things like Cotton Eye Joe and YMCA.  











Oh no.  Guys, didn't you read the Ruth thing above?  You can wear a 7, we'll figure it out.












That screen sure is big.

The Yankees invited back their greatest pitcher.   I bet that was a lot of work and probably a poor return on their investment.  Right, David Howard?








What a shame.  What a shame.   That's the old-new Stadium.   It's not too late guys.   You could just bolt a few new seats in the place and sell the new stadium to the A's or some other team looking to move.   It really would be for the best, including the across the street rivals.













To be fair to David Howard - wow that's an awful lot of empty seats for the ceremony.   Wow.

However, I have my finger on the pulse of Mets fans, I betcha Mets Old Timer's Day would sell out in 2010.   The 1969 game is going to do well...so will OT2010.





Finally, God Googler knows what the best food choice at Yankee is.    Get the shake.  It will fill you up.

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As always, the New Stadium Insider blog has good stuff. They are like out Bronx cousins except they hang around with creepy Uncle Sterling.   This one is from the weekend so I be it got under-read as everyone sunned themselves at the beach.   The title says it all...

New Yankee Stadium Food - Save Your Money And Bring Food From Home

Interesting stuff from Raissman...



Read more:in the Daily News.




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Hello Mets fans.  If the Subway Series will be your first trip to the Bronx, we've been there a few times so we're here to help you out.

This is the "Great Hall" which is Bronxese for "Rotunda."

Here at the hall you will see that the Yankees have honored more former Mets (Willie Randolph and Yogi Berra) than the Wilpons have.

Even if you park ($19 and you definitely want to do the pre-paid parking because the Yankees have an annoying system - read here) you should walk around and enter through Gate 4 or 6.  Don't come in through Gate 8 or you will feel like you are in the subway.

In the Great Hall you will see the Hard Rock.  I haven't been in there yet, and while everyone else is standing around here or heading to the new Monument Park, I suggest you head to whatever the second level is called and find the Yankees Museum (click for review) which also formers former Mets including Lee Mazzilli.




By now you're thinking that the place is awesome, but that's because I sent you to the two best things.   If you have some time, when you walk out of the museum walk straight toward the field and find this guy (pictured on left).  He sells old baseball cards and old yearbooks.  A cool place we'll get into more tomorrow.





As you explore the stadium you will find many areas that look like this.  You probably think I took this in some subway station or sub-basement of some government building.  Nope, this is what all the ramps look like.  If I remember correctly this is one of the connections from the bleachers to the main parts.



Since you are likely a Mets fan and not rich you won't be sitting in $1000 seats. so you're probably in the uppers or the bleachers.   This view on the left is from the bleachers.  I think these are some of the best seats you can get.





However, make sure your seats aren't too close to center field or you won't be able to see half the field.  Unfortunately Yankee Stadium (like Citi Field) has lots of obstructed views.

While you're hanging out in the Bleachers don't forget to get a $7 Johnny Rocket's shake.   I think it's the best bang for your buck since you'll be quenched and full.   More about food choices tomorrow.

If you get lost, look for this nice lady.   The Yankees have plenty of folks like this around to help you.







Finally you will make your way to your seats in the uppers.

Here's my original review from back in April, where I called the place "The Phantom Menace" (you know, the thing that doesn't live up to the hype but you just can't admit it to yourself at first.)




Plenty of more pics and links throughout the week.  Remember that it won't be easy to get autographs.

Make sure you come back and tell your Yankees friends to say hi.

For more about the Stadium you will want to check out New Stadium Insider

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As I've been saying......now said by Wallace Matthews in Newsday.

..it makes you wonder if, when the Yankees moved across the street, they left more than just an old ballpark behind.

The old Stadium was a vibrant, rowdy, sometimes dangerous but always living place where baseball was the primary language spoken, Here, it seems sterile, corporate and frighteningly devoid of buzz. And if you can't feel the buzz during the honeymoon, when will you feel it?

It doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, because if you're not feeling the mojo now, you probably never will. Sure, the place will sell out when the Red Sox or Mets are in the house, but for the first time in many years, get used to the place being half-full, or if the Yankees ever fall out of contention, a lot less than that.

You know, they probably could get Old Yankee Stadium back in shape within a month.  I don't suppose the Yankees want to move back home after the All-Star break?   Just sayin'

Let's ask the Yankees fans.  I know it will never happen...but would you rather they move back?

Read Newsday's article here.

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Wallace Matthews brings it in today's Newsday.

Sunday, the Yankees hosted the Indians and the Mets hosted the Brewers. Neither place came within 5,000 seats of being sold out. Most teams would be overjoyed playing to 85-percent capacity in April, but these are not most teams and this is not any other city.

...

But when Opening Day at the new Yankee Stadium draws only 48,000 paid admissions, and the Mets, after nearly filling the 42,000 seats in their opener but then can't draw much above 36,000, you know that the geniuses in the business offices who decided to Mel Brooks the baseball fans of this town made a serious error in judgment.

...

Yes, there is always a drop-off after the opener and before the kids get out of school, but last year on this very weekend, 54,000-plus saw Johan Santana pitch against the Brewers. On Saturday, with the same pitcher, same opponent and a 75-degree day, only 36,312 showed up.

As I speak on behalf of all Mets fans, Citi is such a step-up from Shea that we're willing to eat bad sight-lines, or not being able to see all nine position players from left field.   Yankee fans, I think you would take your old park back if you could.   Either way, maybe one of the teams will get it right when they move into their new parks around 2085.

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River Ave Blues has a good piece about the empty seats at the new Yankee Stadium, with lots of pictures and an analysis of the Yankees propoganda.

Check it out.

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What's this....

Obstructed views?

Crappy sound system?

Monument Park is in a cave?

Nope that's not me just reprinting my revies, it's LoHud's Impressions of the Opener at Yankee Stadium.

 While there's no truth to the rumor that the Yankees may rename the new stadium after Sammy Hagar, the reviews are about the same as when Sammy took over as singer for Van Halen.....it's ok, they'll sell out, we still love the guys...but it's just not as cool.

If you're heading to Sammy Hagar Stadium today prepare to be "too hot."   I say that because Michael Kay on Yes told me yesterday that the weather "couldn't be better for baseball."  He told me that while the graphic told me it was 55 degrees...so if you're on your way to Hagar, expect to be about 15 degrees warm sitting there in the sunshine.

As the reviews come in....they are all what we've been saying since the Cubs games, and some of the other blogs have been saying....and it's interesting that the mainstream media is already cracking, and this is before the average fans have started going to games.

First up,  from The Post

Incredibly, after all the anticipation and hoopla, the sellout crowd at this grand opening had about the same zeal as grandmothers playing mahjong. Why? The ticket prices mean a lot more corporate patronage in the seats close to the field, which means far fewer diehards near the action, screaming, taunting, making it uncomfortable for the opposition

The claustrophobic feeling an opponent encountered in tough times is gone forever now. The upper deck no longer drapes over the action, but is rather higher and inclined away from the field. The bleachers -- and their creatures -- are now further recessed. The Yanks have played class warfare with their tickets and the result is that their most ardent fans -- those who helped create a 10th-man feel across the street -- will have to all bring microphones to be heard in full in this facility. 

In that article Joel Sherman also talks about how Yankee fans now honor the 1996 guys over folks like Berra and Ford.  

The Times warns that buyers beware, especially on the secondary market.....and remember that this warning is about seats that the team has admitted are obstructed.  Mets fans need to be doubly cautious.

The Yankees had previously recognized that these seats were not ideal and lowered the price for them, independent marketplaces like StubHub and eBay leave it up to the sellers to disclose whether or not a view is obstructed.

That is how a visibly upset Adrian Rea, a Yankee fan from Binghamton, N.Y., wound up spending $1,200 for four tickets in Section 201. Rea had no idea that he would not be able to see right field.

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bought them,” he said. “I would have even paid more if I could have had seats that weren’t obstructed.”

Finally let's hear from some of the more famous folks....the big time Yankee fan Rudy Giuliani (who rooted for Boston in the playoffs.  huh?)  and Yogi Berra who probably knows something about being a Yankee.  From nj.com

"Well, it's bigger," former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani laughed as he headed to the gates after a 10-2 loss to the Indians. "But they've evoked enough of the old place where you feel like you're at Yankee Stadium."

"I think they've got too much room in the clubhouse," the 10-time world champion (Berra) said. "It is awfully big. If you want to talk to a guy, you have to walk a half mile!"

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UPDATE:  Kay said A-Rod took batting practice in Tampa today.  I guess there was no way to do that in New York.

The line to enter Monument Park snakes far behind the bleachers and up several flights of stairs. It’s like the security line at Laguardia on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but nobody seemed to mind.


One thing you notice right away is the classic collection of photographs, several for each of the 26 title teams, drawing your eyes above the concession stands. In the very last photo we see Joe Torre, holding the 2000 trophy with the principal owner George Steinbrenner and then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. (It seems like a long time since Torre managed the Yankees, doesn’t it?)


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Sorry Yankees fans....the new place isn't so great, and it's not just Mets fans saying it...

Obstrutcted Views from New Stadium Insider


Obstructed Views from Scott Proctor's Arm

Exposed Pipes and puddles.  From Mets Police.

My review of the place.

Another Bad Review

New Stadium Insider's Guide To Obstructed Seats At Yankee Stadium

River Ave Blues bad review of the place




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Poor Tv angles, obstructed views, retired numbers you can't see.....

I'm a Mets fan so don't trust my opinions....but everyone trusts the really respected LoHud Yankees blog, right?

Can these issues be addressed?

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Every single day, New Stadium Insider brings it with an amazing post.   Today he's got the

Guide To Obstructed View Seats At Yankee Stadium

If I didn't have a real job I'd do one for Citi.

I also think the description of "rapey areas" at New Yankee while scary and an interesting choice of words is accurate.   There's a lot of lonely areas on ramps with nothing around but cinderblocks.   I don't know how many people get mugged in the middle of baseball games, but some of these ramps are lonesome.

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This is truly an amazing year in New York.

Never before in any city have two ballparks the size and scope of what we are seeing in the Bronx and Flushing opened at the same time.

Never before has over $2 BILLION been spent on sports facilities in one city opening at the same time.

Six and a half years ago a nightmare descended upon this city. At the time both the Mets and Yankees had been discussing new stadia with the city. Following 9/11 those discussions were put on hold so that the city could recover and rebuild.

Recover we did - rebuild we have not.

Six and a half years later, two structures designed for a game have been designed, constructed, and now opened. Several hundred million dollars in city and state "assistance" has helped in getting these structures built.

Yet just over 9 miles away from each site there remains a big hole in the ground where two office towers once stood.

Think about that for a moment.

6 1/2 years
$2+ Billion
2 new, state-of-the-art ballparks
0 towers

I'm not trying to be holier-than-though. I have been to Citi Field and will go to the new Yankee Stadium.

But something in our collective make-up just seems a bit screwed up when more importance and a higher priority is placed on making sure that our teams have the best stadiums they can have, while even a simple memorial to those who were killed on 9/11 remains unbuilt.

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